Whether you work with young people already or want to, this course is built for that. You learn how youth mental health works, what the common challenges look like, and what helps a teenager most.
Schools, community services and youth teams all need people who can read what is going on with a teenager. Ten modules take you through it, from development to support.
Teacher aide, youth worker, coach, support worker. If young people already come to you, this puts structure behind what you have been doing on instinct.
Adolescent development, the environment around them, and what helps. It lands at home as much as at work, and there is no exam waiting at the end.
Youth support work runs through schools, community services and family services, and all of it depends on adults a young person will talk to. The work is easy to picture. A quiet conversation at lunchtime, a family kept in the loop, and a referral made before things get worse.
Day to day support for young people. The conditions, the development work and the support module are the ground under it.
Inside a school, where knowing a stage from a symptom saves a lot of trouble for everyone.
Support built on shared experience. What the course adds is the structure around it.
Community services, where the environmental factors module does most of the heavy lifting.
Working with the whole household, because what is around a young person shapes most of it.
Roles where these skills are useful, not promised outcomes. Every role is different, and some need more study or experience. The college recommends further training or an internship for the hands-on practice employers look for, and clinical roles run through their own accredited training.
Ten modules, from how youth mental health works to how you support it.
Here is what stands out in this course.
Adolescent development gets its own module. A lot of what looks like a problem at fifteen is a stage, and telling them apart is the whole skill.
Neurodevelopmental disorders, mood dysregulation, psychotic disorders, and behavioural and conduct disorders. Named plainly, each in its own module.
Environmental factors affecting youth mental health, including what comes from abuse and neglect. You cannot support a young person without seeing what they go home to.
Two modules on approaches beyond the clinical, which is where a lot of youth work happens in practice.
Certificate of Achievement · The Career Academy
Issued by the college once you finish the course.
The course carries accreditation with the CPD Standards Office, so you earn CPD credits on completion.
A SEEK Pass link arrives in your learning platform with your certificate, so you can share it on your SEEK profile.
Send an enquiry and a course advisor gets back to you with the course guide and straight answers on whether it fits.
Start anytime. Pay upfront in one payment, or take the flexible weekly plan from $29 a week.
Work through the topics online, with unlimited tutor support by phone and email in business hours. No exams at any point.
Complete the course and receive your Certificate of Achievement, your CPD credits and a SEEK Pass link to share.
None needed. The college builds these as a starting point for people with no prior study in the area. You begin with understanding youth mental health and build from there.
Around 80 hours at your own pace, with 6 months of access. There are no set class times, so it fits around work and family.
From $29 a week on a flexible plan. You can also pay upfront in one payment. Enquire for the current options.
Yes. Adolescent development, the environment around a young person, and what helps are all covered for their own sake. Nothing in it assumes you are on shift.
There are none, ever. You work through the modules at your own pace, with tutor support behind you by phone and email in business hours.
It is accredited by ICOES and the CPD Standards Office, which is accreditation for professional development. It is not accredited by NZQA, so it is not a national qualification, and it does not lead to registration as a psychologist or counsellor. That is a different path. For youth and family support roles, what counts is whether a young person will talk to you.
Yes. There is a 10-day money back guarantee. If it is not right for you, you get your money back.
This course is delivered by The Career Academy, an online course provider in New Zealand. It has been running for over 15 years and works with more than 25,000 students a year.
Courses run fully online at your own pace, with unlimited tutor support by phone and email in business hours. Career coaching comes with your enrolment, including CV help, interview preparation and a LinkedIn profile review. The college donates a portion of course proceeds to Youthline.
Picture the day a kid who talks to nobody sits down and talks to you.