1.1: What is Human Services?
- Page ID
- 208813
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)What is Human Services?
People often ask, “What is human services?” My best answer is this one: The field of human services is broadly defined but has a unique approach to meeting human needs. It uses an interdisciplinary knowledge base and includes prevention, intervention and remediation approaches. The human services field is committed to improving the overall quality of life of service populations, service delivery and collaboration of agencies. It seeks to optimize the potential of individuals and groups with a focus on equity and social justice.
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Let’s break that down.
Broadly Defined
The broad definition means that there are many jobs and careers that fit under the umbrella of human services. People who are motivated to help others find themselves together in this field even though they work in a wide range of settings including schools, medical offices and hospitals, private non-profit agencies, and governmental services. They perform functions that help people resolve life’s problems such as housing insecurity and homelessness, unemployment, food insecurity, addictions, custody, or the social and emotional sides of loss, tragedy and illness. They provide services helping people with adoptions, fostering children, parenting, mental health challenges, dealing with grief and loss, and other life transitions.
Unique Interdisciplinary Approach
Human services is grounded in the context of human development and human organizational behavior. This broad understanding comes from multiple fields: human development and family sciences; psychology; sociology; public health; nutrition; communications and others. While the professional in human services will have a specialized focus in one of these areas, they will also have enough broad-based knowledge and experience that they can draw on when needed.
Prevention, Intervention, and Remediation
Preventing problems, intervening in problems and remediating problems are differing ways to act and respond. This field involves professionals who specialize in each of these approaches. Other professionals utilize knowledge of all three in order to engage in problem-solving that leads to the best approach with any given individual or group. There will be examples of each of these approaches later in this text.
Collaboration, Service Delivery, and Quality of Life
Working in this field means that many agencies and services collaborate with each other in order to serve individuals, families, and groups best. Professionals work to make delivery of services as smooth and complete as possible. Planning and communication are important to delivering human services. Helping people have the best quality of life possible, even when it means stepping beyond the specific service or job that one holds to reach out to other services is important in order to serve effectively.
Equity and Social Justice
Human Service professionals recognize the differentiation between social problems and personal troubles. Many issues that individuals and groups face stem from social problems that need solutions that are systemic. Recognizing that individuals are facing problems that are societal in nature and being tuned into the ways that equity can contribute to solutions is a pillar of the profession. Social problems, personal troubles, equity, and social justice will all be discussed more deeply later in this text.
Introduction to Human Services (opens in new window)Copyright © 2020 by Elizabeth B. Pearce is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.