Human Services History

The History of Human Services

Margaret Soria

HHS201: Introduction to Human Services

Instructor Angela Anderson

August 4, 2013

Human services are an ability that everyone has. People have been helping people for centuries. Neighbors help each other with food, rides, housework, and babysitting. Assisting our neighbors, family, and friends is something everyone does. Human services is listening with empathy and trying to understand the other person’s perspective on the situation. Human services beginnings are in charitable actions of religious and civic organizations. The academic discipline of human services did not start until the 1960s. Human service workers have
a variety of titles such as: priests, psychologists, family therapists, guidance counselors, teachers, self help group leaders, counselors, social workers, shelter volunteers, foster parents, volunteers, child protective workers or hot line workers. Helping people is a natural part of human beings. As stated by Michael Stoller, “Without Human Services we wouldn’t be able to claim to be human.” We receive assistance and want to pay it forward. A functioning and successful society needs human services started way back in the 1800’s with churches helping the poor, sick, and hungry. However, in the 1900’s it was given a name and a career title. The goals of the human services are many.
Human service workers assist people with their challenges in life. There are many different things they can do to help. However, their main goal is to teach people how to help themselves. They educate people on services available in aiding their needs. The goal is to help people in need and sometimes this is harder than it sounds. Human service workers help with support groups, counseling, money, food, shelter, and clothing to families or people in need. The workers go out everyday and try to provide people with assistance or put people on paths that will aid them. There is not as many people willing to help someone in need. This economy is failing everyone. There are over 300 programs out there to assist people in need. However, people need to know about these
services. Society and circumstances shape helping behavior.
How people help their neighbors through tragedies and circumstances will determine how that society will thrive. As Claude Levi Strauss said, “It is the principle of reciprocity that holds a society together”. People have been helping each other survive for hundreds of years. Humans brand an action as kind by its performance, consequences, and by the person 's intentions. Reciprocity is considered a determining factor of human behavior. Reciprocity is trading favors or making a negotiation or a contract with another person. With reciprocity, a small favor can produce a sense of obligation to a larger return favor. This feeling of obligation allows an action to be reciprocated with another action. However, there is a sense of future obligation with reciprocity. It can help develop and continue relationships with people. Reciprocity works because children are taught at a young age to be polite and return favors. We teach our youth to treat people the way we would want to be treated. As parents, we raise our children the way we were raised. The poor are usually uneducated and socially handicapped. Therefore, they don’t have the tools to train their children to be successful and independent. They don’t encourage their children to get a higher education. So the economically challenged parents raise children who are usually financially challenged. Schools need to start talking to middle school students about higher education
and teach the parents how to aide their children in attaining a college degree. Our society needs to do better at educating and aiding their citizens. People make the world go around. We see people in need and want to offer assistance. As an educator, I want to provide my student’s parents with information and programs to help them raise their children with special needs. Human services is the tool needed to keep our society flowing. Without human services, our society would fail.

References
Austin, W., Bergum, V., Nuttgens, S., & Peternelj-Taylor, C. (2006). A re-visioning of boundaries in professional helping relationships: Exploring other metaphors. Ethics & Behavior, 16(2), 77-94. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Mandell, B.R. & Schram, B. (2012). An introduction to human services: Policy and practice (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
YouTube. (2009). “The meaning of human services” Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4XrBTBN2Ew.