Sick Kids Hospital, Transgender Youth Clinic, Division of Adolescent Medicine
Year 2 Practicum
September 2025- April 2026
Name of Practicum Site, Unit or Program:
Transgender Youth Clinic, Division of Adolescent Medicine
Location:
Hospital for Sick Children 555 University Toronto, ON – This is an onsite practicum
Description of the practicum site and student activities:
The Transgender Youth Clinic is an outpatient gender affirming clinic providing care to gender diverse youth as well as their families/caregivers. This is an opportunity to provide direct support to both youth and families who are accessing gender affirming care within our clinic. Applicants are expected to have experience providing therapeutic supports to clients. Learning opportunities include therapeutic work with youth and families, completing documentation in the electronic medical record system, participating in student seminars, and receiving individual weekly supervision with the expectation that the successful student is engaged and contributing to their learning process. Additional learning opportunities are:
- Maintaining a caseload of clients, leading intake, assessment and counselling sessions
- Building safe, supportive, and congruent therapeutic relationships with youth/families, with attunement towards complex intersections of identity and structural marginalization.
- Engaging in comprehensive psychosocial assessments to identify youth/family strengths and presenting needs.
- Provide support through a variety of modalities including crisis intervention (I.e.: conducting suicide risk assessments), using a trauma-informed approach, providing consultation to other clinicians, case navigation/management, and advocacy.
- Demonstrate skills in patient and family engagement, interviewing skills with individuals, parents, and families.
- Navigate and secure resources that address issues related to the social determinants of health.
- Collaborating with a diverse interdisciplinary health care team, through activities such as attending clinics, contributing to case consultation discussions, attending departmental rounds.
- Contributing personal strengths, skills, and knowledge to the field of Transgender Healthcare.
Practicum Requirements:
(Click on all the boxes that apply.)
☒ Immunizations per PHA Guidelines
☒ N95 Respirator/Mask Fitting
☒ Covid Vaccinations
☐ Influenza Vaccination (Flu shot)
☒ Police Reference/Vulnerable Sector Check
☐ Driver’s License
☐ Use of Own Car
☐ Travel by public transportation between home visits, or satellite offices, or community meetings, etc.
☒ Comfort working with the population being served
☒ Comprehensive report writing and documentation
☒ Lived experience/Current member of the community being served
☐ Evening attendance
☐ Weekend attendance
☐ Changing shift attendance
☐ Language (specify in field below)
Other requirements:
Preference for candidates who are members of the 2SLGBTQ+ communities.
Experience providing direct support (counselling, crisis line, case management) either in a past practicum or work environment.
Please select Fields(s) of Study:
(click on all boxes that apply.)
☒ Children and their Families
☒ Social Justice and Diversity
☒ Mental Health and Health
☐ Social Work in Gerontology
☐ Human Services Management & Leadership
Indigenous Trauma and Resiliency
Does your practicum require any previous experience?
(If yes, please specify.)
It is expected for the successful candidate to feel comfortable carrying a reasonable caseload of patients, to provide short-term, evidence-based therapeutic interventions. Therefore, training and prior experience providing direct support either in a past practicum or work environment with youth and their families would be an asset.
Is this practicum in-person, remote or hybrid?
In person
Will this practicum involve direct work or a mix of direct and indirect?
Mix of direct and indirect
Number of practicums offered:
1
Field Instructor name and credentials:
Christina Vasilopoulos MSW, RSW
Application deadline:
April 7th 2025
Do you require a resume? Or resume and cover letter?
Resume and Cover letter
Accessibility Considerations:
- Will the student have access to a private space for notes or computer use? Yes
- Are there breaks between clients/patients/meetings? Yes
- Is the practicum considered fast-paced? Fast
- Is there a high noise level in the practicum? Medium
- Is the site wheelchair accessible? Yes
- What are the physical demands of the practicum? Walking back and forth between main hospital and patient support center.
- Are there any other accessibility considerations that potential applicants with disabilities should be aware of?
- This is a fast-paced practicum setting with multiple competing demands. Comfort with this environment as well as with last minute changes are important.
- Students need to complete all chart notes and reports in a timely fashion for clients assigned to them, as this is part of professional and ethical conduct, and accountability to client welfare. While we will do our best to accommodate individual student needs, we are unable to support accommodations that exempt students from this requirement.
To apply for this practicum, please send a cover letter and resume to miri.ben.dat@utoronto.ca by 4pm on April 7, 2025. Applications will be sent to the site.