HHS 435 Cont Issues, Trends, Health Law Ethics in H & HS-5
PART ONE HUMAN SERVICES: ORIGINS, DEVELOPMENT, AND BASICS
Part One includes four chapters and two special focus features that will provide a foundation for your understanding of the field of human services. You will learn about the different meanings and contexts of the term “human services.” You will also come to appreciate the evolution of contemporary human services as a way of responding to a wide array of social and personal problems. In these readings, you will see the dramatic effect that government, through legislation and policy implementation, can have on how human service needs are met. You will find that the terms and ideas introduced in these chapters will reappear throughout the book and be useful in your human service career.
In Chapter 1, Paul Cimmino discusses the basic concepts and definitions in the field of human services, making it clear that “human services” is a complex term and that the field is both broad and varied. Paul Cimmino presents a strong case for human services as a distinct profession and field of study within the helping professions and within social sciences. As you begin your study of the human service profession, you will understand that you are part of a movement that sees itself as one way that a just society expresses its concern for the worth and well-being of each person. You will better understand your future role as a human service worker as it compares with and differs from other professional careers in social work, psychology, psychiatry, and mental health counseling. Human services is an “eclectic” field, which means that it draws upon and uses aspects of other fields such as clinical psychology and social work. Many of your teachers, who are human service educators, have had their initial training and experience in these other fields.
After reading this first chapter, you will come to recognize the many different tasks undertaken by human service workers and to understand how these tasks change with different consumer, or client, populations. You will also become aware of a wide variety of human service work, which, regardless of how this work is applied or carried out, is always involved in solutions to human problems and social issues. With these ideas in mind, you will better appreciate the scope and range of human services and how these services attempt to change both individuals and society. Immediately following Chapter 1, as a Special Focus Feature, is a letter by Harold McPheeters that comments on aspects of the chapter. This letter will be of interest to you as you prepare for a career as a professional helper.
Chapter 2 will help to provide the foundations and historical references to the human service field and will, along with Chapter 1, provide the general backdrop for later chapters, each of which will contribute special and important elaboration of details and issues. Together, these chapters provide a continuous and comprehensive presentation of the professional field of human services.
In any first exposure to an academic discipline, professional field of work, or general subject matter, the introductory student will feel the need for a sense of “intellectual grounding,” or an awareness of the origins of these ideas or bodies of knowledge and the ways in which the field developed to its present condition.
In Chapter 2, Joel Diambra provides a network of historical references, both remote and recent, that illustrate the breadth and depth of what is current and contemporary in the field. From the preceding chapter you gained a basic understanding of human services as a concept and how that concept is applied to the “helping” professions. This chapter traces the history of human services from early values in various traditions to the impact of recent social and political forces. This chapter will provide you with an understanding of how this field of professional work and training began, how it developed over time, and what have been its major influences.
In order to be an effective professional, one must stay current with events relevant to many aspects of human services, such as welfare reform. Chapter 3 is presented in two segments, which together should give you a comprehensive perspective on welfare reform. In Chapter 3a, Frances Fox Piven interprets the legislative changes (starting at the federal level) in welfare in its political context. In Chapter 3b, Michael Seliger shows the consequences of these changes for human services by presenting composite cases of actual people who have been affected by the reforms.
In Chapter 4a, Audrey Cohen introduces the concept of empowerment as the purpose of human services. A training model, focusing on “Purpose,” is discussed and illustrated in terms of dimensions of eight performance areas. It will be interesting for you to compare the development and implementation of this model with the Skill Standards Project discussed in Chapter 8. As you grasp these basic concepts, you will need to know how the human service movement evolved to its present state and how these professional services emerged to their present-day form.
Shirley Conyard, in Chapter 4b, presents research findings that discuss how alumni perceive the usefulness of Constructive Action, a documentation of a student’s implementation of a purpose change goal, and interpretive application of the theories and concepts learned in the classroom. Her discussion of the influence of this particular human service model on graduate practitioners provides us with considerations about all human service education.
After reading Chapters 1 through 4 and gaining a broader awareness of the origins and history of the concept of human services and the emergence of the human service worker, you will better grasp and appreciate the role of education in preparing people to enter the professional field of human services.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR PART ONE: HUMAN SERVICES: ORIGINS, DEVELOPMENT, AND BASICS
After reading and studying Chapters 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4a, and 4b,
You will know the meaning of human services.
You will be able to recognize the consumers/clients in human services.
You will be able to describe a human service worker.
You will understand the impact of welfare reform.
You will understand purpose-centered education and the Constructive Action approach.
Chapter 1 BASIC CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS OF HUMAN SERVICES
PAUL F. CIMMINO
This chapter is dedicated to the development of basic definitions that describe and identify human services. However, any attempt to define human services in one sentence, or to use one description, is doomed to fail. According to Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger, there is no generally accepted or “official” definition of human services (1993, p. 9). Human services is a multidisciplinary profession that reflects complex human interactions and a comprehensive social system. To understand human services, it is important to develop ideas that construct an organized perspective of the field. In this chapter, three general questions about human services are incorporated into the text. First, “What is it, and what isn’t it?” Second, “Who is helped and why?” Third, “How is help delivered and by whom?” These fundamental questions tend to exemplify the basic concepts and definitions in human services. This chapter proceeds to introduce important terms, definitions, subconcepts, and concentration areas in human services, which are expounded upon by a host of authors who have contributed their expertise to create this book.
The professional field of human services can be reduced to three basic concepts: intervention (needs and services); professionalism (applied practice and credentialing); and education (academic training and research). Each basic concept comprises important aspects of the human service field and identifies primary areas of the profession. The supporting background that nourishes intervention, professionalism, and education in human services is the history of the human service movement (Fullerton, 1990). The formal development of human services in society is located in the legislative, training, and service history of the field. This chapter attempts to offer a collective understanding of these important areas related to the professional development of human services. In this chapter, basic concepts and definitions converge to generate a comprehensive and theoretical notion of human services in forming an overview of the field. To further assist the reader in developing thoughts about the human service profession, and to avoid ambiguity in the field, a medley of contemporary definitions of human services is presented later in the chapter.
Finally, an important letter written by Dr. Harold McPheeters in 1992, which addresses the basic question of what comprises human services, is presented to close the chapter. McPheeters’s letter was sent in response to a manuscript written by me in 1991. The paper proposes an idealistic model that defines human services in terms of its purpose and professional responsibility in society. Later in the chapter, the central ideas are summarized, providing an orientation to the thoughtful feedback from Harold McPheeters. In my view, his written response conveys landmark perspectives in development of the emerging human service field. Thus, the ideas stemming from my paper and McPheeters’s response invite a judicious overview of this chapter for the reader’s developing knowledge of human services.
