Discussion 5.1
LDots01
NOHS_NationalOrganizationofHumanServices.pdf
A Journal of the National Organization
for Human Services
Volume 30, Number 1 ● Fall 2010 ISSN 0890-5428
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National Organization for Human Services The National Organization for Human Services (NOHS) was founded in
1975 as an outgrowth of a perceived need by professional care providers and
legislators for improved methods of human service delivery. With the support of
the National Institute of Mental Health and the Southern Regional Education
Board, NOHS focused its energies on developing and strengthening human
service education programs at the associate, bachelor‘s, master‘s, and doctoral
levels.
The current purposes of the organization are: (a) to provide a medium for
cooperation and communication among human service organizations and
individual practitioners, faculty, and students; (b) to foster excellence in teaching,
research and curriculum development for improving the education of human
service delivery personnel; (c) to encourage, support, and assist the development
of local, state, and national organizations for human services; (d) to sponsor
conferences, institutes, and symposia that foster creative approaches to meeting
human service needs.
Members of NOHS are drawn from diverse educational and professional
backgrounds that include corrections, mental health, child care, social services,
human resource management, gerontology, developmental disabilities,
addictions, recreation, and education. Membership is open to human service
educators, students, fieldwork supervisors, direct care professionals, and
administrators. Benefits of membership include subscriptions to Human Service
Education and to the Link (the quarterly newsletter), access to exclusive online
resources, and the availability of professional development workshops,
professional development and research grants, and an annual conference.
Six regional organizations are affiliated with NOHS and provide
additional benefits to their members. They are the New England Organization for
Human Service, Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Human Services, Southern
Organization for Human Services, Midwest Organization for Human Services,
Northwest Human Services Association, and Western Region of Human Service
Professionals.
NOHS is closely allied with the Council for Standards in Human Service
Education (CSHSE). CSHSE, founded in 1979, has developed a highly respected
set of standards for professional human service education programs and also
provides technical assistance to programs seeking Council accreditation.
Membership information can be found on the organization‘s website by
clicking ―Join Now‖ at: www.nationalhumanservices.org. Correspondence
should be addressed to NOHS, 5341 Old Highway 5, Suite 206, #214,
Woodstock, GA 30188 (770) 924-8899.
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2010 Editorial Board National Organization for Human Services
Lead Editors Ed Neukrug
Old Dominion University
Department of Counseling and Human Services
Tammi Milliken Old Dominion University
Department of Counseling and Human Services
Associate Editors Laurie Craigen
Old Dominion University
Department of Counseling and Human Services
Jill Jurgens Dustin Old Dominion University
Department of Counseling and Human Services
Assistant Editor Rebecca McBride
Old Dominion University
Department of Counseling and Human Services
Copy Editor Christine Currie
Old Dominion University
Reviewers
Joel Diambra
University of Tennessee
Educational Psychology and
Counseling Department
Rich Furman
University of Washington, Tacoma
Social Work
Cheree Hammond
James Madison University
Department of Graduate
Psychology
Sandra Haynes
Metropolitan State College of Denver
School of Professional
Studies
J. Scott Hinkle
Center for Credentialing
and Education
Pam Kiser
Elon University
Department of Human Service Studies
Kathleen Levingston
Old Dominion University
Department of Counseling and Human
Services
Tricia McClam
University of Tennessee
Educational Psychology and
Counseling Department
Patrick Morrissette
Brandon University
School of Health Studies
Thomas Potter
William Penn University
Division of Social and Behavioral
Sciences
Shawn Ricks
Winston-Salem State University
Rehabilitation Studies
Frederick Sweitzer
University of Hartford
Human Services
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Table of Contents
Special Topic on Professional Standards in Human Services
o Introduction o An Introduction to the Special Section on Professional
Standards in Human Services
Tammi F. Milliken & Edward S. Neukrug
p. 5-7
o Invited Articles o Higher Education Accountability and the CSHSE
Accreditation Process
Susan O. Kinkaid & Susan A. Andresen
p. 8-17
o The Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals: Past and Future
Linda Wark
p. 18-22
o The Human Services-Board Certified Practitioner: An Overview of a New National Credential
J. Scott Hinkle & Shawn O‘Brien
p. 23-28
Theory and Research o Human Services Professional and Trainee Perceptions of
Conflict in the Helping Relationship
Sonya Lorelle, Stephanie Crocket, & Danica Hays
p. 30-42
o Application of Paulo Freire‘s Pedagogy of the Oppressed to Human Services Education
Marie M. Marchand
p. 43-53
o Combating Problem and Pathology: A Genderqueer Primer for the Human Service Educator
Trevor G. Gates
p. 54-64
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Brief Notes o Who or Whom? A Program Innovation to Improve the Writing
Skills of Human Service Students
Jill C. Dustin, Laurie Craigen, & Tammi Milliken
p. 66-70
o Using a Wiki for Collaboration and Learning In Helping Profession Education: A Pilot Study
Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw & Richard J. Silvey
p. 71-75
o The Transition from Student to Professional: A Model for Outcome Driven Field Placements
Martha Tweed, Kim Judson, & Brian Simmons
p. 76-80
Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals p. 81-89
Author Guidelines
p. 90-91
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An Introduction to the Special Section on Professional Standards in Human Services
Tammi F. Milliken and Edward S. Neukrug
Co-Editors, Journal of Human Services
We are excited to offer our readership a special section on
standards in the profession of human services. Within specialty fields,
standards are identified as a profession evolves. Thus, standards are a
mark of the maturity of a profession and offer a benchmark of excellence
to which individuals and programs should adhere. They suggest certain
exclusivity, in that adherence to the standards implies that individuals or
programs have achieved at high levels. This exclusivity helps to ensure
that the public is protected and served well by members of the
profession; it also lessens the likelihood of poor professional practice and
malpractice suits.
In the helping fields of psychiatry, psychology, social work,
counseling, and human services, three standards have predominated:
accreditation, ethical codes, and credentialing. Accreditation is
concerned with training efficacy and requires established standards be
met to ensure program rigor. Ethical codes are concerned with clarifying
the profession‘s principles and consist of standards required for
responsible professional behavior. Credentialing is concerned with a
professional‘s learned knowledge and experience and is based on state or
national standards established by the profession or related bodies to the
profession.
Psychiatry, psychology, social work, and counseling have had
standards in each of the three areas for some time. The youngest of these
professions, human services, now has standards in all three areas with its
recent adoption of the Human Services—Board Certified Practitioner
(HS—BCP) credential. The ongoing refinement of standards in human
services speaks to the profession‘s maturity and positions human services
as an even more viable profession in the helping fields.
To contribute to our understanding of the development, current
status, and projected direction of accreditation, ethical codes, and
credentialing in human services, a number of experts in these standards
were invited to contribute articles on each topic for this special section.
Whereas most professionals see only the end product of these standards,
we believe these articles illustrate the arduous and painstaking process
that takes place in the development of these important standards. This
information may assist in clarifying the value of standards as well as
engendering action toward ensuring standards are met in human service
programs, professional practice, and throughout the field.
We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Susan Kincaid and Dr.
Susan Andresen co-author the article on accreditation. Both Drs. Kincaid
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and Andresen have served as executive officers of the Council for
Standards in Human Service Education (CSHSE) for many years in
several positions, and notably, both have served as Vice President of
Program Accreditation. Their article, titled Higher Education
Accountability and the CSHSE Accreditation Process, compares
government-regulated standards for education to national standards set
forth by self-regulatory accrediting boards such as the CSHSE. An
overview of the accreditation process for human service programs
through CSHSE is described, and benefits to CSHSE accreditation are
illuminated. Finally, specific details about the steps required for human
service programs to apply for accreditation are detailed.
For the article on NOHS‘s ethical code, we are fortunate to have
Dr. Linda Wark, current Chair of the Ethics Committee of NOHS, write
an article entitled, The Ethical Standards for Human Service
Professionals: Past and Future. This article presents the many purposes
an ethical code serves as well as inherent difficulties in the development
and implementation of an ethics code. It then provides us with
background on the development of NOHS‘s Ethical Standards for
Human Service Professionals. The article lists the general categories
addressed by NOHS‘s code and suggests there are many areas that
NOHS may want to consider in a future revision of its code. It contrasts
an aspirational code, such as NOHS‘s, with an enforcement code, such as
that developed by the Center for Credentialing and Education (CCE).
Finally, it suggests that it may be time to revise NOHS‘s code and that
such a revision should consider the code‘s content as well as the process
that takes place. NOHS‘s current code is placed at the end of the journal
for your convenience.
Finally, relative to the credentialing process, we are proud to
have Dr. Shawn O‘Brian, vice-president of the Center for Credentialing
and Education (CCE), and Dr. Scott Hinkle, Director of Professional
Development for CCE, write a piece called, The Human Services-Board
Certified Practitioner: An Overview of a New National Credential. Drs.
O‘Brian and Hinkle first present us with a history of the development of
the HS-BCP. Next they provide us with an understanding of the
collaborative process that took place between the CCE, NOHS, and
CSHSE in the development of the certification process. They also
highlight the guiding principles that drove the development of the HS-
BCP, and explain how an assessment tool was devised, how different
levels of education and experience were decided, and why a separate
code of ethics was needed. In addition, they describe the continuing
education needed to maintain the credential.
We believe that this special section on standards in the
profession will be enlightening, informative, and in some cases, eye-
opening. As a human services professional, educator, and/or student, we
encourage you to experience pride in your profession as you deepen your
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understanding of the development of the field of human services and its
evolution into a respectable, standards-based profession. Enjoy this
special section and consider how you might be able to serve NOHS,
CSHSE, and CCE in future revisions of these standards.
