Work Disability Prevention Program

Work Disability Prevention Program

Coordinator: Dr. Patrick Loisel, MD

This contemporary graduate level program in Work Disability Prevention has been developed from the modern framework of the Work Disability Paradigm. Scientific knowledge in this field has progressed considerably in the past twenty years and is poised to alter present day practices.

Work Disability develops in workers following various accidents or disorders, work-related or not. It is associated with poor health indicators, loss of quality of life and may lead to poverty and work exclusion. Disability results in a huge burden for workers, their families, employers, and society which results can deprives a worker of a major social role, source of income, pride and accomplishment.

Coordination of the key systems within the Work Disability Paradigm requires specific skills and competencies in order to help a work disabled patient/worker navigate these systems and ensure a safe and sustainable return to work.

This program is aimed at educating health professionals to appropriately coordinate processes for the effective return of the disabled worker to the workplace.

Completion of this program will enable health or social professionals to hold positions as Return to Work Experts working closely with employers, public and private insurers or in independent practice.

The program will be offered at two levels:

• Return to Work Advanced Certificate Program – Two Years
• AECC/Bournemouth University Professional MSc Program – Three Years, including the CMCC Return to Work  Advanced Certificate Program

The Return to Work Advanced Certificate Program will be delivered in a mixed model format, commencing with the Fall 2013 cohort. Course delivery will include distance education along with on site education sessions.

Revised on February 2013

I am a first year student in the Work Disability Prevention Certificate Program and I am very much enjoying the program. The content is very applicable and relevant to my clinical social work practice. This Work Disability Prevention model has given me a new way of understanding work disability and how to assist employees in a supportive  return to work. I would highly recommend this program to my social work colleagues.

-C. Marshall, MSW, RSW

 
As an instructor in the program, I believe the students benefit from a faculty that is at the cutting edge of evidence-based practice research but who also have a front-line understanding of the practice of work disability prevention and return to work coordination. Not only do students develop essential theoretical foundations and critical thinking skills but also "critical doing" skills through the interactive program design and applied placement.

-F. O'Hagan, PhD