THE BASIC CONCEPT OF PURPOSE IN HUMAN SERVICES
Human services is a term that reflects the need for society to help its members live adequate and rewarding lives (Eriksen, 1977). The human service field encompasses a variety of functions and characteristics. Human service activity is the act of people helping other people meet their needs in an organized social context. Thus, the human service function is a process of directed change taking place as the result of interaction between human service workers, clients, and organizations. Ideally, the changes human service workers attempt to facilitate are intended to assist clients in achieving optimum human potential. In order to help a variety of people in this fashion, the human service worker trains as a generalist and must be familiar with various approaches in the helping process (Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger, 1993, p. 146).
The human service orientation to helping people recognizes that clients are an intricate part of their environment. Today, the need for human services in society is obvious. Human services has emerged in response to the increase of human problems in our modern world (Mehr, 1988). The complications of living in a rapidly changing society causes massive stress on human beings. Often people are unable to meet their own basic needs due to harsh social conditions and oppression (Ryan, 1976). Socialization for many individuals is deprived or detrimental relative to basic life needs. The problems people experience can be rooted in family backgrounds, education, economics, disease, disability, self-concepts, or legal matters. The human service model acknowledges these conditions as primary factors in human dysfunction but not necessarily predictors of a person’s capacity. The human service ideology of helping people focuses on the immediate needs and presenting problems of the client. This approach does not prejudge clients and recognizes that any person in need of human services is a legitimate consumer of services. By the same token, human services practice attempts to relieve human suffering while promoting independence from the human service system.
The conceptual evolution of human services as a professional helping process stems from historical movements in the field. The history of the human service movement is addressed in a later chapter. However, it is useful to mention the significance of this history in the development of a functional human service concept. The predecessors of today’s human service and social welfare systems were social reforms in England, which were particularly established in the Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1601. Prior to this legislation, the church assumed responsibility to relieve the poor and served in the capacity of a public agency (Woodside and McClam, 1994, pp. 38–43). Legislation stemming from the Elizabethan Poor Laws, and the Law of Settlement added sixty years later, initiated the idea of compulsory taxation to raise funds to help the needy and established eligibility requirements for recipients (Woodside and McClam, 1994, pp. 42–43). These early developments in English social reform and legislation more than 350 years ago are bridges to contemporary human services in the United States.
The impact of social and legislative changes during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s fostered the creation of human services as it exists today (Woodside and McClam, 1990, p. 41). The response to deinstitutionalization in the 1960s, coupled with influences of the civil rights movement along with a series of related legislation, resulted in the creation of a new “human service worker.” Examples of important legislation in the development of contemporary services are the Manpower Development Training Act of 1962, the Mental Health Study Act of 1955, the Social Security Amendments of 1962, the Scheuer Sub-professional Career Act of 1966, and the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963. Such legislation promoted the human service movement of the 1960s and 1970s, whereby a process ensued creating opportunities for training programs and progressive development in human service education. Consequently, a blend of agency services, social policies, academic programs, professional practice development, and people working together for social change formulate the helping process called human services.
HUMAN SERVICE INTERVENTION
Human Services Intervention is defined as a broad field of human endeavor in which the professional acts as an agent to assist individuals, families, and communities to better cope with crisis, change and stress; to prevent and alleviate stress; and to function effectively in all areas of life and living. Human Services Practice is conducted in the broad spectrum of human services in a manner that is responsive to both current and future trends and needs for human resource development, and committed to humanitarian values (Montana State University–Billings: Catalog 1991–93, Sexton, R., 1987).
The preceding definition of human service intervention reflects the functional role of the field in society. The amount of public support for human service programs is determined by the state of the economy (Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger, 1993, p. 24). Since sufficient funding for human service programs is inconsistent, fulfilling the mission of effective intervention in helping clients often fluctuates. Thus, the delivery capability of human services to the public is unpredictable and frequently inadequate in providing resources to sufficiently help clients. In spite of this condition, human service intervention remains committed to reflecting the values and priorities of society (Eriksen, 1977, p. 10).
Human service intervention is the bridge between people and various subsystems in society (Eriksen, 1977, p. 10). The intervention philosophy of human services reflects humanitarian values. Eriksen identified the following philosophical principles as fundamental to the delivery of human services:
1. Human services are the embodiment of our national commitment to building a just society based on respect for people’s rights and needs.
2. Every individual in our society is entitled to services that will prevent his/her pain, maintain integrity, enable him/her with realities, stimulate personal growth, and promote a satisfying life.
3. Prevention of people’s problems and discomforts is as important a part of human services as restitution and rehabilitation after the fact.
4. The integration of human services is crucial to their effectiveness.
5. Human services are accountable to the consumers.
6. Human services tasks and goals:
The paramount goal of human services is to enable people to live more satisfying, more autonomous, and more productive lives, through the utilization of society’s knowledge, resources, and technological innovations. To that end, society’s systems will be working for its people, putting people before paper (Eriksen, 1977, pp. 10, 11, 12).
The three primary models in the helping professions are the medical model, public health (social welfare) model, and human service model. Of these recognized interventions, the human service model is unique in its view of people, services, and the social environment as integrated entities. The medical model and public health models, on the other hand, have an individualistic orientation to causation relative to people’s problems. For instance, the medical model concentrates on the individual, views clients as needing help because they are sick, and refers to people as patients. The medical model engendered the discipline of psychiatry at the end of the eighteenth century, and its history is closely related to the development of the human service profession. The public health model contends that individuals have problems that are also linked to social conditions and views disease as multicausal (Woodside and McClam, 1994, p. 89). Hypothetically, both these models are based on determinism, suggesting that disease and social problems are an individual’s responsibility, not society’s, and if controlled they would have less effect on the human condition. The human service model expects disease and social problems to always affect the lives of people and focuses on providing services to help individuals deal with problems stemming from these conditions. Similarly, by using these models to describe and approach the problem-solving process, the human service worker is able to expand resources and systems for service delivery and intervention.
