Human services professionals play a very crucial role in the society we live in today. They serve the community in many ways and make the community a better place. Human services professionals’ primary function in the community is to help people as individuals, family units, and organizations deal with different obstacles and achieve different goals. Human service professionals’ roles are multidisciplinary, whereby even if they have some typical duties, their duties are broad in range. People in this profession offer a wide range of services which range from mental and physical to social assistance. Human services professionals use guidance and counseling to assist people with mental, physical, and emotional problems. There are other ways people in this profession assist people in need of assistance which depend on the nature of the challenge at hand. Still, some of the standard solutions are working with people in other organizations and professions to help the victim, among other solutions. Among all the roles of a human service profession, it is also necessary to ensure clients understand the available resources and access community resources. In achieving the client’s understanding, different strategies are usually employed. Some of the strategies employed to create awareness are; using technology and social media to reach many people as possible, holding community events that create awareness, informing clients in person, and creating resource directories with the necessary information. As a Human Services professional, helping clients in need is my passion, but at times, clients come seeking help but do not heed the advice given, and I end up not agreeing with their choices. A good example is a client who is an alcohol and cocaine addict and is homeless too. Helping this client is possible through different services, but there may be a clash of values.
The client at hand is struggling with alcohol and cocaine addiction, and he is a homeless man, and several services could help. The client has faced many challenges from the addiction whereby the client was recently fired by his employer, he was divorced by his wife in the recent past, the client’s physical health has deteriorated drastically, and the client was unable to pay his rent, and that is how he ended up homeless. The client should stop drug abuse, get a place to stay, and get a new job to enjoy a better life. All the repercussions experienced by the client point back to the drug addiction. My duty and passion as a human service professional are to assist this man in achieving his short-term and long-term goals(Walden University, 2022). Several services are needed in the current situation to help this man escape the jaws of alcohol and cocaine addiction and achieve other goals in life. The services that might be needed for this particular client are going to a rehabilitation center, guidance and counseling services, medical treatment, and job-seeking assistance (Rantonen et al., 2019).
The services this client needs will go a long way in ensuring we achieve a better state and lifestyle for this client. A rehabilitation center is necessary for this client to deal with his alcohol and cocaine addiction problem. In the rehabilitation center, the client will meet with different experts who will help him stop using the drugs with time, and they will even have ways of dealing with withdrawal symptoms. The rehabilitation center will help the client stop using the drugs, where he will be closely monitored and assisted at all times during the period. Guidance and counseling services will also be necessary for this client in many ways. The client may suffer from stress, depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders (Rantonen et al., 2019). Considering that the client was divorced by his wife, fired by his employee, and left without a place to stay, it is more likely that this has negatively impacted the client’s mental health. Guidance and counseling will help deal with all the mental problems the client may be undergoing and help him regain a state of mental tranquility. The client will also need medical attention, whereby it is necessary for the client to visit a health center for screening and check-ups. The client has been abusing alcohol and cocaine, which may have caused much damage to different organs in the body; therefore, the client must go for screening and check-ups. If the doctors discover a problem that needs some special attention, the necessary steps will be taken to curb this. As a human service professional helping the client after rehabilitation and treatment get a job would be essential (Columbia,2018). This client will need a job to pay his bills and live a better life. I would refer the client to good employees concerning his profession after seeing that the client is now fully sober and free of drug abuse.
There is a very high likelihood of a clash of values between me as the human service professional and the client. The potential clash of values entails a list of possibilities(Kurzman, 2012). The client may try to deny that the drugs may have caused him all the other repercussions; the client may also claim that he does not want to stop taking drugs since they make him feel happy; he may also claim that he does not need to rent a place to live everyday life and many other ideas that I will not entirely agree. As a professional, I must uphold my client’s safety regardless of his ideas and beliefs by respecting his autonomy and dignity and not judging him. In the case of a clash of values, I might take a different approach and respectfully try to talk the client into accepting the solutions at hand. In a clash of values, my ability to provide the appropriate community resources might be negatively impacted since the client might miss out on essential resources. My services and the available resources might not be as effective as they could be if there is a clash of values(Columbia,2018).
Helping different kinds of clients is possible and vital regardless of the clash of values from time to time. Human services professionals are very instrumental in the world. The fact that personnel from this profession help individuals, organizations, families, and other establishments makes this profession very necessary in society. A human service professional is unlimited as much as other professions, whereby it is flexible since the services offered vary according to the client’s needs. This profession works hand in hand with other organizations and professions to ensure the welfare of society as a whole.
References
Rantonen, O., Alexanderson, K., Clark, A. J., Aalto, V., Sónden, A., Brønnum-Hansen, H., … & Salo, P. (2019). Antidepressant treatment among social workers, human service professionals, and non-human service professionals: A multi-cohort study in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. Journal of Affective Disorders, 250, 153-162. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032718331963
Columbia, C. (2018, June 6). Responsibilities of a Human Services Professional – Columbia College Calgary. Columbia College Calgary – International Comparison of Quality Education. https://www.columbia.ab.ca/responsibilities-human-services-professional/#:~:text=Core%20responsibilities%20of%20human%20services,prevent%20different%20forms%20of%20abuse
Kurzman, P. A. (2012, January 1). Workplace Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-373932-2.00087-9
Walden University. (2022, October 22). What Do Human Services Professionals Do?https://www.waldenu.edu/online-masters-programs/ms-in-human-services/resource/what-do-human-services-professionals-do
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