SickKids (The Hospital for Sick Children), Gender Care Clinic

Year 2 Practicum, September 2026- April 2027

Name of Practicum Site, Unit or Program:

Gender Care Clinic, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children

Location:

The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Toronto, ON (onsite practicum)

Description of the practicum site and student activities:

The Gender Care 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, attending and engaging with peer consultation offerings, 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:

☒ Immunizations per PHA Guidelines

☒ N95 Respirator/Mask Fitting

☒ Covid Vaccinations

☒ Police Reference/Vulnerable Sector Check

☒ Comfort working with the population being served

☒ Comprehensive report writing and documentation

☒ Lived experience/Current member of the community being served

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 is essential.

Please select Fields(s) of Study:

☒ Children and their Families

☒ Social Justice and Diversity

☒ Mental Health and Health

Does your practicum require any previous experience?

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 is necessary.

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 both with a greater emphasis on direct.

Number of practicums offered:

Field Instructor name and credentials:

Christina Vasilopoulos MSW, RSW

Application deadline:

March 24, 2026

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. Sitting during intakes and appointments.

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.

If you are interested in this practicum, please send a cover letter and resume to leah.potash@utoronto.ca by March 24th @ 4PM. Applications will be sent to the site.