THE GENERALIST ROLES OF THE HUMAN SERVICE WORKER
The basic roles human service professionals play in the helping process were initially developed by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) as part of an effort to produce functional comparisons to other established professions. The project also defined four levels of competence (discussed later in this chapter) to correlate with role functions. The SREB identified thirteen roles that human service workers perform that were derived by evaluating the needs of clients, families, and communities (SREB, 1969). These roles include the following:
1. Outreach worker—reaches out to detect people with problems and can make appropriate referrals for needed services.
2. Broker—helps people get to existing services and provides follow-up to ensure continued care.
3. Advocate—pleads and fights for services, policy, rules, regulations, and laws for client’s behalf.
4. Evaluator—assesses client or community needs and problems, whether medical, psychiatric, social, or educational.
5. Teacher-educator—performs a range of instructional activities from simple coaching to teaching highly technical content directed to individuals and groups.
6. Behavior changer—carries out a range of activities planned primarily to change behavior, ranging from coaching and counseling to casework, psychotherapy, and behavior therapy.
7. Mobilizer—helps to get new resources for clients or communities.
8. Consultant—works with other professions and agencies regarding their handling of problems, needs, and programs.
9. Community planner—works with community boards, committees, and so on to ensure that community developments enhance self-actualization and minimize emotional stress on people.
10. Caregiver—provides services for persons who need ongoing support of some kind (i.e., financial assistance, day care, social support, twenty-four-hour care).
11. Data manager—performs all aspects of data handling, gathering, tabulating, analyzing, synthesizing, program evaluation, and planning.
12. Administrator—carries out activities that are primarily agency or institution oriented (e.g., budgeting, purchasing, and personnel activities).
13. Assistant to specialist—acts as assistant to specialist (e.g., psychiatrist, psychologist, or nurse), relieving them of burdensome tasks.
The framework of the helping process in human services is characterized by the role functions and structures listed above and not restricted to frontline workers who provide direct services; administrators and supervisors also facilitate service delivery.
THE SOCIAL IDEOLOGY OF HUMAN SERVICES
Eriksen’s principles represent a social ideology about human services that parallels the needs of an individual living in society. Social policy advocates who hold humanitarian perspectives contend the previously mentioned conditions are individual rights that should be afforded to all people. Many of these scholars argue that an adequate standard of living is a constitutional right. However, the U.S. Constitution does not specify living standards for citizens. To a large extent, the life standards developed by humanitarian scholars are actually postulations drawn from language in the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and a variety of subsequent federal and state civil rights legislation. For instance, the opening remarks (second paragraph) of the Declaration of Independence include this statement: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Similarly, the U.S. Constitution, Amendment XV, Section 1, states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
One can see how expanding the meaning of this language from both documents can imply the right to be afforded a certain quality of life in American society. The degree of social obligation held by the government in promoting social equity or empowering people to become self-sufficient has been a controversial topic among social policy makers and scholars. To a large extent, the present model of social welfare and human service delivery systems is not functionally consistent with the idea of society taking responsibility for the problems of its members. However, the notion of society taking partial responsibility for its members’ hardships parallels the professional ideologies promoted in this chapter (Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger, 1993, p. 18). To date, social policy relative to human services remains guided by an ideology of individualism and community derived from traditional perspectives. Conservative American values continue to place emphasis on hard work, perseverance, and self-reliance. Thus emerges the concept of Americans as rugged individuals who can pull themselves up by their bootstraps, a concept that remains deeply embedded in our society. This attitude translates into a community model of social services that supports programs dealing only with immediate situations (human problems) and generally opposes programs that go beyond meeting basic survival needs (Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger, 1993, pp. 18, 19).
Proactive Human Services
The concept of human services supports the empowerment of people to become self-sufficient and capable of meeting their own needs without assistance from human services. Therefore, human services aims to provide clients the kind of direct support that facilitates eventual emancipation and prevents a state of dependency on the system. This kind of assistance is referred to as the proactive approach to human services. This form of intervention utilizes strategies that invest in the prevention of problems and stabilization of client systems into the future. Ideally, planning beyond the problem to help the client become socially self-sufficient is the heart of the professional human service model. However, a crisis-oriented, pluralistic society that has recently come to recognize the concept of multicausality and the impact of psychosocial stress cannot be expected to change from traditional (reactive) perspectives on human problems to a prevention model or proactive perspective in a short period of time.
Human service intervention is based in theory on fundamental values about human life that are woven into the fabric of American heritage and more specifically identified in civil rights legislation. Professional perspectives of service delivery to clients recognize a standard of living for all people that promotes self-reliance, social perseverance, and a sense of personal gratification in social life. Linked to these values or life conditions are social values emphasizing certain essential human needs. Since the human service worker is an agent of society who advocates for the psychosocial advancement of the individual, it follows that the human service model is closely associated with civil rights legislation aimed at helping deprived population groups. Consequently, the identification of essential human needs is important for definitions of human service intervention and the development of basic problem-solving processes.
THE HUMAN SERVICE IDEOLOGY OF THE INDIVIDUAL
The general notion that problem behaviors are often the result of an individual’s failure to satisfy basic human needs is a fundamental principle underlying human service practice. The human service model places a portion of responsibility on society for perpetuating social problems that reduce opportunities for people to be successful. The human service worker seeks to assist clients to adequately function in the same system that impairs them. A client may be in need of shelter, medical attention, transportation, education, food, emotional support, or legal services. Therefore, as an agent of a larger system (macrosocial system), the primary focus of the human service worker is fulfilling the needs of the individual client (microsocial system). In this sense, the human service worker becomes an agent of change in the client system, placing the person first in the value system of the helping profession (Cimmino, 1993).
The focus of human service intervention on human needs is an essential aspect of service delivery. There are numerous concepts in the literature that propose definitions of human needs. One concept, developed by Abraham Maslow (1968), is a self-actualization theory that outlines a hierarchy of human needs and is applicable to the human service model.
The hierarchy Maslow conceptualized consists of five levels. At the base are physiological needs for food, shelter, oxygen, water, and general survival. These conditions are fundamental to life. When people satisfy these basic survival needs, they are able to focus on safety needs, which involve the need for a secure and predictable environment. This may mean living in decent housing in a safe neighborhood. After safety needs have been fulfilled, the need for belongingness and love emerges. This includes intimacy and acceptance from others. When these three lower-level needs are partly satisfied, esteem needs develop in the context of the person’s social environment. This level involves recognition by others that a person is competent or respected. Most people desire appreciation and positive reinforcement from others. At the top of the hierarchy exists the need for self-actualization, having to do with the fulfillment of a person’s innate potential as a human being. Maslow perceived self-actualized people as possessing attributes that are consistent with highly competent and successful individuals.