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Higher Education Accountability and the CSHSE Accreditation Process
Susan O. Kincaid
Western Washington University
Susan A. Andresen
Vice President of Accreditation
Council for Standards in Human Service Education
Abstract Assessment of student learning based on government regulations,
generally tied to standardized exit examinations, may not be a sufficient
gauge of program efficacy. Self-regulation through accrediting bodies is
a system of accountability based on peer review. It requires (a)
compliance with national standards, (b) assessment plans tied to learning
outcomes, and (c) continuous program improvement. As a result of this
rigor, accreditation is more likely to strengthen and support a diversity of
programs and make recommendations tied to the unique mission of each
institution. The accreditation policies and procedures of the CSHSE are
congruent with the literature. The self-study accreditation process of the
CSHSE is outlined and benefits to accreditation through CSHSE are
highlighted.
Introduction The Council for Standards in Human Service Education
(CSHSE) is the accrediting body for human services degree programs.
The CSHSE was formed in 1975 at about the same time as the National
Organization for Human Services (NOHS), originally called the National
Organization for Human Services Education. The founders of both
organizations wanted a separation between the professional membership
group and the accrediting body to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
In the United States, higher education participates in voluntary
self-regulation through the accreditation process. There are regional
bodies that accredit colleges and universities, both private and public. ―In
2005, regional commissions accredited 3,000 institutions using 3,500
volunteers in a system overseen by 105 fulltime staff‖ (Brittingham,
2008, p. 33). In addition, there are accrediting bodies that accredit
programs specific to various disciplines of study. Organizations exist that
recognize accrediting bodies. An example is the Council for Higher
Education Accreditation (CHEA). Some state legislatures require
discipline accreditation if there is a CHEA-recognized accrediting body
for that discipline. The CSHSE is currently in the final phase of the
CHEA recognition process.
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In this article, the authors will discuss accreditation, regulation
and assessment, providing some historical and current context of the
tensions surrounding accreditation. The discussion will be followed by
an introduction to the CSHSE accreditation process, advantages of
CSHSE accreditation, basic accreditation information, preparatory work,
and a summary.
Accreditation, Regulation, and Assessment Perhaps accreditation has never been more important or more
hotly debated than it has been in the last decade. It began as an attempt to
self-regulate the quality of higher education through national standards
and a peer review process that was recognized by the government as a
reliable quality control source beginning in the 1950s (Brittingham,
2006). In the 1980s there was a paradigm shift from teacher-centered to
learner-centered instruction (Banta & Associates, 2002; Huba & Freed,
2000), spawning the Assessment Movement.
The Assessment Movement resulted in greater scrutiny and
requirements by the government of educational institutions. This trend
has continued to the present time. In the face of shrinking resources, a
desire for public accountability, and greater transparency, the
government moved toward increased control through the No Child Left
Behind Act, enacted in 2002. In addition, the Higher Education
Opportunity Act of 2008 reauthorized the Higher Education Act of 1965.
It includes ―approximately 100 new reporting and record keeping
requirements for colleges and universities‖ (Brittingham, 2008, p. 36).
Response to these governmental controls has been mixed regarding their
outcomes as compared to those of self-regulatory accrediting boards.
Government control is based on standardized assessments,
generally through standardized exit testing. In addition to the
documented problems with standardized testing in general (Perley &
Tanguay, 2008), some schools simply made their state exit exam an
entrance exam in response to No Child Left Behind criteria (Murray,
2009). That is not to say that standardized tests such as the Collegiate
Learning Assessment (CLA) do not have merit as a tool for continuous
improvement. The CLA ―presents students with engaging tasks that
measure higher-order thinking and offers institutions the ability to
compare how much their students have learned with the gains of students
at other similar institutions‖ (Brittingham, 2008, p. 35).
Additionally, in a capitalist system with very few limits, the
relationship between government and big business calls the role of
government in education into close scrutiny. The increase in private
colleges and universities and the decrease in public funding may be
leading to the privatization of higher education, as we have seen with
other services.
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Perhaps the most significant and controversial development in
American higher education in the past two decades has been the
rise of the for-profit college and university. Approximately 10
percent of post-secondary students now attend a for-profit
institution in what has become a $48 billion a year industry
(Blumenstyk, 2005b). The U.S. Department of Education now
lists over 800 for-profits that have received state, regional, or
professional accreditation and many grant degrees from the
associate to the doctoral level. Although the degree
granting/accredited sector is still small, accounting for about 2.5
percent of the total college enrollments, its growth rate has been
impressive -- approximately 8 percent a year compared to 2
percent for higher education as a whole (Blumenstyk, 2005a). In
addition, they are beginning to provide competition for the
traditional non-profit sector in certain student niches. The best
known of the for-profits is the University of Phoenix, which
claims to be the largest private university in the country with
nearly 300,000 students enrolled. (Beaver, 2009, p. 53)
Lastly, government regulation through standardized tests works
against institutional diversity. Currently there are private, public, liberal
arts, technical, science, arts, and many other types of institutions.
Students choose colleges and universities because of the unique traits of
a program (Brittingham, 2008). The uniqueness of their education is
carried with them into the workplace and larger society. Standardization
through government regulation may limit the ability of an institution to
vary from the norm.
Accreditation, on the other hand, is not intended to measure the
learning of individual students (Murray, 2009). Rather, accreditation is
intended to determine that (a) the validity of programs in the context of
similar higher education programs, (b) national standards are met in the
curriculum, and (c) policies and procedures exist to ensure continuity of
curriculum delivery, consistency with other institutions of higher
education, and continuous improvement. In other words, the program,
not the individual student, is the unit of analysis (Murray, 2009).
National standards exist as a minimum for the curriculum to which
greater depth, breadth, and unique characteristics may be added.
Additionally, accreditors are more likely to ask questions that allow a
unique response from the institution/program, based on its distinctive
mission and goals. This recursive process of question and response may
actually promote and strengthen diversity as opposed to mandates for
specific changes (Boyer, 1990; Prøitz, Stensaker, & Harvey, 2004;
Stensaker, 2000). The remaining issue, of course, is the assessment of
learning of individual students. In general, accreditors require assessment
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plans tied to both learning outcomes and policies and procedures for
continuous improvement.
It is within this context of competing government regulation,
accreditation, and assessment that both the Council for Standards in
Human Service Education and the diverse human services programs
throughout the United States exist. The CSHSE has a longstanding
tradition of coming alongside program faculty as colleagues in the
profession, valuing the unique perspectives of an interdisciplinary
faculty, and honoring the missions of programs and the institutions in
which they are housed. Congruent with the literature, accreditation by the
CSHSE strengthens and supports diversity of programs that exist to
ultimately serve diverse populations, is faculty driven, and requires
assessment and continuous improvement.
Introduction to the CSHSE Accreditation Process Human services program accreditation is a process with specific
and sequential stages. It begins with membership and an application to
the CSHSE for initial program accreditation. Once permission to proceed
is provided by the Vice President of Accreditation (VPA), a self-study
must be written and submitted to a group of readers who independently
read and evaluate it for compliance with the CSHSE National Standards
for Human Services Education. Assuming an acceptable self-study, the
next step is a site visit by two site visitors. Finally, the CSHSE Board of
Directors takes action on a combined report of the readers and site
visitors to accredit or not accredit the program, and the VPA informs the
program of the Board‘s decision.
Documentation is the bedrock of accreditation. The self-study
includes narrative that describes adherence to the CSHSE National
Standards, and the appendices provide evidence that support the
narrative. A site visit is conducted to verify, clarify, and amplify the
program‘s compliance.
Three key resources are available to programs seeking CSHSE
accreditation: a regional director, a member handbook, and the CSHSE
website. A Regional Director in each of the eight regions is available
for consultation throughout the accreditation process. The Member
Handbook: Accreditation and Self-Study Guide (CSHSE, 2009) is
downloadable from the website and provides detailed information on the
complete process, including accreditation policies, guidelines for
preparing for and writing self-studies, timelines and submittal deadline,
and guidelines for the site visit. The CSHSE Website
(http://www.cshse.org) includes contact information for Regional
Directors and Executive Board Members, list of accredited and other
members, application forms, curriculum matrix templates, and other
documents.
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Advantages of CSHSE Accreditation There are distinct advantages associated with CSHSE program
accreditation. The self-study process highlights strengths of the program
and requires review by an academic officer within the institution, calling
positive attention to the program. The self-study process itself provides
an opportunity for programmatic benchmarking. The peer-review process
verifies that the program meets national standards for human services
education. Additionally, there are expected to be benefits for students in
accredited programs when they apply for the Human Services Board
Certified Practitioner (HS-BCP) credential. It has been tentatively agreed
that students in CSHSE-accredited programs will be able to sit for the
credentialing examination in the last semester or quarter of their
program, and they will receive a discount on the application fee.
Graduates of CSHSE-accredited programs will not need to complete the
Verification of Experience Form that is usually required when applying
for the HS-BCP credential (CCE, 2010, http://www.cce-
global.org/credentials-offered/hsbcp).
Basic Accreditation Information: Application and Timeframes
Currently, CSHSE accreditation is voluntary. A human services
education program can become a CSHSE member without applying for
accreditation. Membership in the CSHSE is required if a program
decides to seek and maintain accreditation. Member programs seeking
accreditation must apply for accreditation and pay a fee (currently
$400.00). Application forms are located on the CSHSE website.
