Career: Therapeutic Horseback Riding and Human Services Essay

Submitted By ashleysteck
Words: 1503
Pages: 7
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Today human services as a whole is a very large field, in which many individuals come to seek free or billable services. (Ellis, 2014) The term “human services” covers a wide range of careers, from counseling prison inmates to counseling the families of murder victims, from helping someone with a disability find a job to caring for the child of a teenage mother during the school day. (Ferguson's, 2006) Human services workers may transport or accompany clients to group meal sites, adult daycare programs, doctor's offices, telephone or visit clients' homes to make sure services are being received, or help resolve disagreements, such as those between tenants and landlords or between individual and parents. (Hasenfeld, 2010)

The human service practitioner is a professional who acts as an agent to assist and empower individuals, groups, families and communities to prevent, alleviate or better cope with crisis, change and stress to enable them to function more effectively in all areas of life and living. (Paradis, 2003) This group could be in the category of poor, sick, special needs, or elderly. (Ferguson's, 2006) Focus, the company at which I work, provides community workshops to help meet the needs of individuals in our pa waiver, billable clients, and community outreach individuals. (Mudgett, 2013)

Before the twentieth century, charity and philanthropy consisted mainly of donations from the affluent. (Pear, 2013) These donations were distributed by the church to the needy. At this point they had no systematic methods to follow up on charity cases or to improve conditions for the poor and their families. (Fergusons, 2006) Human service workers step in to support the efforts of social workers, psychologists, and other professional agencies on a daily basis. (Pear, 2013)

There are many aspects to the human services field, as well as characteristics in which each worker should express in themselves, some of these characteristics include patience, active listening, and good use of time. (Ellis, 2014) These skills are crucial when working with individuals in the community, office, individually, and in their homes; a worker should remember this at all times, and use these skills while working each and every time. (Ellis, 2014) Other important personal traits include communication skills, a strong sense of responsibility, and a strong desire to help others. (Gadberry, 2014) From my understanding, these skills are all necessary to accurately and comfortably complete the tasks necessary with clients during this career.

Being a successful and accurate writer is a huge part of correctly completing the necessary paperwork required in this job field. During your time in this field, you are required to be able to fill out a whole slew of different documents. (Gadberry, 2014) As society changes, so do the concerns of human services workers. New societal problems require special attention, as well as new laws and political movements which affect our work. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013) Changes in this field and the individuals in which these companies provide services have updated a lot in the past five years, especially 2013, which has called for an even bigger need for research material, writing skills, and reliable sources from which to get information. (Rodriguez, 2011) Grant writers do a lot of writing, almost always in APA format, to let the state know how how much money we need for services and why. This format must be written correctly and in a professional manner. (Ferguson, 2006)

As human service workers we are expected to do proper research on new treatments, clients, disabilities, community events, and much more. (Gadberry, 2014) Specifically, at Focus Behavioral Health, we provide two types of therapy that may not be as well known to the outside community as they are to specialists. (Ellis, 2014) These types of therapy must be researched to find out there beneficial uses, whether they are worth
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