Human Services Problems

Modern world problems and solutions of human services
BSHS/305
November 14, 2013

In the modern world there are a growing number of problems that human service clients face daily. Problems in living are among the top of the list because of the growing number of individuals not always capable of meeting and maintaining their own personal needs. These clients can range in age, race, and gender the majority of these clients require long-term assistance from human services to maintain a safe and healthy lifestyle. A large percentage of human service clients are homeless. Homelessness has been a problem in the human services field. As the economy continues to deteriorate and the number of social service
and housing funding cuts increase so does the number of homeless clients. “According” to the national alliance to end homelessness the national rate of homelessness in America was 20 homeless people per every 10,000 people in the general population. The rate for veterans was even larger with 29 homeless veterans per every 10,000 people in the general population. Homeless clients can be among the most difficult because these clients commonly have a multitude of issues ranging from health care needs, Mental illness/physical limitations, substance abuse, and most important the pursuit of a safe, stable, and healthy shelter or living environment.
Another problem continuing to increase within this diverse group of individuals are the number of teen pregnancy human service clients. According to the CDC (Center for dieses control) babies born to born to women ages 15-19 years are 29.4 births per 1,000 women. Most of these teen moms already reside in undesirable living conditions making it difficult for them to survive without the assistance of human services to maintain a safe and healthy environment for themselves and an infant. Many of these teen parents face issues such as unemployment, childcare, medical expenses, and most important
homelessness.

Because most of these teen moms have come from some sort of systematic home “e.g.,” (Group home, teen shelter,) or some type of organizational institutions that lacks the proper funding and resources to assist with the issues the majority of these clients will face a vast multitude of problems. Without receiving the proper assistance for these issues these clients find themselves in a critically serious situation that in the majority of cases the infant is immediately placed into the social service system and the teen parent finds herself homeless. This is a concerning problem because the increasing and continual rate of teen pregnancies/ homelessness have begun to contribute to other human service problems such as mental illness/physical limitations. Because of the lack of housing assistance and medical care many of the children born to these teen parents will be born with some type mental illness or physical limitation that may go untreated for years before diagnosed by a health care professional. Mental and physical limitations is also considered a major problem concerning human services clients. The majority of clients receiving assistance from human services also have a mental illness or physical disabilities. This makes it very difficult for these clients to maintain a safe and healthy lifestyle without assistance from family members. Those unable to obtain support from family members most commonly require long-term assistance from human services. The majority of the clients suffering from mental illness/physical limitations also have other concerning issues “such as” Substance abuse. Substance abuse along with homelessness and mental health/physical disabilities makes it difficult for human service professionals to acquire the best most manageable solution for the problems these select clients face daily. The majority of the problems Plaguing human service clients are Mental illness, homelessness, and substance. Substance abuse and children/teens ages (0-18) living in a household with substance abuse is a major problem that plagues human service clients. This is a very critical issue for the majority of human service clients because many of these clients also have more very concerning issues besides the substance abuse. Substance abuse seems to be a common factor and trend in a majority of human service clients. According to mental health America (MHA) there are 25 million Americans affected by substance abuse. There are 40 million Americans indirectly affected by substance abuse also “e.g.,” the families of the abusers the victims and also the abusers themselves. The majority of the 40 million American will require some form of assistance from the human services departments. Because relapse in substance abuse is one of the largest problems faced by clients attaining a solution can never be one set plan, goal, or solution for substance abuse.
It has to be a joint effort taken by the client and the human services professionals in not only substance abuse all human services issues that a client may encounter. As the problems of this modern world continue to grow so must the helping skills of the modern human services professionals. All human services professionals must maintain a high level of good communication skills that range in diversity considering the many types of clients these professionals will be providing assistance for. Problem recognition is a vital communication tool when applying conflict resolution with a majority of the human service clients. Working to recognize the multitude of different problems and situations that many of the human service client’s face is one of the most important skill’s the human services professional can apply when providing assistance to those clients. An accurate diagnosis for certain problems clients may be facing should be aggressively performed by the human service professional. Professionals must be able to gather information, decipher the key elements of the problem, and apply conflict resolution in solving the
problem. Once these helping skills have been applied the human service professional must create multiple solutions so that the client has more confidence in the resolution of the problem. Most important the human service professional must present these solutions in the form of suggestions to the clients to maintain the helping role perception versus ordering the client to complete any task or suggestions. Orders given to a client by a professional can alter the client’s perception toward the human service professional. This can cause difficulties in the relationship between human service professional and clients. Human services professional should maintain a helping role perception versus the authority role perception. A vital skill human service professionals should poses is the ability to enable the client to become self-sufficient. Self –sufficiency is very important when considering the range of problems a majority of the client’s face also the time and man hours it requires to solve a majority of those problems. Assisting clients in becoming self-sufficient plays a key role in the helping process because it affords clients the opportunity to become economically self-sufficient this strengthens a client’s self-esteem it also educates clients on financial values. Human services professional must poses a multitude of skills “e.g.,” communication, compassion understanding, integrity, and open mindedness. They must have problem-solving skills also a keen sense of conflict resolution. These professionals will be assisting clients with a diverse collection of issues continuing to grow with the ever changing-modern world. Substance abuse, homelessness, and mental health/physical limitations are among the majority of the problems faced by both professional and client. The modern human services professional must also know themselves and resolve any personal issues they may have before they can assist with clients. The successful resolution of issues can be obtained, and maintained only through a balanced relationship between human service professional and human service client with understanding and trust from all participants.

References.
Mental health America (MHA), National alliance to end homelessness, National institute of mental health (NIMH), Wikipedia, Readings Ch.1 – Ch. 7