There are three kinds of accreditation applications:
1. Initial Accreditation: Site visit is required 2. Interim Report and Review: Required at five years and
every ten years thereafter for reaccreditation; no site visit
3. Reaccreditation: Site visit is required; occurs initially ten years after Initial Accreditation and every ten years
thereafter (CSHSE Member Handbook, 2009, pp. 2-4)
For an Initial Accreditation, a program has two years from the date of the
VPA approval to proceed to complete the self-study and site visit
process. If not completed within two years, the program must reapply. If
a program is applying for reaccreditation and there are extenuating
circumstances that preclude it from meeting the deadlines indicated in
the Member Handbook, a one-year extension may be granted (CSHSE
Member Handbook, 2009, pp. 4, 9, 10).
Preparatory Work The specific steps in the self-study process are found on pages 6-
8 in the Member Handbook (CSHSE, 2009). Given the length of time
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required to effect curriculum revisions within various institutions, it is
strongly suggested that prior to applying for accreditation, a curriculum
map of courses to standards be completed to identify any Standards or
Specifications that have not been met (see Matrix on pp. 18-19 of
CSHSE Member Handbook, 2009). What follows is a summary of some
of the key steps.
Consult with Regional Director
Contacting the appropriate Regional Director and informing her
or him that the program is either ready to apply or has applied for Initial
Accreditation or Reaccreditation is an essential first step. The CSHSE
provides outreach through Regional Directors who work in specific
geographic regions. The name and contact information for each Regional
Director is on the website. The Regional Director consults with the
program throughout the process in two major ways: (a) responding to
questions regarding the process, requirements for self-studies, and
National Standards, and (b) reviewing written sections of the self-study
and providing feedback. (CSHSE Member Handbook, 2009, p. 6)
Prepare to Write the Self-Study
The self-study with its narrative and appendices describes and
documents compliance with the CSHSE National Standards for Human
Services Education. The CSHSE accredits human services programs at
three degree levels: associate, baccalaureate, and master‘s. There are
distinct Standards for each degree level, divided into two sections: (a)
General Program Characteristics that address the administrative structure
of the program, and (b) Curriculum that includes both the required
content and the field experience component. Each of the Standards has
Specifications that further define the content expectations.
When preparing to write a self-study, it is recommended that the
program create a self-study committee with a commitment to meet on a
consistent basis during the process. Its composition may include teaching
faculty, advisory committee members, field placement supervisors,
alumnae, and current students. Initially the work of the committee
members is to familiarize themselves with the Standards and
Specification in preparation for assessing the program‘s current
compliance and determining what actions are needed to achieve
compliance. It helps immensely to prepare a folder for each Standard and
place in it the documentation that verifies the Standard is met.
Write the Self-Study
Although detailed and specific guidelines for writing the self-
study are provided in the Member Handbook (CSHSE, 2009), here are
three essential ingredients for a successful self-study:
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1. The Matrix (Curriculum Map of Courses to Standards) provides a visual of which required courses in the curriculum meet each
of the Curriculum Standards and its respective Specifications.
2. The Self-Study Narrative describes program compliance with all the Standards. In particular, it describes how, through
descriptions of specific assignments, class exercises, and
activities, each of the required courses identified on the Matrix
contributes to meeting the Curriculum Standards.
3. The Self-Study Appendices, including course syllabi, provide evidence of the compliance statements in the narrative.
The Matrix. The Matrix or Curriculum Map of Courses to
Standards is explained in the Member Handbook (CSHSE, 2009, pp. 18-
19), and the Matrix specific to each degree level can be downloaded
from the CSHSE website. It is a graphic index that illustrates where in
the curriculum and to what degree the Specifications for each Curriculum
Standard are met. It is a particularly helpful tool for programs during the
self-study process, and reflects any changes made to bring the curriculum
into compliance. In its final form, it is a required component of the self-
study.
The Self-Study Narrative. The narrative takes the readers on a
well-defined and documented journey through the details of the program.
It must be clear, concise, complete, and correct (CSHSE Member
Handbook, 2009, p. 16). It must describe how Standards are met, explain
and clarify appendices relevant to a Standard, and persuade the reader
that each Standard and its Specifications have been met (p.16).
There are a number of common errors in self-studies that may
result in requests for additional information and/or documentation from
the program before a site visit can be scheduled or the Board can vote on
program accreditation. A list is in the Member Handbook (CSHSE, 2009,
p. 17). Some of the most frequent are:
1. Courses referenced in the narrative do not match courses identified on the Matrix or the syllabi in the appendices.
2. Specifications are not separately identified and addressed.
3. Required introductory information is not included. 4. Appendices are either not referenced in the narrative or
they are used to state compliance rather than to verify
compliance.
5. Compliance statements are insufficiently specific.
The Appendices/Attachments. The appendices are all those
documents that provide evidence of compliance statements in the
narrative. When a compliance statement is made in the narrative, the
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appropriate appendix/ices verifying the statement must be referenced.
Appendices need to be placed in a logical order and tabbed (or linked) so
the reader can easily locate them (CSHSE Member Handbook, 2009, p.
16).
Submit the Self-Study
As the self-study is nearing completion, the program needs to
contact the Vice President of Accreditation to request readers. Timelines
relative to when the initial submission will take place are provided in the
Member Handbook (CSHSE, 2009, pp. 9-10). Three options are
available for submitting self-studies: (a) a full paper copy in two three-
ring binders (one for the narrative and one for appendices); (b) a hybrid
consisting of a paper copy of the narrative and an electronic copy of
some or all of the appendices on a CD, DVD or flash drive; or (c) a full
electronic copy in which the narrative and appendices are submitted on a
CD, DVD or flash drive (CSHSE Policy, May 19, 2010).
Arrange a Site Visit
The Member Handbook (CSHSE, 2009) contains detailed
instructions related to the site visit process, including how to budget
costs of the accreditation process (pp. 12, 21-25). A site visit is required
for Initial Accreditation and for Reaccreditation every ten years
thereafter. In either case, before a site visit can be scheduled, a majority
of the readers must agree that the self-study is sufficiently complete to
warrant a site visit. If it is not, the Vice President of Accreditation,
working with the appropriate Regional Director, will inform the program
of what additional information and/or documentation is needed.
Once a program is given permission to proceed with scheduling
a site visit, communication will occur directly between the program and
the two assigned site visitors to set dates and travel accommodations (pp.
10-11). Two full days are required onsite and up to two travel days,
dependent on available transportation to the site. During the site visit,
issues raised by the readers will be explored (p. 11). At the conclusion,
site visitors will prepare a report that will be submitted to the CSHSE
Board. Site visitors do not decide and are not allowed to communicate
whether or not a program will be accredited. Accreditation is a Board
action.
The CSHSE Board Takes Action
Currently the CSHSE Board meets three times a year to discuss
and vote on program accreditation, interim review and report and
reaccreditation. Action is taken based on reader reports, site visitor
reports, and Board policies and procedures. There are four actions that
can be taken by the Board (CSHSE Member Handbook, 2009, p. 8):
16 | P a g e
1. Approval of accreditation with no conditions, 2. Approval of accreditation with specific provisions required for
the next reaccreditation,
3. Tabling action because the self-study is incomplete, and there is not sufficient information to make a decision, or
4. Non-approval of accreditation. The Vice President of Accreditation informs the program of the
Board‘s decision and of any conditions related to the decision. An
informal email telling the program of the Board‘s decision is sent by the
VPA within 10 days of the Board action, and a letter outlining in detail
any requirements or recommendations that must be addressed for the
next accreditation is sent within 30 days of the Board action (CSHSE
Reader and Site Visitor Policy and Procedure, October 2006).
Summary There is currently national tension between accrediting bodies
and government regulation as an issue of assessment of student learning.
Research demonstrates that accreditation requires (a) compliance with
national standards, (b) assessment plans tied to learning outcomes, and
(c) continuous program improvement. The accreditation policies and
procedures of the Council for Standards in Human Services Education
are congruent with the literature. The CSHSE self-study process
strengthens and supports diversity of programs, is faculty driven, and
requires assessment and continuous improvement.
References Banta, T. W. & Associates. (2002). Building a scholarship of assessment.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Beaver, W. (2009, Fall). For-profit higher education: A social and
historical analysis. Sociological Viewpoints, 53-73.
Brittingham, B. (2008, September/October). An uneasy partnership:
Accreditation and the Federal government. Change, 32-39.
doi:10.3200/CHNG.40.5.32-39
Council for Standards in Human Services Education. (2009). Member
handbook: Accreditation and self-study guide. Chicago, IL:
Author. Retrieved from http://www.cshse.org
Huba, M. E., & Freed, J. E. (2000). Learner-centered assessment on
college campuses: Shifting the focus from teaching to learning.
Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Murray, F. B. (2009). An accreditation dilemma: The tension between
program accountability and program improvement in
programmatic accreditation. New Directions for Higher
Education, 145, 59-68. doi: 10.1002/he.335
Perley, J.E., & Tanguay, D. M. (2008). Institutional accreditation: A call
for greater faculty involvement. Academe, 94(2), 89-91.
17 | P a g e
Prøitz, T. S., Stensaker, B., & Harvey, L. (2004). Accreditation,
standards and diversity: An analysis of EQUIS accreditation
reports. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 29(6),
735-750. doi:10.1080/0260293042000227263
Stensaker, B. (2000).Quality as discourse: An analysis of external audit
reports in Sweden, 1995-1998. Tertiary Education and
Management, 6(4), 305-317.
doi:10.1080/13583883.2000.9967032
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The Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals: Past and Future
Linda Wark
Indiana University—Purdue University Fort Wayne
Chair, Ethics Committee, NOHS
Abstract This article examines the purpose of ethical codes, the development of
the NOHS Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals, the
current status of the NOHS code and the new CCE code, and elements of
a code revision process.
