Importance Of Working In The Human Service Field

Working within the human service field having proper skill sets is important. I believe that no matter the situation whether it be within a primary, secondary or tertiary prevention level all the skills a human service worker obtains will be utilized. I feel that the skills you go into the field with, along with skills you will gain while in the field all get utilized to the same degree. Now depending on the severity of the situation shows how often specific skills are utilized. I will list several skills human service workers should have when entering the field or shortly after entering the field will maintain. I will then utilize a table to list skills often utilized in specific prevention levels (primary, secondary and tertiary) Using the
table it will give a visual of how often skills a human service worker will be utilized in several prevention situations.

Working in the human service field you will obtain several skill sets. Many of them will be utilized in several situations. There is not specific skill used in only one area. I feel that with the many skills you obtain, every situation will require you to adjust the way you utilize them. While working in the field you will find yourself working within different levels of prevention.
Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Interventions. The Primary intervention is dealing with try to prevent an occurrence of a problem by concentrating on the environmental stressors and working on dealing with them before they begin to effect ones behavior in a manner that will worsen. For example, beginning signs of the use of illegal substances or alcohol. Dealing with the situation around an individual demonstrating a signs of stress and the use of either illegal substances or alcohol to cope with the stress. This type of scenario would classify under a primary level of prevention. In which a service within the human service field could be called
in. Using this same scenario case if it was to be referred into a human service program from a concerned source but the situation was that an individual was using illegal substances or alcohol an is demonstrating physical or verbal aggression towards others. The individuals family and friends have tried several attempts to try to help the individual address and begin to treat their issue. This scenario would classify under the secondary level of prevention. If an individual has had an extensive history of illegal substance or alcohol use and it has gotten out of control and is not enabling oneself to care for self, and or is a danger to ones self or others. Family and friends have not been successful in getting individual to work on ones needs, this scenario would classify as a tertiary level prevention.

As a human service worker going into any of the scenarios above would require for the worker to have several skills to be able to effectively assist an individual or family in need. I have provided a list of what I feel are some skills a human service worker should have. Suggested skills listed are not limited to.

Empathy, having empathy allows you as a worker to be able to have compassion and victoriously experience a person's situation.
Listening Skills, being able to actively listen and obtain the information a client is giving allows you as a worker to understand and appropriately assist with what your client wants rather than what you want.
Verbal and written communication skills, as a worker you will need to be able to obtain and communicate a lot of information to appropriate individuals, having strong written and verbal communications skills is a necessity to be able to effectively provide information where and when needed.
Boundaries, being sure “mixed signals” are not being crossed between worker and client is important. Being a human service worker you are coming into a situation in which supports are limited to the client. Clients tend to be very vulnerable and could see a worker as a “friend” over time and keeping a professional relationship with clients is extremely important so that the therapeutic process is always protected.
Organizational Skills, many clients you come in contact with are in a very stressful time in their lives and organization is something they could be really lacking. Being organized is very important as you will often be multi-tasking, the ability to prioritize which work is required to be done in which order is extremely
important.

Like stated before these are only a few skills that as a human service worker you should obtain. The nice thing is that some of these you may naturally have which is a great thing and others will be quickly learned.