Human Services On-Site Visit
Unit 9 Assignment: Site Visit Option
Professor Bustamante
Rufus Wilson
HN115- Human Services Program and Profession
8/13/2015
Human Services On site Visit
When working in Human services you are given an opportunity to help mold and change lives in many different ways. Three of the populations with which they can help are children and families, Alcohol abuse and addiction, and the elderly. It is the human service professional’s responsibility to consider the clients’ welfare and safety as their top priority when providing services to them. The first population of clients that I am going to be dealing with is the Children and families that are working directly with Human services providers. When working with this group of individuals it is important to understand the types of services that they will need. Most situations, but not all will deal with the handling or the well-being of the child and certain services such as childcare and medical assistance that may be lacking in the family. The goal of the human services provider is to link these clients with community partners that can for fill their needs and in some cases provide the funding needed to get these services. Sometimes Grandparents may be caring for their grandchildren and they lack the income to provide very basic needs so we would assist them in getting these needs met and the counseling that they may need to cope with the changes that will be taking place in their lives. The next group of clients are those that are battling substance abuse issues and addiction. These individuals may come to you broken and un willing to accept that they have a problem so this may be difficult to get them to even understand that they need to work with you to solve a problem. It is very important to allow these clients to speak and for the human services provider to have a very attentive ear to what it is that they are saying. The substance abuse counselor is a mental health counselor specializing in treating patients who have a chemical dependency on drugs or alcohol. Whether counseling addicts or those who fear they will become addicts, a substance abuse counselor works with their client to help them overcome their dependency and become self-sufficient. The substance abuse counselor may also work closely with the family of the client as substance abuse inevitably affects the loved ones of the chemically dependent person. While challenging, the role of substance abuse counselor is one that can be extremely fulfilling. The Elderly is another population that I find very intriguing and a population that Human services professionals have to work with while in this career. Looking at the elderly I feel that they are not all receiving the services that are needed to lead long and healthy lives in society. Many time this population is under appreciated and abandoned in society by their families and others that should care for them. One human services professional that works with the elderly to better assist them with dealing with the issue mentioned before is a Geriatric Social Worker. The geriatric social worker begins their relationship with the client by establishing rapport and making an assessment of the needs and health of the client. The social worker then connects the client with appropriate services such as transportation, home health aides, or meal services. These measures can help the elderly person to live at home for much longer than might otherwise be possible and avoid being placed in a nursing home. The geriatric social worker might also assist their elderly client in expanding their social network by arranging social activities for senior citizens. This can be part of an overall plan to increase the mental health and well-being of their clients. This can also extend to helping the client to navigate the various public and private services for the elderly, from helping to apply for services to acting as a liaison