Introduction For professional membership organizations, a code of ethics has
many purposes for educators, practitioners and students. Ethical codes
define acceptable behavior and responsibilities in practice and education
(Burger, 2008). They promote the welfare of clients, providing assurance
that established and widely accepted standards will be followed (Corey,
Corey & Callanan, 2011; Vesper & Brock, 1991). They also moderate
the influence of personal values in professional practice (Spano &
Koenig, 2007), thus promoting the stability of professions (Remley &
Herlihy, 2010). They represent the consensus of members in a profession
(Scalise, 2000) and signify the maturity of a professional organization
(Wilcoxon, Remley, Gladding & Huber, 2008). Finally, following a code
of ethics protects practitioners in malpractice suits and provides
professional organizations self-control instead of potential regulation by
government (Corey, Corey & Callanan, 2011; Dolgoff, Loewenberg &
Harrington, 2009).
Despite their usefulness, difficulties are inherent in ethical codes.
Codes cannot replace decision-making processes to navigate ethical
dilemmas (Dolgoff, Loewenberg & Harrington, 2009). They immediately
become outdated as new laws, social policy and social problems
perpetually arise (Neukrug, 2010). Further, ethical codes do not
encompass all of the values of an organization‘s members (Spano &
Koenig, 2007), nor do they include all possible clinical situations
(Remley & Herlihy, 2010). Finally, laws can override an organization‘s
code of ethics (Burger, 2008).
Although not exhaustive, the above information addresses the
impact ethical codes can have on a profession. Therefore, it is important
to consider how codes are developed and revised. This article
specifically concerns the code of ethics of the National Organization for
Human Services.
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The History of the Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals
For the National Organization for Human Services (NOHS,
formerly NOHSE), the history of its code of ethics formally began in
1990 (see ―Special Feature,‖ 1996 for a full account). In 1991, with
interest from the Council for Standards in Human Service Education
(CSHSE), the NOHS Board commissioned a joint CSHSE and NOHS
committee for the development of a code. Code development was also
influenced by a university faculty member and seven graduate students
who developed a code for the Southern Organization for Human Service
Education (SOHSE). To guide them, codes of ethics from related helping
professions and literature on ethical guidelines were reviewed. In 1992,
SOHSE submitted this code to NOHSE and CSHSE. The document was
reviewed and revised by the NOHSE committee and subsequently
distributed to the NOHSE membership for feedback. Students and
faculty from multiple levels of degree-granting programs in human
services worked their way through 27 revisions. In 1993, the NOHSE
and CSHSE boards of directors accepted a draft, and a committee of the
board made further revisions. Finally, in 1994, the boards of both
NOHSE and CSHSE vetted the code, and in 1995, subsequently sought
approval of the membership by mail ballot. The result of these efforts
was the establishment of the Ethical Standards for Human Service
Professionals (see ―Special Feature,‖ 1996 and pp. 81 – 89 of this
journal).
Current Status of NOHS Code and the New CCE Code At this writing, the Ethical Standards for Human Service
Professionals are 15 years old. In that time, changes in the profession and
in society have impacted the practice of human service professionals. For
instance, increased sensitivity to cross-cultural differences, advances in
technology, new laws that protect client rights, and modified views of
practitioner-client relationships compel us to re-examine this original
code (Neukrug, 2010). A re-examination also permits a fresh look at
related practices, such as how grievances are handled and methods of
enforcement.
In its current form, the NOHS code of ethics addresses the
human service professional‘s responsibility to clients, community and
society, colleagues, the profession, employers, and self. In addition, it
addresses a set of standards for human service educators. Codes of
similar professions have additional areas that could be considered in a
revision of the NOHS code such as ethics for research, financial
arrangements with clients, cultural competence, use of technology, end-
of-life decisions, breaking of confidentiality with individuals who have
high risk communicable diseases, and administrative ethics (American
Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, 2001; American
20 | P a g e
Counseling Association, 2005; American Psychological Association,
2003; National Association of Social Workers, 2008).
As it looks toward revising the code of ethics, NOHS must now
take into consideration the Human Services-Board Certified Practitioner
Code of Ethics (HS-BCP) recently developed by the Center for
Credentialing and Education (CCE) and instituted when the certification
for human services became official in 2008. Those holding the HSB-CP
certification and having membership in NOHS now have two codes of
ethics to follow.
As CCE prepared to offer the certification, it was necessary to
have a way to monitor the functioning of certificants and to adjudicate
infractions (S. Kerewsky, personal communication, May 17, 2010).
Concerned about the enforcement power of a code and aware that some
who would become certified were not members of NOHS, CCE decided
to develop its own code. Forming a committee that included NOHS and
CSHSE members, CCE developed a code that could withstand legal
challenges and was focused on behavioral expectations. This focus
contrasts with the current NOHS code, which includes aspirational
statements as well as statements that are a matter of opinion and are open
to interpretation (S. Kerewsky, personal communication, May 17, 2010).
Such codes are less clear about what behaviors are expected, thereby
making it more difficult to determine whether a member adheres to
certain standards, and, thus, more difficult to enforce (S. Hinkle, personal
communication, May 19, 2010). Given there is merit in both the CCE
code and the NOHS code, a revision process should include
contemplation of what it means to follow two codes of ethics and should
resolve any conflicts between them.
The Revision Process Code revision can be thought of as having two main foci, content
changes and the revision process. Content changes often include
statements of vision, principles, and rules of conduct (von Baeyer, 1998).
Vision statements suggest ideals to pursue and are stated in abstract
terms, such as: ―social justice concerns of clients should be pursued by
human service professionals.‖ Principles are less abstract than visions
and use broad, profession-relevant statements such as: ―human service
professionals are accountable to their clients.‖ Rules of conduct are
concrete and measurable, such as ―sexual relationships with clients are
prohibited.‖ The rules of conduct should not betray the organization‘s
vision or principles (Kipnis & Feeney, 1999).
The second focus, the process of determining the content, is
concerned with the steps that are taken to include stakeholders. Such
inclusion makes member adherence to a code more likely (Kipnis &
Feeney, 1999). For instance, in a revision process of the NOHS code, it
would be important to reach out to NOHS members, members with dual
21 | P a g e
membership in NOHS and other professional organizations, those in the
social service trenches, educators, students, and the public. All offer a
unique perspective and therefore increase member buy-in to the final
code (Kipnis & Feeney, 1999; Pope, 1996).
Although best practice guidelines have not been established for
developing or revising codes of ethics, certain steps have been delineated
by related helping professionals toward the development and/or revision
of ethical codes (Blair, 2004; Glosoff & Kocet, 2006; Kipnis & Feeney,
1999; Pope, 1996; Special Feature, 1996). For example, committees have
examined published research on ethical concerns, reviewed credentialing
requirements and legal concerns, and conducted research grounded in
members‘ real-world ethical dilemmas. Committees have also sought
feedback from stakeholders by posting drafts of ethical codes on
organization websites, consulted with experts within and outside the
profession, developed a database of members‘ perceived problems in
their daily work, offered workshops nationally, held nationwide
discussions of case studies, and provided open forums at national
conferences (Glosoff & Kocet, 2006; Kipnis & Feeney, 1999; Pope,
1996; Special Feature, 1996). For any revision of the NOHS code, the
variety of sources and methods will increase the validity of the eventual
code.
Conclusion This article examined the purpose of ethical codes, the
development of the NOHS Ethical Standards for Human Service
Professionals, the current status of the NOHS code and the new CCE
code, and the revision process of a code. The revision process of an
ethical code is a multi-layered effort which takes several years. Any
effective outcome is dependent on an inclusive procedure with
contributions from diverse groups of people. As we begin this process, a
task force is being created, and members of NOHS, as well as other
interested stakeholders, are encouraged to contact the NOHS
administrative office regarding involvement in this effort.
References American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (2001).
AAMFT Code of Ethics. Retrieved from
www.aamft.org/resources/lrm_plan/ethics/ethicscode2001.asp
American Counseling Association. (2005). ACA code of ethics.
Alexandria, VA: Author.
American Psychological Association. (2003). Ethical principles of
psychologists and code of conduct. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code2002.html
22 | P a g e
Blair, N. (2004). Law, ethics and the human service worker. In H.S.
Harris, D.C. Maloney & F.M. Rother (Eds.), Human services:
Contemporary issues and trends (3 rd
ed, Chapter 23.). New
York: Allyn and Bacon.
Burger, W.R. (2008). Human services in contemporary America.
Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Corey, G., Corey, M.S. & Callanan, P. (2011). Issues and ethics in the
helping professions. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Dolgoff, R., Leowenberg, F.M., & Harrington, D. (2009). Ethical
decisions for social work practice (8 th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Thomson/Brooks/Cole.
Kipnis, K. & Feeney, S. (1999). Developing a code for early childhood
education. Perspectives on the Professions, 19, 7-9.
National Association of Social Workers (2008). Code of ethics.
Retrieved from
http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp
Neukrug, E. (2010). NOHS ethical code: A time for revision? The Link,
30(2), 7-9.
Pope, K.S. (1992). Ethical dilemmas encountered by members of the
American Psychological Association: A national survey.
American Psychologist, 47, 397-411.