Although Maslow is considered a primary figure in humanistic psychology, there has been subsequent research to test the validity of his concepts. Follow-up research studies have produced mixed results; some results demonstrate support (Neher, 1991), while others refute the hypotheses (Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger, 1993). Nevertheless, most people do live in a network of social relationships in which they seek external gratification in attending to their needs.
Another perspective on human needs is defined by Hansell’s motivation theory (Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger, 1993). This theory contends that people must achieve seven basic attachments in order to meet their needs. If a person is unsuccessful in achieving each attachment, ultimately a state of crisis and stress will result. Listed below are the seven basic attachments, accompanied with signs of failure of each one:
1. Food, water, and oxygen, along with informational supplies. Signs of failure: boredom, apathy, and physical disorder.
2. Intimacy, sex, closeness, and opportunity to exchange deep feelings. Signs of failure: loneliness, isolation, and lack of sexual satisfaction.
3. Belonging to a social peer group. Signs of failure: not feeling part of anything.
4. A clear, definite self-identity. Signs of failure: feeling doubtful and indecisive.
5. A social role that carries with it a sense of being a competent member of society. Signs of failure: depression and a sense of failure.
6. The need to be linked to a cash economy through a job, a spouse with income, social security benefits, or other ways. Sign of failure: lack of purchasing power, possibly an inability to purchase essentials.
7. A comprehensive system of meaning with clear priorities in life. Signs of failure: sense of drifting through life, detachment, and alienation.
Both Maslow’s and Hansell’s ideas about human needs provide a practical purpose for human service intervention. Essentially, human service workers attempt to find ways to help the client satisfy his or her unmet needs. The definition of the client situation or presenting problem generally involves evidence of failures indicated above. Similarly, the identification of problems such as poor housing, lack of food, fear of neighborhood, detrimental relationships, and low self-esteem suggests a physical, social, or psychological crisis that blocks the development of a person and the ability to function, as implied by Maslow’s and Hansell’s theories of self-actualization and motivation.
CRISIS INTERVENTION
When human service intervention is required as the result of a sudden disruption in the life of a client precipitated by a situational crisis or catastrophic event, crisis intervention is the consequence. Often, in these circumstances, even those people who do not expect to become consumers of the human service system suddenly find themselves clients. The practice of delivering crisis intervention services is supported by crisis intervention theory. Studies and research in crisis intervention theory and practice are primarily the domain of sociology, psychology, social psychology, social work, community psychiatry, and social welfare policy. The practice of crisis intervention in human services was developed by a variety of clinical practitioners in areas such as nursing, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, and clinical social work (Slaikeu, 1990). The application of crisis intervention methods is a recent development based on various human behavior theories, including those from Freud, Hartmann, Rado, Erickson, Lindemann, and Caplan (Aguilera and Messick, 1978; Slaikeu, 1990). Slaikeu (1990) cites the Coconut Grove fire on November 28, 1942, where 493 people perished when flames devoured the crowded nightclub. According to Slaikeu:
Lindemann and others from the Massachusetts General Hospital played an active role in helping survivors and those who had lost loved ones in the disaster. His clinical report (Lindemann, 1944) on the psychological symptoms of the survivors became the cornerstone for subsequent theorizing on the grief process, a series of stages through which a mourner progresses on the way toward accepting and resolving loss (p. 6).
The evolution of community psychiatry and the suicide prevention movement of the 1960s marks an important historical development in crisis-intervention human services. An important figure in crisis theory and the associated approaches in service delivery was Gerald Caplan, a public health psychiatrist. Some of his contributions are discussed by Slaikeu (1990):
Building on the start given by Lindemann, Gerald Caplan, associated with Harvard School of Public Health, first formulated the significance of life crisis in an adult’s psychopathology. Caplan’s crisis theory was cast in the framework of Erik-sen’s developmental psychology. Caplan’s interest was on how people negotiated the various transitions from one stage to another. He identified the importance of both personal and social resources in determining whether developmental crises (and situational or unexpected crises) would be worked out for better or for worse. Caplan’s preventative psychiatry, with its focus on early intervention to promote positive growth and minimize the chance of psychological impairment, led to an emphasis on mental health consultation. Since many early crises could be identified and even predicted, it became important to train a wide range of community practitioners. The role of the mental health professional became one of assisting teachers, nurses, clergy, guidance counselors, and others in learning how to detect and deal with life crises in community settings (pp. 6–7).
The formal emergence of community mental health programs in the United States became a way to implement recommendations from the U.S. Congress Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health (1961). With strong support from the Kennedy Administration to provide mental health services in a community setting (not restricting them only to hospitals), crisis intervention programs and the outreach emergency services were established as an integral part of every comprehensive community mental health system and a prerequisite for federal funding.
A person who is experiencing a crisis faces a problem that cannot be resolved by using the coping mechanisms that have worked in the past (Aguilera and Messick, p. 1). According to Wood-side and McClam (1990):
An individual’s equilibrium is disrupted by pressures or upsets, which result in stress so severe that he or she is unable to find relief using coping skills that worked before. The crisis is the individual’s emotional response to the threatening or hazardous situation, not the situation itself. Crises can be divided into two types: developmental and situational. A developmental crisis is an individual’s response to a situation that is reasonably predictable in the life cycle. Situational or accidental crises do not occur with any regularity. The sudden and unpredictable nature of this type of crisis makes any preparation or individual control impossible. Examples are fire or other natural disasters, fatal illness, relocation, unplanned pregnancy, and rape. The skills and strategies that helpers use to provide immediate help for a person in crisis constitute crisis intervention (p. 217).
People in crisis require immediate help and are in desperate situations. The human service philosophy (idealistically) is consistent with established crisis-intervention theory, which places the client’s needs as a priority in the value system of the helping profession. For the human service worker, the value of putting people first is an important professional orientation, not just something that happens as the result of a crisis. In a crisis situation, the human service worker must quickly establish a working relationship and positive rapport with clients. The worker’s knowledge and skills are important in supporting the client’s sense of hope and eventual return to self-reliance (Woodside and McClam, 1990, p. 223). In most cases, there is more than one worker helping the client. Generally clients are involved in a social network of supportive programs that involve different agencies and stem from an assortment of referrals. Collectively, the human service system coordinates efforts that are designed to return the client to a pre-crisis state of functioning. This objective is usually accomplished as the result of well-coordinated service delivery and effective problem-solving skills.
