Brief History of Human Services

• 1950s and 1960s - there were dramatic changes in the

area of helping those in need.

• Populations like the poor, the unemployed, children in

need, the elderly, the disabled, the substance abuser and
others began to be recognized as needing social and
rehabilitation services.
 Brief History of Human Services

• The community based mental health system necessitated

that professionals be trained in a different manner.
• “Grass Roots" (started by the clients) level activism
created opportunities for new approaches to human
services. Amidst all these changes, a new class of workers
was born.
• Mental Health Workers- Originally called paraprofessionals
 Brief History of Human Services

• Generalists are trained in a wide variety of helping

interventions so that they may provide direct services to
individuals or groups with a diversity of needs.

• These generalists also work in many different service

settings integrating and coordinating the efforts of
specialized professionals.
 Brief History of Human Services

Skills:
• Interviewing
• Observing and recording pertinent information
• Conducting groups
• Implementing treatment plans
• Consulting with other workers & agencies
• Mobilizing and utilizing community resources
• Problem solving
• Advocating for clients
• Direct support
• Social skill training
 Brief History of Human Services

Experiential Learning or Learning-By-Doing

- A major component of all human service education

Dr. Harold Lawrence McPheeters

considered by many to be the founder of
human services education in the United
States.
 Human Services

Human services is an interdisciplinary field of study with the objective

of meeting human needs through an applied knowledge base,
focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and
maintaining a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of
service populations. The process involves the study of social
technologies (practice methods, models, and theories), service
technologies (programs, organizations, and systems), and scientific
innovations that are designed to ameliorate problems and enhance the
quality of life of individuals, families and communities to improve the
delivery of service with better coordination, accessibility and
accountability.
 Mission

The mission of human services is to

promote a practice that involves
simultaneously working at all levels
of society (whole-person approach)
in the process of promoting the
autonomy of individuals or groups,
making informal or formal human
services systems more efficient and
effective, and advocating for
positive social change within
society.
 Development

Joann Chenault and Fran Burnford

argued that human services programs must educate and train
students at the graduate or postgraduate level if human services
hoped to be considered a professional discipline.

Audrey Cohen (1932–1996) established a progressive graduate

human services program, she was considered an innovative
educator for her time.
 Practitioners

• Human services practitioners strive to

advance the autonomy of service
users through civic engagement,
education, health promotion and
social change at all levels of society.

• Practitioners also engage in advocating

so human systems remain
accessible, integrated, efficient and
effective.
 Human Services Professionals

"Human Services Professional" is a generic term for people who hold

professional and paraprofessional jobs in such diverse settings as
group homes and halfway houses; correctional, intellectual disability,
and community mental health centers; family, child, and youth service
agencies, and programs concerned with alcoholism, drug abuse,
family violence, and aging.

The primary purpose of the human services professional is to assist

individual and communities to function as effectively as possible in
the major domains of living.
 Generic Human Services Professional
Competencies

1) Understanding the nature of human

systems: individual, group, organization,
community and society, and their major
interactions. All workers will have preparation
which helps them to understand human
development, group dynamics, organizational
structure, how communities are organized,
how national policy is set, and how social
systems interact in producing human
problems.
 Generic Human Services Professional
Competencies

2) Understanding the conditions which promote or limit

optimal functioning and classes of deviations from desired
functioning in the major human systems. Workers will have
understanding of the major models of causation that are
concerned with both the promotion of healthy functioning
and with treatment-rehabilitation. This includes medically
oriented, socially oriented, psychologically-behavioral
oriented, and educationally oriented models.
 Generic Human Services Professional
Competencies

3) Skill in identifying and selecting interventions which

promote growth and goal attainment. The worker will be
able to conduct a competent problem analysis and to select
those strategies, services or interventions that are
appropriate to helping clients attain a desired outcome.
Interventions may include assistance, referral, advocacy, or
direct counseling.
 Generic Human Services Professional
Competencies

4) Skill in planning, implementing and evaluating

interventions. The worker will be able to design a plan of
action for an identified problem and implement the plan in a
systematic way. This requires an understanding of
problems analysis, decision-analysis, and design of work
plans. This generic skill can be used with all social systems
and adapted for use with individual clients or
organizations. Skill in evaluating the interventions is
essential.
 Generic Human Services Professional
Competencies

5) Consistent behavior in selecting interventions which are

congruent with the values of one's self, clients, the
employing organization and the Human Service profession.
This cluster requires awareness of one's own value
orientation, an understanding of organizational values as
expressed in the mandate or goal statement of the
organization, human service ethics and an appreciation of
the client's values, life style and goals.
 Generic Human Services Professional
Competencies

6) Process skills which are required to plan and implement

services. This cluster is based on the assumption that the
worker uses himself as the main tool for responding to
service needs. The worker must be skillful in verbal and
oral communication, interpersonal relationships and other
related personal skills, such as self-discipline and time
management. It requires that the worker be interested in
and motivated to conduct the role that he has agreed to
fulfill and to apply himself to all aspects of the work that the
role requires.