Remley, T. P., & Herlihy, B. (2010). Ethical, legal, and professional
issues in counseling (3 rd
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall.
Scalise, J.J. (2000). The ethical practice of marriage and family therapy.
In A.M. Horne (Ed.), Family counseling and therapy (3 rd
ed., pp.
565-596). Itasca, IL: F.E. Peacock.
Spano, R., & Koenig, T. (2007). What is sacred when personal and
professional values collide? Journal of Social Work Values and
Ethics, 4(3). Retrieved from http://www.socialworker.com/jswe
Special feature: Ethical Standards for human service professionals
(1996). Human Service Education, 16, 11-17.
Vesper & Brock (1991). Ethics, legalities, and professional practices
issues in marriage and family therapy. Allyn and Bacon:
Needham Heights, MA.
Von Baeyer, C. (1998, August). Our code of ethics: A shared vision,
high principles and some good housekeeping. Au Courant, 7(3).
Wilocoxon, S.A., Remley, T.P., Gladding, S.T., & Huber, C.H. (2007).
Ethical, legal, and professional issues in the practice of
marriage and family therapy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education, Inc.
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The Human Services-Board Certified Practitioner: An Overview of a New National Credential
J. Scott Hinkle and Shawn O’Brien
The Center for Credentialing and Education
Abstract This article describes the emergence of the human services profession,
including the development of its job roles, skills, and competencies. It
also describes the relationship of these components to the development
and implementation of the recent Human Services-Board Certified
Practitioner certification.
Introduction Professional degrees in human services first appeared in the mid-
1960s when it became apparent that the established programs in mental
health (e.g., counseling, psychology, social work) were unable to handle
the increasing need for service providers referred to in the Community
Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 and related laws (Kincaid, 2009;
Neukrug, 2008). Today, human services professionals are perceived as
integrated, interdisciplinary generalists having a wide range of roles in
the helping professions (CSHSE, 2005; Greene, 1995; Kincaid, 2009;
Woodside & McClam, 2006). As a generalist, the settings in which we
now find human service professionals varies considerably, with a few of
the more common ones being mental health and mental retardation,
substance abuse and dependency, gerontology, youth services, domestic
violence, child care, education/schools, recreation and fitness, health
care, and vocational rehabilitation, among others (McGrath, 1991-1992).
These practitioners have been defined as helping professionals who
―facilitate processes for change at all levels of society‖ (Kincaid, 2009, p.
21).
Since the inception of the field, there have been attempts to
define the role of the human service practitioner. For instance, in 1967
the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) identified thirteen
work roles of the human service professional, including outreach worker,
services broker, advocate, evaluator, teacher/educator, behavior change
agent, mobilizer, consultant, community planner, caregiver, data
manager, administrator, and assistant to a highly trained professional
(Mandell & Schram, 1985; SREB, 1967). More recently, Taylor,
Bradley, and Warren (1996) identified 12 competencies important to the
work roles of human services professionals, including the following:
participant empowerment, communication, assessment, community and
service networking, facilitation of services, community and living skills
and supports, education, training, self-development, advocacy,
24 | P a g e
vocational, educational, and career support (crisis intervention,
organization participation, and documentation).
The delineation of roles, skills, and competencies, such as those
just noted, has led to the development of a viable profession in need of
some form of regulation. This natural progression is usual: ―Skill
standards for direct service workers … [can] create a foundation for a
nationally recognized, voluntary certification of direct service
practitioners‖ (Taylor, Bradley, & Warren, 1996, p. 1). Thus, we now see
the development of a certification for human services professionals.
Developing a Human Services Credential In 2008, the Center for Credentialing and Education (CCE), in
consultation with the National Organization for Human Services (NOHS)
and the Council for Standards in Human Services Education (CSHSE),
began the process of creating a national certification for human services
practitioners. The overreaching goal was to create a certification program
that would provide quality, value, and integrity for practitioners, their
employers, and consumers of human services.
An important objective in establishing any certification is
developing the guiding principles that form the basis of the program,
including a set of assumptions regarding the purpose of the program and
how necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities are assessed. Additionally,
the directions and implications for making certification decisions are
established.
Another crucial objective is determining the assessment tools
used to reach the decision to confer or not confer a credential.
Assessment tools, in this context, refer not only to a certification exam,
but also to the minimum requirements for education, experience,
recommendations, supervision, and so forth. Each assessment tool plays
a role in the decision process leading to credentialing and should meet
stakeholders‘ expectations of rationality, reasonableness, and fairness.
After consultation, it was decided that assessment tools in human
services would be based on five criteria: education, experience,
assessment, ethics, and continuing education. In order to define each
criterion as they relate to the human services practitioner, CCE
established a Certification Program Development Committee (hereafter,
the Committee). This committee included representation from CCE,
NOHS and CSHSE. The committee was charged with the task of
creating certification standards, based on the above five criteria, which
would guide the Human Services-Board Certified Practitioner (HS-BCP)
program.
25 | P a g e
Education and Experience During the development of the education and experience
standards, the Committee reviewed a variety of human services
documents including those aforementioned and the CSHSE accreditation
standards. The Committee‘s recommendation was for CCE to accept
applicants with a technical certificate, an Associate‘s, Bachelor‘s, or
Master‘s degree in human services, counseling, social work, marriage
and family therapy, or criminal justice. It also was decided that
applicants with degrees from other disciplines must complete a minimum
of 15 semester hours of college coursework in interviewing and
interventions skills, group work, case management, human development,
ethics in the helping professions, social and cultural issues, social
problems, assessment/treatment planning, intervention models/theories,
human behavior, and social welfare/public policy. Within these 15
semester hours, a minimum of two semester hours must be taken in each
of the following: interviewing and intervention skills, case management,
and ethics in the helping professions. To be eligible for the exam,
applicants must verify specific postdegree experience which varies as a
function of the degree held. Those applying with a technical certificate
need to document 5 years of postdegree experience, including a
minimum of 7,500 hours; those with an associate‘s degree need 3 years
of experience, including 4,500 hours; those with a bachelor‘s degree
need 2 years of experience, including 3,000 hours; and those with a
master‘s degree need 1 year of experience, including 1,500 hours.
Assessment: The National Job Analysis Study The knowledge, skills, and abilities included in the HS-BCP
assessment are grounded in the results of a national job analysis study.
This job analysis was used to develop the human services certification
examination. The Committee assisted CCE throughout this process to
ensure that experts in human services developed a comprehensive
inventory of activities that human services practitioners may perform. In
addition, the Committee was consulted on the development of the survey
rating scales and identification of the sample group who would receive
the job analysis survey instrument (Hinkle, O‘Brien, & Olding, 2009).
Based on the job analysis, it was determined that the examination should
be composed of questions from each of the following major content
areas: assessment, service planning and outcome evaluation; theoretical
orientation/interventions; case management, professional practice, and
ethics; administration, program development, evaluation, and
supervision.
The Code of Ethics HS-BCPs are obligated to work with clients and fellow
professionals in an ethical manner, including recognizing ethical
26 | P a g e
dilemmas and knowing how to respond appropriately. Additionally,
enforceable ethical codes result in the greatest good for the greatest
number of people and ultimately prevent harm to HS-BCPs, clients,
agencies, and society at large (Kerewsky & Hinkle, 2009; Milliken &
Neukrug, 2009). Recognizing these facts, the Committee decided that
applicants must attest to their compliance to a code of ethics and
enforcement of the code. To ensure the code met the professional
certification standards, the Committee consulted with legal counsel as
they created an enforceable code of ethics. The resulting Human
Services-Board Certified Practitioner Code of Ethics’ purpose was to
document that HS-BCP certificants and applicants have the ―obligation
to maintain high standards of integrity and conduct; act in a manner that
protects the welfare and interests of clients; accept responsibility for their
actions; act consistent with accepted ethical and legal standards;
continually seek to enhance their occupational capabilities; and practice
with fairness and honesty‖ (HS-BCP Code of Ethics, 2009). The code
was seen as supplementing, not supplanting, the NOHS code of ethics.
Continuing Education It is essential that human services professionals maintain
learning through continuing education (Neukrug, 2008). Therefore, a
quality recertification process was vital to the Committee‘s commitment
to lifelong learning. The Committee decided that continuing education
requirements should encourage certificants to remain abreast of current
trends important to the human services profession. Therefore, the
committee recommended that all HS-BCPs complete 60 contact (clock)
hours of relevant continuing education during each five-year certification
cycle, including a minimum of six (6) contact hours specific to ethics. A
contact hour was defined as one hour of actual participation in a
continuing education activity (excluding all breaks). The HS-BCP
continuing education competencies include knowledge, skills, and
abilities related to areas such as human systems. Human systems may
include the structure and dynamics of organizations, communities, and
society; the nature of individuals and groups as they relate to appropriate
responses to human needs; ethical and legal issues; crisis, disaster, and
trauma intervention skills; understanding diverse populations; career
development and facilitation skills; and human services promotion,
programming, education, training, and supervision.
Conclusion In conclusion, an individual who applies for the HS-BCP
certification must meet the education, experience, and assessment
standards established by the joint NOHS, CSHSE, and CCE HS-BCP
Certification Program Development Committee. Human services
practitioners who earn the HS-BCP demonstrate to stakeholders
27 | P a g e
(practitioners, the profession, employers, and the general public) that
they have met the standards of practice defined by the profession as safe
and effective practice. Additional information about the national human
services certification program and the HS-BCP application can be found
at http://www.cce-global.org/credentials-offered/hsbcp.
