Tosha Hawes
BSHS/305
Instructor: Angela Murray
The Range of Problems facing Human Service Clients
Clients are rarely dealing with just one issue at a time. Individuals, groups, and communities are facing a wide range of problems. These problems could range from housing needs, food, mental illness, drug abuse, or family issues, which may be difficult to deal with on just one level. Those individuals or groups and the problems they are facing are the reason why professional Human Service Helpers are needed in the world. In this paper, I will be discussing some of the problems the clients face and what helping skills human service workers use to assist the client with dealing with those issues and acquiring a better quality of life.
The developmental perspective, according to the text, is described as human development being a continuous process and that there are certain phases and stages that individuals experience during their life span. (Woodside & McClam 2012) Even though every human will go through the 8 stages of life which is Basic trust vs. Basic mistrust; autonomy vs. shame and doubt; initiative vs. guilt; industry vs. inferiority; identity vs. role confusion; intimacy vs. isolation; generativity vs. stagnation and ego integrity vs. despair, we don’t experience any of these stages the same. Erikson’s stage model is one of the many perspectives on the developmental of humans. For example, the basic trust versus basic mistrust means humans learn at the infant stage to trust in an environment that consistently provides for their needs. If a child did not receive adequate care as a child, human development may be affected causing issues later on in the future. Developmental tasks are addressed within the individuals’ social context and the context may not support individual development. (Woodside & McClam 2012). Using a developmental model to view the clients’ problems may help give the human service
References: Woodside, M.R. & McClam, T. (2012). An Introduction to Human Services (7th ed).