Careers in Human Services

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Family Support Worker
Social Work Assistant
Substance Abuse Counselor
Child Abuse Worker
Mental Health Aide
References

Introduction

The domain of Human Services generally aims at addressing human requirements through multidisciplinary approaches, focusing on mitigation as well as prevention of problems, and maintaining a commitment to ameliorating the general quality of life.

“The Human Services profession is one which promotes improved service delivery systems by addressing not only the quality of direct services, but also by seeking to improve accessibility, accountability, and coordination among professionals and agencies in service delivery”.

The phrase human service employee broadly refers to individuals who provide paraprofessional and skilled occupations in varied settings as correctional centers, halfway homes, family, and youth services. Job descriptions in this field vary considerably from one setting to another depending on the nature of activities carried out and the type of clients dealt with.

The main role of an employee that provides the human service is to help people and communities to operate properly in the key spheres of life. A strong wish to assist people is a significant element that an individual seeking to offer human services should consider.

People who demonstrate tolerance, understanding, and compassion in their socialization with others stand better chances of getting employment in this sector. Other vital individual characteristics comprise communication proficiency, a good sense of accountability, and the capacity to keep time effectively.

Family Support Worker

A family support employee assist families to rehabilitate their lives by giving psychotherapy, monetary support and learning activities. They are mainly employed by social service organizations, but some of them are also deployed by law enforcement and health care facilities. The primary responsibilities of a family support employee include the following.

First, family support employees identify and deal with needy children and families in various communities with an aim of helping them improve their social and economic status. For instance, they can advise unemployed parents on how to access social security services. Second, they facilitate the care of children living in dangerous environments where violence and insecurity are prevalent.

Third, they help their supervisors and managers in planning community activities aimed at improving the social and economic status of disadvantaged families. For instance, they can conduct a weekend food drive to support vulnerable families. Family support employees also examine cases related to child abuse and abandonment, and where possible, rescue children from abusive families.

They also look for alternative accommodation for vulnerable children. In some circumstances, family support employees visit various homes in a given location, examine their conducts, and interrogate them throughout the visit. If the workers detect unusual family behavior, they make recommendations on how they can adjust from their challenges.

As already mentioned, family support employees operate in various settings depending on their areas of specialization and expertise. For example, some of them can work in areas where families have been displaced due to catastrophes. Others generally work in the community by interacting with various families. Most employees require well-informed and experienced workers.

One can gain the much-needed experience by first offering voluntary services in workstations such as children’s homes, mental health care centers, and kindergartens. Family support employees usually hire individuals with varied qualifications since they offer a wide scope of support services that require specific skills.

This demonstrates that there are indeed many job prospects in this area. “Most employers in this domain hire workers with a Diploma or Certification in Child Care, Learning and Development; advanced qualifications in family support such as postgraduate honor in Family Support and Child Protection are highly recommended”. Employees also provide in-service training to their workers.

A person seeking to serve in this capacity must seek approval from the department of Criminal Records. Besides the professional qualifications, a family support employee should demonstrate superior knowledge of requisite social work skills such as the capacity to interact with various age groups.

One should also have a lenient outlook. Junior workers can begin earning approximately $18,000 annually and as they gain more experience and skills this figure can increase to about $35,000. The primary challenge experienced by most workers in this area is the fact that they have to be very tactful because they deal with varied cases, which need various approaches and skills.

Social workers are divided into two categories. The first group is known as direct-service employees, who assist people in sorting out social challenges in their lives. The second category is known as clinical social employees, who identify and cure psychological and emotional disorders.

Under general administration, serving employees in this position offer medical social care to customers or patients under in-patient management, and ambulatory health management. This includes assisting patients to take medication properly to facilitate their quick recovery. Health social employees organize with other organizations or persons in giving support to patients and their relatives.

“Health social workers coordinate with other agencies or individuals in assisting patients and their families, making referrals to community support services such as social services agencies, churches, nursing homes, home health, employment agencies, schools, legal aid society and others”.

Social works normally operate in diverse environments depending on the nature of their duty. For example, some of them work in learning institutions, health facilities, and generally in the community. Most social workers have to put up with long work schedules, which may sometimes stretch beyond the normal recommended working hours.

At present, most organizations that carry out direct-service activities in social work, mainly recruit individuals with bachelor degree qualifications in social work and other related courses such as community development. However, some jobs in this domain demand a postgraduate degree. It is mandatory for clinical social employees to have a postgraduate degree.

Moreover, it is compulsory for a social worker to be certified before operating. The average yearly remuneration for social employees in America is $ 42,480. Job opportunities in this area of specialization are likely to grow by approximately 25 percent from 2009 to 2015. This projected escalation in the demand for social work employees is due to the ever-increasing community work.

Substance Abuse Counselor

Substance abuse therapy is sometimes called behavioral disorder therapy, and it is perhaps the most demanding vocation option for psychological health counselors. Individuals that engage in drug abuse have high chances of developing mental and behavioral complications, which may sometimes relapse, and it may be difficult to handle such clients.