References Burger, W. R. (2008). Human services in contemporary America
(7 th
ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Council for Standards for Human Services Education. (2005).
National standards for human services education.
Retrieved from
http://www.cshse.org/standards.html
Greene, D. S. (1995). Human services and the liberal arts: An
integration. Human Services Education, 15, 27-34.
Hinkle, J. S., O‘Brien, S., & Olding, R. (2009, October). The
national human services job analysis: Implications for
human services certification, accreditation, and practice.
Presentation at the National Organization for Human
Services Annual Conference, Portland, OR.
CCE (2009). Human services—board certification practitioner
code of ethics Retrieved from
http://www.cce-global.org/extras/cce-global/pdfs/HS-
BCP_codeofethics.pdf
Kerewsky, S. D., & Hinkle, S. (2009, October). Human services –
board certified practitioner ethics. Invited presentation at
the National Organization for Human Services Annual
Conference, Portland, OR.
Kincaid, S. O. (2009). Defining human services: A discourse
analysis. Human Service Education, 1, 14-23.
Mandell, B. R., & Schram, B. (1985). An introduction to human
services: Policy and practice. Needham Heights, MA:
Allyn & Bacon.
McGrath, P. R. (1991-92). Human services education: Stage of the
discipline – a survey of faculty members of the National
Organization for Human Services Education. Unpublished
doctoral dissertation, National Louis University, Evanston,
IL.
Milliken, T., & Neukrug, E. (2009). Perceptions of ethical
behaviors of human service professionals. Human Service
Education, 29(1), 35-48.
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Neukrug, E. (2008). Theory, practice, and trends in human
services (4 th
ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Wadsworth
Thomas Learning.
Southern Regional Educational Board. (1967). Roles and
functions for different levels of mental health workers.
Atlanta, GA: Author.
Taylor, M., Bradley, V., & Warren, R. (Eds.). (1996). The
community support skill standards: Tools for managing
change and achievement outcomes: Skill standards for
direct service workers in human services. Cambridge, MA:
Human Services Research Institute.
Woodside, M., & McClam, T. (2006). An introduction to human
services. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Outstanding opportunities for students, with both undergraduate and graduate programs in the fields of counseling and human services.
For more information, contact the college at 757-683-3221 or visit http://education.odu.edu
Adding Value to the lives of our students
Darden College of Education
Ad-Professional Journal 180V:Layout 1 4/30/09 10:12 AM Page 2
30 | P a g e
Human Services Professional and Trainee Perceptions of Conflict in the Helping Relationship
Sonya Lorelle, Stephanie Crocket, and Danica Hays
Old Dominion University
Abstract Human services professionals play a significant role in assisting clients
with developing effective conflict management skills. While factors
influencing conflict management style and the impact of conflict
management styles in interpersonal relationships have been explored, the
literature to date has failed to examine how human services
professionals‘ and trainees‘ conflict management style and beliefs about
conflict influence their relationship with the client and types of
implemented interventions. This exploratory qualitative research study
investigated human services professionals‘ and trainees‘
conceptualizations of conflict and their personal conflict management
style. Factors influencing conflict management styles and clinical
considerations also are considered.
Introduction Conflict is a significant part of human interactions and can affect
many aspects of people‘s lives. Though conflict has been defined several
ways, we used Rahim‘s (1992) definition of conflict: ―an interactive
process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement, or dissonance
within or between social entities‖ (p. 16). We also maintain that conflict
is not a particularly negative phenomenon, but rather it has functional
and dysfunctional outcomes (Rahim, 1992). Conflict can lead to stress
and decreased satisfaction, or it can stimulate new solutions, creativity
and growth. The outcome of a conflict situation may depend largely on
the way in which an individual manages conflict. Conflict management
refers to both intended and actual behaviors implemented by an
individual facing conflict that are aimed to reduce or resolve conflict
(Jehn & Mannix, 2001; Van de Vliert, 1997). While all of these
behaviors are aimed at reducing conflict, only effective conflict
management behavior involves strategies necessary to minimize
dysfunction (Rahim, 2000).
Conflict Management Styles
Early research regarding conflict suggested people tend to have a
preferred way to approach and manage conflict. Such approaches are
commonly referred to as conflict styles. One of the most prevalent
conflict management style models was developed by Kilmann and
Thomas (1977). Kilmann and Thomas developed an instrument designed
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to assess people‘s behavior when faced with a conflict situation. They
developed five conflict styles based on the dimensions of assertiveness
and cooperativeness, which included competing, avoiding,
accommodating, compromising, and collaborating styles.
According to the Kilmann and Thomas model, individuals with
the competing style are assertive and uncooperative and will attempt to
win their position at the cost of the other individual‘s needs. Individuals
with the avoiding style are unassertive and uncooperative. They evade
the unpleasantness of conflict by attempting to postpone or trying not to
focus on or worry about the problem. Individuals with the
accommodating style are only concerned about the welfare of others and
are unassertive and cooperative. Compromising individuals attempt to
find the middle ground position and function at a moderate level of
assertiveness and cooperativeness. Finally, the collaborating style is
highly assertive and cooperative. Individuals working towards
collaboration want to find a solution that works for both parties by
processing concerns openly.
More recent conflict style models have been developed by
Rahim (1992) and Kurdek (1994). Rahim described a model of conflict
styles that mirrors the styles of Kilmann and Thomas (1977) and is based
on the dimensions of concern for self and concern for others. This model
includes five styles: dominating, avoiding, obliging, compromising, and
integrating. Kurdek (1994) conceived four styles of resolving
interpersonal conflict in relationships (i.e., positive problem solving,
conflict engagement, withdrawal, and compliance) and developed the
Conflict Resolution Styles Inventory to assess these styles. The role of
these conflict styles has been explored in the workplace relationships of
businesses and specific health care occupations such as nursing (Reich,
Wagner-Westbrook, & Kressel, 2007; Thomas, Thomas, & Schaubhut,
2008; Whitworth, 2008), but have yet to be empirically examined in the
broader field of mental health and human services.
The Role of Conflict and Conflict Style in the Helping Relationship
While scholars have not specifically examined the impact of
human services professionals‘ conflict styles on the helping relationship
and client outcomes, previous research demonstrates that individual
conflict styles can significantly impact interpersonal relationships
(Quigley & Leonard, 1999; Siegert & Stamp, 1994) and relationship
satisfaction (Cramer, 2000; Kurdek, 1995). Specific to the therapeutic
relationship, the conceptual literature advocates the use of therapeutic
confrontation to facilitate client change (Ivey, Ivey, & Zalaquett, 2009).
Additionally, researchers maintain that human services professionals can
play a significant role in assisting clients with developing effective
conflict management skills. McFarland (1992) proposed that helping
professionals can assist clients in managing conflict by helping them find
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ways to appropriately express personal feelings and learn to recognize
physical symptoms of stress. Deutsch (1994) also suggested human
service professionals can teach clients to effectively manage conflict
through the use of the following skills: 1) establishing a helping
relationship with all of the individuals involved in the conflict; 2)
facilitating an open and problem-solving attitude among the conflicting
parties; and 3) having the ability to teach decision-making skills. While
Deutsch recommended that human services professionals teach clients
effective conflict management styles, he maintained it was not teaching
alone, but the repetitive practice of these skills that was needed for
change to occur.
Previous research suggests conflict is a normative part of
interpersonal relationships and that conflict management styles can
significantly impact the relationship. Conceptual literature further speaks
to the importance of using conflict to facilitate client change and
implement healthy management strategies in the helping relationship.
Current literature, however, has failed to empirically examine human
services professionals‘ conflict style and beliefs about how conflict
influences their relationship with clients and types of interventions. Since
research has suggested conflict styles influence personal relationships, it
stands to reason that the helping relationship could also be influenced by
conflict style. The present study explored human services professionals‘
conceptualizations of conflict and how their own conflict styles might
influence their work with clients by addressing the following research
questions 1) How do human services professionals and trainees
conceptualize conflict and conflict management; 2) What factors
influence the conflict styles of human services professionals/trainees and
their perceptions of client conflict styles; and 3) What is the relationship
between human services professionals‘ and trainees‘ conflict style and
clinical work?
Method This qualitative study was conducted at a Healthy Relationships
seminar for helping professionals and trainees. The seminar was
presented by the Counselor Education Department at a medium sized,
four-year university and was designed to assist professionals and trainees
with promoting healthy relationships in their work with clients. The
seminar included four rotating content sessions which included a one-
hour conflict management workshop facilitated by two doctoral-level
counseling students. The workshop provided participants with a brief
overview of conflict and information regarding conflict management
styles.
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Procedure
The researchers used purposeful sampling to gain deeper insight
into participants‘ understanding of conflict and conflict management
styles (Patton, 2002). Specifically, the researchers recruited participants
from academic and clinical sites using criterion and convenience
sampling methods. During the Healthy Relationships seminar,
participants first attended an introductory session where they received
information regarding the study, completed an informed consent form,
filled out a demographic sheet, and were divided into four small groups.
Each small group then rotated through four, one-hour content sessions.
All conflict management sessions began with an opening
exercise designed to encourage participants to communicate directly with
one another (Kitzinger, 1994). This exercise asked participants to draw
or write their personal perceptions of conflict. Researchers provided a
20-minute overview of conflict and introduced Kilmann and Thomas‘s
(1977) conflict styles model. Lastly, participants engaged in a 30 to 40-
minute focus group interview regarding their conceptualization of
conflict, factors influencing conflict management styles, and the manner
in which personal management styles impact clinical work. The focus
groups were implemented to capture variety in participant perspectives
(Patton, 2002) and were conducted in accordance with Kitzinger‘s (1995)
methodology. Specifically, focus groups were audio-recorded and
conducted in a relaxed atmosphere where participants, sitting in a circle,
engaged in a group discussion with minimal input from the facilitators.
