BG unit 9 HN205

Brandon Gandy
HN205 Applied Skill for Human Services
Prof: Lori Rice
Unit 9 Assignment

The field of Human Services is broadly defined, uniquely approaching the objective of meeting human needs through an interdisciplinary knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of service populations. The Human Services profession is one which promotes improved service delivery systems by addressing not only the quality of direct services, but also by seeking to improve accessibility, accountability, and coordination among professionals and agencies in service delivery. (http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/what-is-human-services). "Human services professional" is a generic term for people who hold professional and paraprofessional jobs in such diverse settings as group homes and halfway houses; correctional, intellectual disability, and community mental health centers; family, child, and youth service agencies, and programs concerned with alcoholism, drug abuse, family violence, and aging. Depending on the employment setting and the kinds of clients served there, job titles and duties vary a great deal. The primary purpose of the human services professional is to assist individual and communities to function as effectively as possible in the major domains of living. A strong desire to help others is an important consideration for a job as a human services worker. Individuals who show patience, understanding, and caring in their dealings with others are highly valued by employers. Other important personal traits include communication skills, a strong sense of responsibility, and the ability to manage time effectively. (http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/what-is-human-services). When you think about it we all are in the human service field in some way or another, helping someone across the street, picking up something someone dropped for them, helping for the holidays, these are all ways of helping your fellow man/woman. The bigger difference is the profession of human service goes further to do this every day not just on a random whim. When it comes to helping a family on the brink of splitting up because abuse, violence, or any other unthinkable act against a child will you help or just turn a cold shoulder, a human service worker has made a choice to put themselves as an advocate for the child/family to intervene and provide a safe haven or way out and away from the problem. When looking at Todd and Reggie, they really are going through a lot separately let alone together as a couple. You know off the bat that this will not be a quick couple of sessions and call it a day, these guys have a lot of things going on from death to substance abuse to being homosexual, which has been not as taboo as it has been in the past few years. The need separate counseling to air out their own personal issues then once that has been dealt with then try tackling couples therapy. Categories give order to life, and every day, we group other people into categories based on social and other characteristics. This is the foundation of stereotypes, prejudice and, ultimately, discrimination. A stereotype is an exaggerated belief, image or distorted truth about a person or group — a generalization that allows for little or no individual differences or social variation. Stereotypes are based on images in mass media, or reputations passed on by parents, peers and other members of society. Stereotypes can be positive or negative. A prejudice is an opinion, prejudgment or attitude about a group or its individual members. A prejudice can be positive, but in our usage refers to a negative attitude. Many of the prejudices and discrimination are passed down to the other generations. When the media and parents perpetuate degrading stereotypes and images about certain groups of people tend to discriminate others who belong to such groups. People with authoritarian personalities tend to prejudice as well since their thinking has its base on unconscious fears. Ethnocentrism makes people to evaluate other people's culture based on their own and they are usually suspicious of outsiders. Group closure which involves keeping clear boundaries between groups with different characteristics could be another cause. The conflict theory suggests that the people who belong to the majority, the high social class and the privileged groups try very hard to hold on such positions. Any kind of competition especially from the minority can bring violence and conflict between them. In America, for example, black patients may go to a white counselor with negative expectations and biases. A recommendation to them would be to seek grief, alcohol, and substance abuse counseling aside from what they are getting. There may also be other programs Reggie could look into for employment help as he is not really finding anything with the STARS program. It seems as if Reggie and Todd may need time apart before they can become a couple, They really need to sit down and be honest with each other and see if this really going anywhere or are they just hanging on in hopes something changes for the better.

Resources http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/what-is-human-services http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199805/where-bias-begins-the-truth-about-stereotypes