CLIENT SYSTEMS IN HUMAN SERVICE INTERVENTION
To continue discussions about the basic concept of human service intervention, it is important to understand the total view of the practice field. Much like social work, human services is directed toward the resolution of client problems that are part of a larger and dynamic social system. The nature of the service delivery system encompasses two distinct levels of interaction: providing direct services (face-to-face) and encompassing the acquisition of services from larger social systems. The client system is the immediate condition of the client’s psychological and social life circumstances. Client systems comprise many components, such as family relationships, social and cultural attributes, economic status, age, gender, employment, physical and mental health, legal issues, education, living conditions, religion, and self-esteem. In short, the client system involves the immediate environment as the most significant influence on the client’s life and behavior.
Micro- and Macrosocial Systems in Human Service Practice
The human service worker provides direct services to the client and is working simultaneously with the client system. For example, a worker who is assigned to an individual client may also work with the person’s spouse, family members, other workers, and agencies in the client system. In this context, the human service worker is engaged in two distinct systems called micro- and macrosocial systems. A great deal has been written about the roles of micro- and macrosocial systems in the process of delivering human services. However, a brief review of the concept can help the reader understand the basis of human service intervention in the social environment.
Every client lives in both micro- and macro-social systems. The human service worker is enmeshed in these two systems. Microsocial systems include individuals, small groups, families, and couples. Macrosocial systems involve large groups, organizations, communities, neighborhoods, and bureaucracies. Whittaker (1977) explains:
The goals in macro intervention include changes within organizations, communities and societies, while micro intervention aims at enhancing social functioning or alleviation of social problems for a particular individual, family, or small group. Macro intervention relies heavily on theories of “big system” change (formal organization theory, community theory) drawn from sociology, economics and political science. Micro intervention tends to be based on theories of individual change drawn from psychology, small group sociology, and human development. Finally, we can distinguish differences in the strategies of macro and micro interventions. Macro intervention uses social action strategies, lobbying, coordination of functions, and canvassing; micro intervention typically relies on more circumscribed strategies directed at individual change: direct counseling, individual advocacy actions, and crisis intervention (p. 44).
Human service intervention is closely associated with micro- and macrosystems in relationship to the notion of social treatment. From a human service practice perspective, social treatment includes all those remedial efforts directed at the resolution of a client’s problems within the context of the social environment (Whittaker, 1977). Theoretically, the client and worker move through micro- and macrosystems in a dynamic process, each bound by their social roles. By the same token, their relationship formulates a unique set of mutual needs and values as a result of the common objectives they share in problem solving and service delivery. In this sense, theoretical distinctions between macro- and microsystems are consistent for both worker and client. However, their circumstances in the social system are different in that one is in the “client system,” while the worker functions in the “human service delivery system.” Each operate and negotiate within the boundaries of micro- and macrosystems of society. For example, a client system may include family relationships, housing, legal issues, and behavioral problems, whereas the human service worker as a provider must meet the needs of both the client system and the human service system.
Acting in a formal capacity, the human service worker must adhere to employment conditions (job description), social policy, professional ethics, and administrative aspects of service delivery. Human service providers operate in a maze of agency dynamics and organizational structures. This level of activity in the human services is generally in the scope of macropractice. In this context, the worker also deals directly with the client. Human service workers are most often face-to-face with clients either interviewing, counseling, working with the family, or doing something else to help them. This kind of intervention is called micropractice. The client system and the workers’ system together set up a situational framework for professional human service intervention at micro and macro levels. This dualistic nature of professional practice is fundamental to the working model in human services. Further, it underscores how comprehensive and complex human service work in contemporary society really is.
INTRODUCTION OF THE SOCIAL HEALTH GENERALIST CONCEPT
Today’s human service worker must possess special knowledge of the human service delivery system as well as client systems and understand the impact of various environmental influences on human behavior and communities. Annexed to this knowledge base is the need for the worker to have competent communication skills so as to be effective with a variety of clients and to operate comfortably in different agency roles. Such demands upon the modern worker produce the notion of a social health generalist in contemporary welfare, mental health, and human service systems (Cimmino, 1993). Compared with the mental health generalist concept of the 1960s and 1970s (McPheeters and King, 1971), the social health generalist sharply reflects the need for the human service worker in modern society to be prepared for today’s challenges, which stem from rapid social change and related programmatic influences on economic restructuring of human service delivery systems. To work effectively in any human service agency today, the worker must possess a functionally broader knowledge base of community resources, case management strategies, behavior, social policy, political influences, and human factors that affect the delivery of human services. Joseph Mehr (1988) elucidates the social health generalist notion when he discusses current conceptions of human service systems and bases his book on a generic human services concept (Mehr, 1988, p. 11). In contrast, the mental health generalists of the past were primarily trained to focus on microsocial systems by providing direct assistance in institutional or closed settings. The social health generalist’s basic training and professional orientation must address a wider spectrum of client conditions and support human service systems that conceptually go beyond the immediate client and agency environment.
The generalist concept is historically rooted in mental health technology systems. However, modern life demands that the provision of human services reach beyond the mental health field. Therefore, the profession must expand the generalist concept to reflect what human service workers actually do in modern society. This condition was illustrated earlier in the discussion of generalist roles the human service worker performs in the formal helping process. The academic and practice training in recognized human service programs today are designed to prepare a different generalist worker from that of the past. According to Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger (1993):
Many educators feel that the term ‘paraprofessional,’ widely accepted in the past, no longer accurately reflects the knowledge, abilities, skills, and training of graduates in recognized undergraduate human service programs of today. They feel graduates of such programs should be considered professional human service workers. The work roles and functions of generalist human service workers vary greatly. Generalist workers represent the largest number of workers and usually have the most contact with those in need. In some instances, the duties of the generalist workers are similar to those of professionals (p. 182).
The social health generalist human service worker is capable of adjusting to a variety of settings in the human service field. Similar to the mental health generalist, the primary focus remains helping “target persons,” either directly or indirectly. These target groups can be individual clients, families, small groups, or a neighborhood or community (McPheeters, 1990). Target groups refer to identified persons (clients) in need of human service intervention. However, the expansion of the term human services to include a wider spectrum of social, health, and welfare systems is a significant distinction from past concepts of the mental health generalist. For example, human service workers in a mental health setting are required to understand other service-delivery systems and social dynamics outside the place where they are employed. This includes a knowledge base that integrates client needs with external and internal forces that influence service delivery, such as insurance requirements, diagnosis, and legal, community, or administrative complications. In today’s human service industry, the frequency of worker contact with clients and their families, as well as interagency collaboration, is steadily increasing for a variety of reasons. The framework of practice today reflects the notion that all clients are consumers and have the right to access an empowering process by way of the human service system (Halley, Kopp, and Austin, 1992). Thus, the professional role of the contemporary human service worker scales the wall of institutional framework by comprehending conditions outside agency boundaries and must engender an enormous level of social awareness and professional skill. Consequently, the decision-making capacity of the generalist in today’s human service field requires a working knowledge of micro- and macrosystems within the social treatment model (Whittaker, 1977).
