Human Service Professionals and Helping Skills

BSHS/305

Humans are not always able to meet their own needs. Everyone needs help at some point in their life. Whether it is help paying the rent or help paying for lunch, it is a sure thing. Human services have come about to help meet the needs of individuals, groups and communities and improve their quality of life. In order to get this help, clients simply need to know where to look for it. The most common stereotypes for recipients of human services are the elderly and low income single mothers. These stereotypes are false because people from all walks of life can find themselves in need of help from one day to the next. The growth of human problems in the modern world have caused an ever growing number of people to feel alienated and isolated from their neighborhoods and communities. The lack of close family ties has made it to where people can no longer count on family and neighbors to share everyday joys and sorrows and assist in times of need and crisis. Many human service professionals find that giving their clients the chance to be self-sufficient an important part of successful service delivery.

Human service professionals engage clients and the community in the helping process in a number of ways. These ways can take on many different forms such as collecting information from the consumer and other sources, searching for sources of help, figuring out how to approach a problem and talking about emotions. The specific form of engagement used in a situation depends on the human services professional and what their specific expertise is. The method by which human service professionals and clients are matched is completely random, but nonetheless there is evidence that points to the fact that some level of interpersonal compatibility is key to having a good working relationship. If unable to help a client, a human service professional should reach out to the community to find resources to help said client. This process may have to be repeated until the client’s needs are successfully met.

Preparation is the first stage of the helping process and deals with ensuring the meeting place is comfortable for the client prior to their arrival. This can be accomplished by making sure there is nothing that will be a barrier (desk, table, etc.) between the human service professional and the client. Looking up any information available about the client before they arrive enables the human service professional to have the appropriate forms and documents ready. The next stage is when the client reaches the meeting place the human service professional should make introductions, small talk, and generally make the client feel as comfortable as possible. This small talk should eventually get to the reason for the client’s visit and should cover expectation management and some general background information on the agency. Next, the human service professional should pay close attention to the specifics of the client’s problem and keep in mind that they may be multidimensional as they are exploring it. During the intervention strategies stage the human service professional and the client set goals and come up with ways these goals can be achieved to resolve the problem. These goals can be learning a new skill, job assistance, getting help paying bills, or finding a way to get money or funding to pursue a higher education. The final stage of the helping process is termination. This happens when the client has met their goals and resolved their problem successfully or when the client has to continue services with another entity.

Some helping skills that can be used with clients are nonverbal messages, verbal messages, listening and responding. Nonverbal messages or behaviors (body language) include lifting an eyebrow, eye contact, cocking the head to the side, head nodding, and crossed arms. These nonverbal cues speak volumes to the observer. They can mean anything from approval to disdain and boredom. There is truth in the old adage that says it is not so much what you say as how you say it. Spoken words carry a meaning even if we don’t realize what we are saying. This in a nutshell is verbal messaging. A human service professional must be aware of the different cultures and mindsets they may come into contact with on a daily basis because of the fact that what is harmless in one culture can be downright offensive in another. Listening and responding is critical to building a good helping relationship. The human service professional should learn to actively listen to what the client has to say, making sure to give feedback. This feedback can include asking questions about the subject and making personal connections about things that may be similar in the human service professional’s life. Restructuring the client’s own words into an informed question shows that the human service professional is paying attention. Each client’s personal history influences who they are as a person. For example, a client who has endured a lifetime of abuse and neglect would most likely have a very different reaction than an individual who was wealthy and loved. Their culture and demeanor can affect every aspect of their life including how receptive they are to receiving help. Some cultures perceive reaching out for help as a sign of weakness and may shy away from services offered. Human service professionals may find cultural hurdles to be the hardest to overcome when dealing with clients from varied cultural backgrounds.

Human service professionals have to overcome many obstacles in order to bring services to clients in need. They draw on their knowledge of the different stages of the human services helping skills to ensure that their clients are comfortable feel like they can share their problems with them. Human service professionals’ ability to put their clients at ease allows them to get to the root of the problem and see the aspects of it that their clients may not see. Helping their clients set goals and strive to achieve them brings a measure of structure to their lives that would be otherwise lacking. Human service professionals strive to have a successful service relationship, hopefully one that ends in termination because the client achieved their goals and resolved their problem. In doing so, human service professionals will have achieved the overall goal of human services; to help people solve their problems.

References:

Agranoff, R. (1991). Human services integration: Past and present challenges in public administration. Public Administration Review, 51(6), 533. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197162119?accountid=35812

Dickens, P. (1996). Human services as service industries. The Service Industries Journal, 16(1), 82. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/203342462?accountid=35812

Hicks, R. E., & Guy, G. (1995). Selecting for professional education and training in human services: Part 1 – processes and issues. Education & Training, 37(8), 9. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/237071621?accountid=35812

Woodside, M., & McClam, T. (2002). An Introduction to Human Services. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

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