At Portage Atlantic, recovery is not just about sobriety, it’s also about rebuilding lives and futures. That’s why the Youth Skilled Trades Exploration Program (STEP) pilot was launched: to give youth in treatment the chance to gain meaningful, hands-on experience in skilled trades while working on their personal growth.<\/p>\n
The STEP<\/a> is a powerful partnership between Portage Atlantic<\/a>, the Government of New Brunswick<\/a>, NBCC<\/a>, and Skilled Trades NB. The goal? To create a welcoming and exploratory program that opens the door to real apprenticeship opportunities for youth who choose to pursue the trades.<\/p>\n Participants take part in morning or afternoon sessions, with separate programming for each community. Under the guidance of Red Seal-certified instructors, residents are introduced to a variety of trades, including:<\/p>\n Each module provides hands-on training and accredited hours that can be counted toward an official apprenticeship, offering a direct path to career development after graduation.<\/p>\n Residents have already explored several trades through the STEP pilot, each offering a unique set of skills and challenges. The program began with the Insulator Trade<\/a>, led by Red Seal Insulator Darren LeBlanc, where youth suited up with proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and learned to install insulation, put up chipboard, and prep surfaces for painting.<\/p>\n They then moved into the Plumbing Trade<\/a>, practicing how to work with pipes, fittings, and tools – gaining confidence as they mastered the fundamentals of a critical trade. Currently, they are engaged in the Bricklaying and Landscaping module<\/a>, shaping gardens, laying bricks, and learning the value of teamwork. Next up is Carpentry, where residents will continue building hands-on experience and practical skills essential to the construction field.<\/p>\n The Youth STEP program reflects Portage Atlantic’s commitment to innovation, empowerment, and creating real opportunities for youth in treatment. And as this pilot program continues, the impact will only grow – brick by brick, trade by trade, life by life.<\/p>\n\t Share the article:<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Facebook\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Linkedin\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At Portage Atlantic, recovery is not just about sobriety, it’s also about rebuilding lives and futures. That’s why the Youth Skilled Trades Exploration Program (STEP) pilot was launched: to give youth in treatment the chance to gain meaningful, hands-on experience in skilled trades while working on their personal growth. The STEP is a powerful partnership… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":43674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[175,267],"class_list":["post-43665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-atlantic-news","tag-adolescents","tag-new-brunswick"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43665"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46672,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43665\/revisions\/46672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n