McPheeters and King (1971) describe the generalist as possessing the following characteristics:
1. The generalist works with a limited number of clients or families (in consultation with other professionals) to provide “across the board” services as needed.
2. The generalist is able to work in a variety of agencies and organizations that provide mental health services.
3. The generalist is able to work cooperatively with any of the existing professions.
4. The generalist is familiar with a number of therapeutic services and techniques.
5. The generalist is a “beginning professional” who is expected to continue to learn and grow (McPheeters and King, 1971).
McPheeters’s characteristics are generally applicable to the notion of the new social health generalist. However, several important modifications to his previous description of the generalist concept are proposed to effectively address contemporary frameworks of service delivery and justify the neologism social health generalist.
In his article, McPheeters (1990, p. 36) places emphasis on the differentiation between the generalist and the specialist. He asserts that it is not based simply on division of labor. Rather, the generalist is concerned with all the problems surrounding the client or family, whereas the specialist focuses on a particular skill or activity. McPheeters’s characteristics describing the generalist can generally apply to the new social health generalist concept. However, there are some important adjustments necessary that offer theoretical criteria for consistency with the contemporary human service field. The first concern is that McPheeters’s second characteristic, “agencies and organizations that provide mental health services,” must expand to include a larger view of the human service system. Replacing the term “mental health services” with human services or human services and related subsystems seems more appropriate and fitting to today’s human service worker. Similarly, his fourth characteristic states that “the generalist is familiar with a number of therapeutic services and techniques.” The focus here reflects a limited perspective in comparison to the practice framework and related concepts of the modern human service worker. Recognition of the need for a broader knowledge base involving multidisciplinary services and other theoretical frameworks is essential for human services to effectively operate in modern society. A professional knowledge base to include social systems, personality theory, and social treatment intervention strategies can more accurately point to the scope of information that today’s worker must possess. With these two modifications, the mental health generalist concept can continue to provide professional foundations for today’s social health generalist worker.
Dr. Harold McPheeters Responds
At the 1992 National Organization for Human Services Education Conference in Alexandria, Virginia, I had the distinct privilege of hearing Dr. Harold McPheeters give the keynote address. At the conclusion of his presentation, I spoke with him about his views on human services. During our conversation, I asked if he would be interested in reading my manuscript and commenting on the ideas it developed (Cimmino, 1993). He agreed. Several weeks later, I received his four-page written response. I was very impressed with his articulation and depth of reaction to the content of my study. Dr. McPheeters’s response to “Exactly What Is Human Services” offers an expansion of insight to contemporary thinking about this relatively new field from its most noted professional figure and pioneer.
REFERENCES
Aguilera, D. C. and J. M. Messick (1978). Crisis intervention, theory and methodology. Saint Louis: C. V. Mosby.
Cimmino, P. (1993). “Exactly What Is Human Services? The Evolution of a Profession: Academic Discipline and Social Science.” Bronx, NY: Council for Standards in Human Service Education Monograph Series.
Eriksen, K. (1977). Human Services Today. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing Company.
Fullerton, S. (1990). “A Historical Perspective of the Baccalaureate-Level Professional Education in Human Services.” Journal of the National Organization for Human Services Education, 9(1).
Halley, A., J. Kopp, and M. Austin (1992). Delivering Human Services: A Learning Approach to Practice, New York: Longman.
McPheeters, H. (1990). “Development of the Human Services Generalist Concept.” History of the Human Services Movement, CSHSE Monograph Series, 31, 40.
McPheeters, H. L., and J. B. King (1971). Plans for Teaching Mental Health Workers. Atlanta, GA: Southern Regional Education Board.
Mehr, J. (1988). Human Services, Concepts and Intervention Strategies, 4th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Neher, A. (1991). Maslow’s theory of motivation: A critique. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 31, 89–112.
Ryan, W. (1976). Blaming the Victim. New York: Vintage Books.
Schmolling, P., M. Youkeles, and W. R. Burger (1993). Human Services in Contemporary America. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Slaikeu, K. A. (1990). Crisis Intervention: A Handbook for Practice and Research. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Whittaker, J. K. (1977). Social Treatment: An Approach to Interpersonal Helping. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.
Woodside, M. R., and T. McClam (1990). “Problem Solving in the Human Service Curriculum.” Journal of the National Organization of Human Services Education, 9 (1).
Woodside, M. R., and T. McClam (1994). An Introduction to Human Services. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING
Bernstein, G. S., and J. A. Halaszyn (1989). “Human Services”?... That Must Be So Rewarding. Baltimore, MD: P.H. Brookes.
Caputo, R. (1988). Management and Information Systems in Human Services. New York: Haworth Press, Inc.
Collins, R., J. Fischer, and P. Cimmino (1994). “Human Services Student Patterns: A Study of the Influence of Selected Psychodynamic Factors upon Career Choice.” Bellingham, WA: Journal of the National Organization for Human Service Education 14(1).
Erdman, D. M., and R. J. Lundman (1979). Corporate and Governmental Deviance. New York: Harper and Row.
Erikson, Erik H. (1963). Childhood and Society, 2nd ed. New York: Norton.
Frederick, H. S., and J. S. Jones (1990). “Self-Understanding in Human Services Education: Goals and Methods.” Kingston, RI: Journal of the National Organization for Human Services Education 9(1).
Fullerton, S., and D. Osher (1990). “History of the Human Services Movement.” Knoxville, TN: Council for Standards in Human Service Education Monograph Series.
Fullerton, S. (1990). “Development of Baccalaureate-Level Professional Education in Human Services.” Knoxville, TN: Council for Standards in Human Services Education Monograph Series.
Kuhn, T. S. (1975). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Lindemann, E. (1944). “Symptomatology and management of acute grief.” American Journal of Psychiatry, 101:141–148.
Linzer, L. (1990). “Ethics and Human Services Practice.” Kingston, RI: Journal of the National Organization of Human Services Education 9(1).
Macht, J. (1990). “A Historical Perspective.” History of the Human Services Movement, CSHSE Monograph Series 9, 22.
Maslow, A. (1968). Toward a Psychology of Being. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Nilsson, A. T. (1989). “Undergraduate Training for the Human Services: Many Routes to the Same Field.” Kingston, RI: Journal of the National Organization for Human Services Education 9(1), 19–25.