Instrumentation
Participant demographic sheet. Participants completed a
demographic sheet containing questions regarding their age, gender,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, relationship status, and current educational
status. Additionally, participants provided information regarding their
work experience in a helping-related field and professional training
experiences.
Focus group interview. Data were gathered from the four semi-
structured focus group interviews. Each focus group included 4 to 6
seminar participants. The two primary researchers facilitated the 30-40
minute long focus groups. The researchers began the focus group
interview by explaining that the purpose of the interview was to
encourage participants to respond to and interact with other participants
rather than addressing the researchers (Kitzinger, 1995). Participants then
responded to open-ended questions asked by the researchers regarding
their views of conflict and ways of managing it, the factors influencing
client and practitioner conflict management styles, and the relationship
between practitioner conflict management style and clinical
interventions. Throughout the interview, the researchers highlighted
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similarities and differences in participant experiences to facilitate the
discussion (Kitzinger).
Research Team
The research team consisted of three professionals from a
community mental health background with clinical experience working
with adolescents. The team included one counselor educator and two
doctoral students, who were pursuing degrees in counselor education. All
research team members had experience in collecting and analyzing
qualitative data.
Data Analysis and Trustworthiness
After each focus group, the research team transcribed the audio
recorded interviews and independently reviewed each focus group
transcript, highlighting key words and significant statements to gain
insight into the participants‘ experience and perspective on their world.
In accordance with Moustakas‘s (1994) approach, each research team
member used key words and statements to generate her own initial list of
codes (i.e., units of meaning) to describe the data. Members also noted
their initial impressions regarding the data and emerging themes. The
research team members then met to discuss the data and initial code lists;
recurring words and phrases were noted, as well as divergence, within
and across code lists. Initial themes, reflective of both individual
experiences and shared commonalities across participants, were
identified by noting commonalities and patterns among the codes
(Moustakas). Finally, the team discussed and clarified areas of
discrepancy and ultimately achieved agreement on meaningful themes.
Trustworthiness of the data originated from the triangulation of
multiple analysts and use of an audit trail. The researchers triangulated
diverse team member perspectives to augment the data‘s credibility
(Patton, 2002). To ensure the dependability of the data over time and
track changes in emerging findings, the researchers documented research
meetings, and maintained a written audit trail of the data collection and
analysis processes (Guba & Lincoln, 1989).
Results Participant Demographics
Participants included 20 human services professionals and
trainees (17 women and 3 men). With regards to educational status, 45%
of participants were pursuing an undergraduate degree in human
services, and 50% had completed or were enrolled in a master‘s degree
program in a human services profession. One participant did not provide
educational status. Most participants were not currently working in the
human services field (60%). Participants employed in a related field
reported working in community mental health (5%), private practice
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(5%), school (20%), hospital (5%), and university/college settings (5%).
The median age of participants was 23 years. The majority of the sample
identified as European American (55%), with 25% identifying as African
American, 15% as Native American, and 5% as Hispanic American.
Most participants identified as heterosexual (90%), 5% as gay/lesbian,
and 5% did not disclose. With regard to relationship status, 50% reported
involvement in a partnered relationship, 45% were single/not in a
relationship, and 5% were divorced.
Conceptualization of Conflict and Conflict Management
For the first research question, there were three primary themes
associated with how human services professionals conceptualized
conflict and conflict management. These included conflict as primarily
negative, potential benefits of conflict, and practitioner conflict styles.
Conflict as primarily negative. Participants conceptualized
conflict as a primarily negative concept, using negative terms associated
with internal (feelings) and external (interpersonal or cognitive)
reactions. For example, participants noted, ―I have to learn about the
positive [aspects of conflict]. It is unnatural for me. I don‘t like conflict,‖
and, ―All my [descriptions of conflict] were negative … Obviously I
don‘t like conflict.‖ Some negative feelings associated with conflict
included selfishness, anger, frustration, discomfort, frustration, tension,
stress, and sadness. Some of the interpersonal or cognitive reactions
were disagreement, aggression, fighting, confrontation, power,
competition, avoidance, silence, and loss.
Potential benefits of conflict. While the majority of conflict
descriptors were negative, there were some positive terms noted with
conflict and conflict management, including resolution, mediation,
problem-solving, perspective-taking, growth, independent thinking, win-
win, and compromise. There were four subthemes noted with respect to
the potential benefits of conflict and the effective management of
conflict, including personal growth, problem-solving, self-empowerment,
and interpersonal understanding. The predominant subtheme, personal
growth, referred to conflict as a natural part of development. For
example, one participant stated, ―even when you think back to when you
are a baby… [you want to explore the world] but your parents want you
to be safe, hold you, carry you, make sure you are safe. I mean there is
conflict throughout our growth and development… I think that it is just a
part of growing.‖ Additionally, many participants viewed effective
conflict management as providing opportunities for personal growth and
increased self-awareness. For example, participants captured this theme
by stating, ―I think that just inherent [conflict] is going to make
somebody change in some way,‖ and ―that‘s how we learn. I mean look
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at research… you have to build upon it… question what‘s out there or
else we‘d still be questioning whether the world was flat.‖
Other benefits cited by participants were self-empowerment, or
using conflict as an opportunity to stand up for oneself; problem-solving,
or the ability to produce some kind of change; and interpersonal
understanding, or an opportunity for understanding other perspectives.
With regard to interpersonal understanding, participants noted, ―It‘s good
to hear someone else‘s perspective‖; ―It enlightens you because your way
is not always the right way‖; and ―It forces you to look at the other side
of things, where the conflict is coming from and why.‖ While the initial
reactions to conflict were negative, the participants viewed these
potential benefits for growth as important aspects of conflict to consider
for themselves and for working with clients.
Practitioner conflict styles. This theme refers to the self-
identified conflict management styles of human services
professionals/trainees and the discrepancy between these self-identified
labels and how human services professionals/trainees described
themselves in relationships. Most participants self-identified as
collaborative, although their descriptions of actual behaviors were
associated with avoidant, competitive, or accommodating styles.
Avoidant was the conflict style predominantly described in relationships.
Participants noted the following: ―I don‘t like conflict,‖ ―I would rather
avoid for a little while until I think of a better way of handling the
situation,‖ and ―hope it will go away.‖
Participants described beliefs and behaviors congruent with the
competitive conflict management style. For example, one participant
noted, ―I think of defense…I am ready to fight.‖ Related competitive
tactics in relationships included having ―to be right and that‘s what I
always go to,‖ ―I don‘t like compromising at all,‖ and ―Someone has to
stand their ground.‖ Participants also described their own
accommodating conflict management style in terms of ―giving in‖ in
relationships, rationalizing others‘ maladaptive behavior, and wanting to
resolve conflict to stabilize the relationship. Participants noted, ―I‘m a
teddy bear with my boyfriend, because I tend to give up things, sacrifice
what I want to let things run smoothly‖; ―I‘ll say, I don‘t need this or
that. I‘m alright‖; and ―I just want to resolve it, be peaceful.‖ While the
most self-identified conflict style was collaborating, only a few
participants described actual behaviors that were congruent with this
style. Descriptions of this win-win style included ―I want everyone to be
happy in the end,‖ and ―We are always trying to work things out.‖
Overall, participants demonstrated variety in the use of self-identified
and actual conflict management styles.
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Factors Influencing Conflict Management Styles
The second research question, which explores the factors that
influence the conflict style of human services professionals/trainees and
their perceptions of client conflict styles, yielded two major themes:
contextual nature and background influences. The first theme, contextual
nature, refers to changing one‘s conflict style based on the type of
situation, with participants describing themselves as changing from an
avoidant to competitive conflict style (―If I can avoid it I will… once you
push [me] too far I will just lash back‖). The second theme, background
influences, refers to socialization agents that affect what and how conflict
styles are expressed.
Contextual nature. Participants identified conflict management
style as situational, affected by the amount of perceived power in a
relationship, degree of investment in a relationship, and motive behind
conflict. With respect to perceived power, participants discussed how a
different conflict management style might be used with a supervisor
versus a peer. Participants also noted that conflict management styles
may differ with people with whom they have a higher degree of
investment in the relationship. For example, one participant summarized
―I have a conflict…but after a while I start thinking about our past…we
have to get on speaking terms.‖ Motive behind conflict as a subtheme is
related to the degree of importance of an issue. This subtheme is
illustrated by the following participant quotes: ―depends on what you are
trying to get out of the conflict,‖ ―depends on how important the issue is
to me,‖ and ―picking your battles… some of them aren‘t worth it.‖ By
considering these contextual influences, participants did not strictly
adhere to one style of conflict management and described their own
preferred conflict management styles as being variable, depending on the
situation.
Background influences. Participants noted four primary
socializing agents that influence conflict management style. First, they
noted a developmental aspect, in that conflict style evolves and becomes
more ―adaptive‖ over time. Two other agents included the larger
community and peers. For example, one participant stated, ―There are
some communities where you have to defend yourself. It‘s like the right
thing is not right.‖ Another participant said, ―Whatever style a person
chooses is the type of reputation they want to have and how their peers
see them.‖ The final socialization agent, noted as the primary
background influence was family of origin. Participants described how
they were exposed to conflict styles at home, either witnessing parents
fight or avoiding conflict or having structure and warmth in the home.