Counselors who provide therapy to drug abusers can work in hospitals, correction facilities like jails, and drug rehabilitation centers. Apart from these, they can work with social welfare organizations and private practice is allowed provided a counselor is licensed. Substance abuse therapists mostly work with adolescents and young adults since majority of the drug abusers fall in this age bracket.

There is an ever-rising demand for counselors in learning institutions. Drug abuse therapists have the role of mitigating cases of drug misuse and counsel victims of drug misuse. The entry qualification in this profession is a bachelor’s degree in psychotherapy or guidance and counseling. Nonetheless, a counselor can only be licensed if he or she has a master’s degree in counseling.

Drug abuse counselors have better chances securing employment since there is a high demand for their services. For example, in the U.S, more than fifteen million people develop drug addiction annually.

“With more than nine percent of the population seeking counseling and/or treatment for substance abuse, the demand for a qualified substance abuse counselor remains high”. Most organizations pay drug abuse counselors salaries that range from $ 24,768 to $ 42,200 annually.

Child Abuse Worker

Child abuse employees offer social assistance to children so that they can have proper psychological health. Such workers may help single parents have children through adoption, and help neglected or abused children get proper accommodation in foster homes. In learning institutions, they solve social challenges such as unwanted pregnancies, drug addiction, and misconduct among learners.

A child abuse employee performs several roles, which sometimes demand difficult decisions. For example, they will characteristically find out if a child is being mistreated and make a recommendation on how the child should be supported by the family or foster home. If necessary, a child abuse employee may counsel a family on how to rehabilitate abused children.

These workers assist victims of child abuse to seek legal action against their oppressors. Upon receiving information about a possible child mistreatment, a child abuse officer examines the situation to validate the account. In doing so, a child abuse employee will be able to find out the suitability of the conditions under which the child lives. If a child has suffered physical abuse, he or she should be medically examined.

“A child abuse worker makes a decision regarding whether abuse is present in the home based or not and this depends on the evidence gathered”. If there is no substantive evidence to link an individual to child abuse, the case is terminated.

If there are significant signs that a child is being mishandled, a child abuse employee tries to correct the problem. Child abuse employees in most cases earn about $30,000 to $42,000 annually depending on the level of experience and work load.

Mental Health Aide

“Mental health aides, also known as nursing and psychiatric aides, are responsible for helping to care for the sick in hospitals, in mental health facilities and sometimes at home”. They are direct health support providers since they handle individuals with long-term health complications. Mental health assistants perform several functions under the tutelage of medical staff.

For example, they assist mentally retarded patients who cannot maintain personal hygiene and cope with normal life demands. Thus, they check patients’ psychological and physical wellbeing. The fact that some patients may have to spend long durations in hospital enable them to create a good relationship with mental health aides who get to understand and manage them better with time.

Mental aides specifically assist patients to develop good social skills such as creating and maintaining friendships. Mental health assistants are very instrumental in health care facilities because they can easily detect and report changes in psychological status of patients. An individual willing to serve as a psychological health assistant must be ready to carry out physically challenging tasks.

“Their caseloads are often overflowing; they do a great deal of standing and walking and may do quite a bit of heavy lifting, which requires them to be trained in specific lifting and moving techniques”.

For instance, mental health assistants do physical tasks such as cleaning bedpans, replacing soiled bedding, and redirecting mixed-up or combative patients. Mental health assistants have to put up with long work shifts sometimes stretching beyond 40 hours a week since most of the patients they handle require constant monitoring and care.

Mental health workers must not have advanced qualifications to conduct their activities, but they should at least have a certificate or diploma qualification. Many employees in this area like hiring those who have served as nurses or aides. In most cases, health aides get in-service training offered by senior nurses and medical personnel.

There is a high turnover of employees in this job since they face many challenges in their duties and prospects of promotion are minimal. The key challenge is dealing with elderly persons with mental challenges. A mental health support employee earns about $ 10 to $13 per hour depending on one’s experience. From the above discussion, it is evident that the human service domain has many job prospects due to huge amount of humanitarian work.

References

Coombs, H. (2005). Addiction Counseling Review: Preparing for Comprehensive, Certification, and Licensing Examinations. New York: Wiley.

Marshburn, B. (2011). Mental Health Aide (Career Examination Passbooks). New York: Wiley.

Poindexter, C., & Valentine, D. (2006). An Introduction to Human Services: Values, Methods, and Populations Served. New York: Brooks Cole.

Rudman, J. (2011). Social Work Assistant (Passbook for Career Opportunities). Chicago: National Learning Corporation.

Stevens, P., & Smith, R. (2011). Substance abuse counseling: theory and practice. Michigan: Prentice Hall.

Wolfe, R. (2009). How to Land a Top-Paying Child abuse workers Job: Your Complete Guide to Opportunities. New York: Prentice Hall.

Woodside, M., & McClam, T. (2005). An Introduction to Human Services. New York: Brooks Cole.

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