Osher, D. (1990). “More than Needs and Services: Antecedent and Current Social Conditions That Influence the Human Services Movement.” History of the Human Services Movement, CSHSE Monograph Series, 23–30.
Petrie, D. R. (1989). “Entry-Level Skills of Human Service Work.” Kingston, RI: Journal of the National Organization of Human Services Education 9(1), 37–41.
Sherif, M., and C. Sherif (1969). Social Psychology. New York: Harper and Row.
Simon, E. (1990). “The Challenge of the Future: Towards the 21st Century: The History of the Human Services Movement.” Knoxville, TN: Council for Standards in Human Service Education Monograph Series, 101:115.
Woodside, M. R. (1989). “Case Study Method: A Technique for Professional Development.” Journal of the National Organization of Human Services Education, 8(1).
Special Focus Feature: LETTER TO PAUL CIMMINO FROM HAROLD MCPHEETERS
435 Forest Valley Rd., NE
Atlanta, GA 30342–2354
October 23, 1992
Paul F. Cimmino, Ph.D., ACSW
Montana State University—Billings
Department of Counseling and Human Services
1500 N. 30th St.
Billings, MT 59101
Dear Dr. Cimmino,
Now that we are back from our trip that included my talk at the NOHSE Meeting, I am nearly caught up with unpaid bills and unanswered letters. I have also read your “Exactly What Is Human Services.” I agree that there is a substantial need to provide a sharper conceptualization for Human Services, especially as it differs from Social Work, where there seems to be the greatest conflict with both sets of practitioners claiming the same turf. This has never been done well by either profession.
Most of the professions within the overall arena of Human Services rightfully claim a “humanitarian” base, but most are also premised upon some theoretical foundation regarding the nature of Human Service problems and possible solutions. Thus much of medicine and the health care field assumes a biomedical causation and biomedical remedies, while psychology assumes a psychological/behavioral causation and set of interventions. Social work is theoretically based on the notion of social causation and interventions, and the early social workers functioned in that way. However, social work, especially case work, has drifted over into the psychological realm where many practitioners choose to practice what is much closer to psychological therapy than what most old-time social workers would have found appropriate. Perhaps this is because the scientific evidence for social causation and social interventions has been difficult to obtain and because the field has drifted to a strong “value oriented” base. Social work is based on a value system of beliefs far more than the other human service professions, which tend to have more firm evidence for their work.
At times, that value orientation causes social workers considerable internal conflict in practice. For example, they profess a belief in client self-determination, but in reality, they frequently find that the constraints of the fiscal/legal system in which they work do not allow the client to make his/her own decisions (e.g., the workers can’t provide all the money the clients want or need; committed patients or prisoners cannot go home, even if they want to), and the workers find that they are actually the agents of social constraint. Another value of social work is its belief in democratic majority rule, but so many of their clients are in the minority. Then what?
My point is that there are inherent problems in making values (which often conflict with each other) the base upon which to build a profession, as social work has found. At the same time, there are severe limitations in building a profession on a single academic/knowledge base, because human service problems and their solutions require a broad biopsychosocial perspective. Worst of all is a profession based on a narrow technology (e.g., psychoanalysis, surgery, behavioral therapy), because then every client’s problems are seen in terms of the need for that specific technology.
The early work we did in this field was in the area of mental health technology—not broad human services. I have felt a bit uneasy as the academicians moved to the broader terminology of “human services” without making much change in their academic programs. However, I still feel that the basic concept of the “generalist” worker, as we defined it in mental health, and as you seem to do in your paper, is the most appropriate orientation for the new field. In that formulation, the focus of concern of the worker is for the client and family and the totality of their problems/needs—not just one theoretical part of them. The worker is an advocate for that client, much as a family practitioner is the advocate for his client/family, doing what he can himself and making referrals to meet specialized needs, but even then keeping in touch and helping the specialist understand special needs and following up after the specialist has done his “thing.” The worker helps the client with all the biopsychosocial aspects of his need, and needs a keen knowledge and appreciation of all of them. (In my judgment, many of the Human Services education programs have greatly devalued the biomedical aspects.)
The worker must be quite analytical about the client’s needs to assure that the client does not fall into prolonged dependency. This may be a difficult point for workers who focus too much on “humanitarian” needs; it can lead to fostering dependency if the distinction is not clearly understood. I believe “advocacy” is desirable, but at this level (the client level), I see it related to helping the client get what he needs in a system that would not ordinarily serve him.
These are all concepts that apply at the level of the individual human service worker engaged with individual clients and families. At higher academic and organizational levels, I see Human Services working much more with the systems of services, creating new services, linking them more effectively and economically, and so on. The advocacy here is more related to systems (e.g., economic, organizational, political). We need much more research in these areas. I get impatient with advanced human service educational programs that focus on preparing “therapists” for individual clients (Why not just switch those students to psychology or social work?), or that provide rather stereotyped education about organizational theory and management with little research to determine its relevance to human service systems. I believe that management concepts developed from manufacturing and business are in some ways actually antithetical to human services, but we need much more research to be sure.
I tend to be cautious about blaming the larger system of society for its shortcomings in relation to the human services. In my judgment, we in the human services have not done a good job of defining those problems and needs and especially what would be both effective and cost-effective interventions. American society is far too committed to a philosophy of competition and winning. The sorriest part of it is that the losers are seen as “deficient” or “bad” and thus to blame for and deserving of their own plights. We teach these competitive concepts in school, on TV, in books, in newspapers (right now we have both the World Series and the presidential elections underway and winning or losing on our national mind every hour). We need a gentler philosophy that says that everyone is important and must be brought to his/her level of greatest contribution and participation in our society (not just the winners) and that everyone has a stake in bringing about that state of our nation.
At the same time, we in the human services must be sure that we know what we are doing in our interventions and that they are cost-effective. (A glaring example of such a current problem is the vast increases we have seen in recent years in institutional care for disturbed children/adolescents and alcoholics. They cannot be justified, and society is now saying so by establishing managed care organizations to control the “abuses.” It is a discredit to the mental health establishment that it has allowed this to happen, but they “won” all those concessions to have those conditions “covered” by third-party payment programs.) We must not simply whine for more money and prestige for human services without assuring that we are making good use of our funds and talents. Human Services programs at advanced academic levels, with careful research, more refined program evaluation, and critical analysis (not just blind advocacy), could help us do better in those areas.
