Child and Adolescents Needs and Strengths (CANS) tool

I am heading for this certification with Social Service Institute (SSI) and I found the following pretty useful as an educator. They also used a Learning Management System for the e-learning components and I think it was fairly engaging although a bit lengthy.

Certified User for Child and Adolescents Needs and Strengths (CANS) 

Overview:

Numerous researches have suggested clients respond favourably when the right level of care is accorded to their needs. Too little care leads to service inadequacy and negates effectiveness; too much care causes resource wastage and deprives the more needy others.
How do we quantify and measure the level of needs and strengths for the clients when each individual is different and unique? How do we measure the needs and strengths and use the information for service planning, intervention, respond to new needs as individual case workers, agency level or even at a system level?

For this simple reason – their needs and strengths must unfold rightly before the appropriate care and services could be determined. Encapsulated in the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) communimetric assessment tool, professionals working collaboratively have a common assessment tool for service planning and intervention. The CANS communimetric assessment tool not only help caseworkers on the holistic assessment, to target the area of interventions bearing in mind the strengths of the C&Y and their families, the information will also be useful at the agency and system level planning, resourcing as well as research which will help in evidence informed service delivery.

In alliance with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), Social Service Institute (SSI) offers the CANS certification training – a critical step towards the renewed approach to the C&Y Service Model. Through our signature Task-based Learning approach, you will acquire critical competencies in administering CANS.

Learning Outcome:
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
1. Illustrate how the TCOM framework is used in working with children, youth and families.
2. Relate the applications of TCOM in the local context
3. Rationalise the use of standardised assessment tools for communication
4. Analyse the characteristics of the CANS assessment tool
5. Quantify client’s needs and strengths using the CANS assessment tool
6. Analyse the needs and strengths to be prioritised in a case plan
7. Formulate a case plan to address prioritised needs and strengths