Interviewing and Writing Skills

The preparation of investigative reports is one of the major duties of community youth probation officers. In addition to meeting the legislative and policy requirements when writing pre-sentence reports, community youth probation officers write many other reports, letters, and summaries. This course was designed to cover key aspects of investigative report writing, including interviewing skills and writing skills. This course sets the foundation for the next course, YJUS-1108: Youth Reports, which details the specific legal and policy requirements for all the various types of youth reports. This course is presented in two sections; the first, interviewing skills, provides a basic foundation for conducting investigative interviews. The second section, writing skills, demonstrates how to prepare clear, concise, and professional reports. By the end of this course you will be able to describe effective communication skills and techniques, apply appropriate communication skills in an interview, explain each of the key steps to effective writing, and write a clear and concise report. This course is only available to Ministry of Children and Family Development employees, as identified in their Youth Probation Training Plan.