All this is a long way about to endorse your concept that human services puts the client/family at the center of concern and works to help in the totality of that person/family’s biopsychosocial realities—not just some theoretical portion of it. One problem you will experience at the highest conceptual level is that all the other human service professions will say that they do exactly the same thing. A careful analysis of what they really do will show that they focus on only a theoretical part of it, but then I’m not so sure that human service workers, as presently trained, are as well prepared in some of the broad bio-psychosocial aspects of the human need (the biomedical aspects and aspects having to do with antisocial behavior, corrections, and criminology) as they really should be.
What kind of reaction did you receive to this paper? We surely need more attention to this kind of effort to more clearly define just what we are. There is great reluctance from legislators, third-party payers, and so on to accept any “new” professions that will simply raise the costs of human services to the public and the taxpayers. It behooves any new group to firmly establish its rationale for being and to sharpen the distinctions between it and other closely related professions in language and concepts that are practical and make sense to the larger society. Fuzzy abstractions will not cut the mustard.
I hope this helps.
Cordially yours,
PART ONE HUMAN SERVICES: ORIGINS, DEVELOPMENT, AND BASICS
Part One includes four chapters and two special focus features that will provide a foundation for your
understanding of the field of human services. You will learn about the different meanings and contexts
of the term “human services.” You will also come t
o appreciate the evolution of contemporary human
services as a way of responding to a wide array of social and personal problems. In these readings, you
will see the dramatic effect that government, through legislation and policy implementation, can have
o
n how human service needs are met. You will find that the terms and ideas introduced in these
chapters will reappear throughout the book and be useful in your human service career.
In Chapter 1, Paul Cimmino discusses the basic concepts and definitions in
the field of human services,
making it clear that “human services” is a complex term and that the field is both broad and varied. Paul
Cimmino presents a strong case for human services as a distinct profession and field of study within the
helping professi
ons and within social sciences. As you begin your study of the human service profession,
you will understand that you are part of a movement that sees itself as one way that a just society
expresses its concern for the worth and well
-
being of each person.
You will better understand your
future role as a human service worker as it compares with and differs from other professional careers in
social work, psychology, psychiatry, and mental health counseling. Human services is an “eclectic” field,
which means t
hat it draws upon and uses aspects of other fields such as clinical psychology and social
work. Many of your teachers, who are human service educators, have had their initial training and
experience in these other fields.
After reading this first chapter,
you will come to recognize the many different tasks undertaken by
human service workers and to understand how these tasks change with different consumer, or client,
populations. You will also become aware of a wide variety of human service work, which, reg
ardless of
how this work is applied or carried out, is always involved in solutions to human problems and social
issues. With these ideas in mind, you will better appreciate the scope and range of human services and
how these services attempt to change bot
h individuals and society. Immediately following Chapter 1, as
a Special Focus Feature, is a letter by Harold McPheeters that comments on aspects of the chapter. This
letter will be of interest to you as you prepare for a career as a professional helper.
C
hapter 2 will help to provide the foundations and historical references to the human service field and
will, along with Chapter 1, provide the general backdrop for later chapters, each of which will contribute
special and important elaboration of details a
nd issues. Together, these chapters provide a continuous
and comprehensive presentation of the professional field of human services.
In any first exposure to an academic discipline, professional field of work, or general subject matter, the
introductory st
udent will feel the need for a sense of “intellectual grounding,” or an awareness of the
origins of these ideas or bodies of knowledge and the ways in which the field developed to its present
condition.
In Chapter 2, Joel Diambra provides a network of hist
orical references, both remote and recent, that
illustrate the breadth and depth of what is current and contemporary in the field. From the preceding
chapter you gained a basic understanding of human services as a concept and how that concept is
applied to
the “helping” professions. This chapter traces the history of human services from early values
in various traditions to the impact of recent social and political forces. This chapter will provide you with
PART ONE HUMAN SERVICES: ORIGINS, DEVELOPMENT, AND BASICS
Part One includes four chapters and two special focus features that will provide a foundation for your
understanding of the field of human services. You will learn about the different meanings and contexts
of the term “human services.” You will also come to appreciate the evolution of contemporary human
services as a way of responding to a wide array of social and personal problems. In these readings, you
will see the dramatic effect that government, through legislation and policy implementation, can have
on how human service needs are met. You will find that the terms and ideas introduced in these
chapters will reappear throughout the book and be useful in your human service career.
In Chapter 1, Paul Cimmino discusses the basic concepts and definitions in the field of human services,
making it clear that “human services” is a complex term and that the field is both broad and varied. Paul
Cimmino presents a strong case for human services as a distinct profession and field of study within the
helping professions and within social sciences. As you begin your study of the human service profession,
you will understand that you are part of a movement that sees itself as one way that a just society
expresses its concern for the worth and well-being of each person. You will better understand your
future role as a human service worker as it compares with and differs from other professional careers in
social work, psychology, psychiatry, and mental health counseling. Human services is an “eclectic” field,
which means that it draws upon and uses aspects of other fields such as clinical psychology and social
work. Many of your teachers, who are human service educators, have had their initial training and
experience in these other fields.
After reading this first chapter, you will come to recognize the many different tasks undertaken by
human service workers and to understand how these tasks change with different consumer, or client,
populations. You will also become aware of a wide variety of human service work, which, regardless of
how this work is applied or carried out, is always involved in solutions to human problems and social
issues. With these ideas in mind, you will better appreciate the scope and range of human services and
how these services attempt to change both individuals and society. Immediately following Chapter 1, as
a Special Focus Feature, is a letter by Harold McPheeters that comments on aspects of the chapter. This
letter will be of interest to you as you prepare for a career as a professional helper.
Chapter 2 will help to provide the foundations and historical references to the human service field and
will, along with Chapter 1, provide the general backdrop for later chapters, each of which will contribute
special and important elaboration of details and issues. Together, these chapters provide a continuous
and comprehensive presentation of the professional field of human services.
In any first exposure to an academic discipline, professional field of work, or general subject matter, the
introductory student will feel the need for a sense of “intellectual grounding,” or an awareness of the
origins of these ideas or bodies of knowledge and the ways in which the field developed to its present
condition.
In Chapter 2, Joel Diambra provides a network of historical references, both remote and recent, that
illustrate the breadth and depth of what is current and contemporary in the field. From the preceding
chapter you gained a basic understanding of human services as a concept and how that concept is
applied to the “helping” professions. This chapter traces the history of human services from early values
in various traditions to the impact of recent social and political forces. This chapter will provide you with