Participant quotes included: ―shouldn‘t disagree with adults‖; and ―I am
the only girl, so it was like I had the short end of the stick… always had
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to try to get my way with them.‖ Participants considered each of these
four socializing agents as background factors influencing their own and
their clients‘ current conflict management styles.
Conflict and Clinical Considerations
Data corresponding to the third research question, which asked
about the relationship between human services professionals‘ and
trainees‘ conflict style and their clinical work, are divided into two
categories: practitioner-focused and client-focused considerations.
Clinical considerations were predominantly client-focused, and involve
ideas about ―appropriate‖ conflict styles as well as client interventions.
Practitioner-focused considerations. Participants noted a need
to know their own conflict styles and how they might react to conflict
with clients. They stated, ―I think [being aware of conflict management
styles] is very important to know, because…you have to know you… By
knowing you, you know when to tackle a situation versus maybe when to
leave it alone and process it a little while,‖ and ―I would let them know
whatever the situation is that I want to resolve it.‖ Importantly,
participants admitted discomfort and fear with addressing conflict with
clients. They viewed their conflict style as counterproductive to clinical
work. ―I feel shy about my skills… I just really want to listen and be
empathic… but it is really not goal-driven… you have to be able to deal
with conflict. You have to confront them when they are not working
toward their goals,‖ and ―nobody likes conflict, but we have to use it in
counseling to promote change.‖ Participants also noted a discrepancy
between their personal conflict style and the style needed to work
effectively with clients. Participants summarized this theme by stating, ―I
have to really look at myself and not put [my avoidant style] on my client
because I don‘t like [conflict],‖ and ―the counselor hat has to come on
and you have to play a different role.‖
Human services professionals and trainees also asserted that
certain conflict styles were healthier than others. Specifically, avoidant,
competitive, and accommodating conflict styles were identified as
maladaptive, and compromising and collaborating styles as more
adaptive. Sample quotes include: ―You shouldn‘t like give in something
of yourself. If you‘re just like, its fine its fine … But also avoiding
doesn‘t get it solved, and competing is always butting heads,‖ ―an
avoidant client would annoy me, they wouldn‘t get anything solved,‖ and
―competing could lead to an unhealthy relationship.‖
Client interventions. Client interventions referred to several
subthemes including techniques, consciousness raising, support, and
teaching. Some techniques for addressing conflict with clients included
identifying the client‘s conflict style, remaining ―neutral‖ (―shouldn‘t be
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personally invested in it… you don‘t want to get emotionally involved‖),
assessing the client‘s motives for conflict (―asking what they want to get
out of it‖), and encouraging them to listen to the practitioner to develop a
more ―adaptive‖ conflict management style. Consciousness raising
involves attempting to increase clients‘ awareness of the consequences of
their conflict style and assess alternative responses to conflict. A third
intervention subtheme, support, refers to building a support network for
victims of abusive conflict, as they are noted to be more invisible. One
participant captured this theme by stating, ―They are harder to get to
because a lot of teachers just think they are fine, because they are getting
good grades, and they are quiet.‖
Teaching refers to educating clients on conflict management
techniques and assertiveness skills, as well as focusing on consequences
for those with maladaptive styles. For example, participants stated that,
―consequence has to be frequent‖; ―don‘t have to say what you think‖;
and ―think before you act.‖ Further, practitioners valued helping clients
to replace maladaptive styles learned earlier in life with more adaptive
styles. As one participant stated, ―They taught themselves to be a certain
way, or they learned a certain way… it takes practice and seeing
different results in order to feel what is more healthy.‖
Discussion and Implications This exploratory study investigated human services
professionals‘ and trainees‘ conceptualizations of conflict; it also
examined how their own conflict management styles impacted their
clinical work. The results suggest that practitioners‘ conflict style may
influence the helping relationship. Participants conceptualized conflict as
a primarily negative concept, but viewed it as a natural part of the human
development process that, when effectively resolved, had potential
benefits. These initial, negative reactions to conflict suggest that
practitioners and trainees may have a potential bias that could potentially
interfere with facilitating an open attitude, and may impact how conflict
is addressed in a helping relationship (Deutsch).
With regard to practitioner conflict styles, a discrepancy between
how participants labeled and described themselves in relationships
emerged. The majority of participants self-identified as collaborative, but
actually described the use of avoidant conflict styles in their personal and
professional lives. This discrepancy may indicate that human services
professionals and trainees desire to approach conflict collaboratively, but
have a tendency to avoid it. It may also suggest the participants desired
to view themselves as having a more adaptive style since they also
evaluated certain styles to be more maladaptive than others. For example,
participants described their own conflict style as changing, depending on
the context of the situation or relationship; however, they labeled
avoidant, competitive, and accommodating conflict styles as
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maladaptive, and compromising and collaborating styles as more
adaptive in clinical situations. Future research should continue to explore
how this potential avoidance of conflict and these evaluations of conflict
management styles within the helping relationship could impact the
helping relationship and the effectiveness of providing services.
Participants were aware of the impact that their own conflict
styles could have on work with clients and discussed the need to use a
style different from their personal style in clinical situations. While these
results reinforce the importance of human services practitioners‘
awareness of their own personal conflict style, it remains unclear as to
whether practitioners are able to adjust their conflict management styles
and biases regarding conflict to meet the needs of clients. Regarding
interventions, the participants described the use of counseling techniques
such as encouraging clients to remain neutral or emotionally detached in
conflict, raising the clients‘ consciousness of potential negative
consequences resulting from maladaptive conflict styles, building
support for those people negatively affected by conflict, and teaching
strategies to assist clients with implementing more adaptive conflict
management strategies. These interventions appear to reflect more about
the attitudes and beliefs the participants held about conflict. These
strategies seem to be based primarily on behavioral theoretical
foundations and assert the human service professionals and trainees are
in an expert role. It is somewhat a paradoxical role to take, given their
own admitted discomfort with conflict.
These results indicate implications for educators as well. Based
on the preliminary findings that these participants had a negative view of
conflict and did not accurately self-identify their own conflict style, we
recommend that trainees could benefit from exploring their own conflict
style in training programs. In order to challenge their negative biases
towards conflict, educators could challenge students to re-conceptualize
their ideas of conflict in order to view the beneficial aspects as well.
Educators can also specifically address evidenced-based techniques and
interventions to better equip professionals for dealing with conflict in
clinical situations.
The results of this exploratory study suggest that practitioners‘
conflict style may influence the helping relationship and how human
services professionals and trainees address conflict. While the
participants acknowledged discomfort with conflict and a need to adjust
their own personal styles in a clinical setting, their competency to
address conflict within the helping relationship has yet to be explored in
the human services field. Given these initial findings, it seems important
to continue to explore how personal conflict style intersects with human
services practitioners‘ work with clients.
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Application of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed to Human Services Education
Marie M. Marchand
Western Washington University
Abstract This paper explores the relevance of Paulo Freire‘s Pedagogy of the
Oppressed to the human services classroom and the worker-client
relationship. When the teacher-student relationship follows Freire‘s
problem-posing model of egalitarian education, it can shape and inform
students‘ future worker-client relationships, thereby empowering clients
while preventing a colonizer/colonized dynamic from developing. It is
not enough to offer compassion to suffering people, Freire submits;
educators and professionals must also work to change the systems that
reinforce suffering. This task of dual purpose requires two strategies of
human service intervention: direct service and systems change. In
Freirean terms, this is praxis.
Introduction Paulo Freire, renowned educator and critical theorist, began his
career teaching Brazilian peasants to read on the premise that de-
subjugation of the mind is crucial to the pursuit of freedom through
nonviolent revolution. He considers literacy and knowledge critical tools
of the oppressed to be used toward the fulfillment of the people‘s
historical vocation: the pursuit of full humanity carried out in fellowship
and solidarity (Freire, 1970/2000). Freire uses the term ―praxis‖ to
describe the essential juncture where reflection and action meet. ―There
is no true word that is not at the same time a praxis. Thus, to speak a true
word is to transform the world‖ (p. 86). He is most invested in people‘s
ability to participate fully in the transformation of their world. Freire
views history not as a static compilation of occurrences, but as a dynamic
string of opportunities malleable to people‘s vision, force, and resistance.
Through praxis, individuals gain a sense of their own agency; they enter
the stream of history, thereby garnering the power to alter the trajectory
of the world. Unfortunately, instances of social injustice prevent many
from participating in actions of social transformation.
For Freire, there is a clear connection between education and
democracy. He taught people to read, not just to equip them with
knowledge, but to empower them. His micro actions of dealing with
letters, words, and syntax among the poor were not disconnected from
the macro reality that the ability to read was a voting requirement for
Brazilians at that time. It is not enough for educators and other social
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engineers to offer compassion to suffering people, he submits; they must
also work to change the systems that reinforce suffering. This task of
dual purpose requires two strategies of human service intervention:
direct service and systems change (Mandell & Schram, 2008).
This paper will explore the relevance of Paulo Freire‘s Pedagogy
of the Oppressed to the human services classroom and the worker-client
relationship, proving that the concepts of revolutionary dialogue,
conscientization, and human liberation—practiced by Freire first in poor
peasant villages—are applicable to undergraduate students in human
services. By presenting two examples of Freire‘s pedagogy in the
classroom, one an affirmation and the other a critique, it will illustrate
how an educational background in Paulo Freire‘s peasant pedagogy can
benefit human services students and those whom they will serve
throughout their careers. Freire offers a progressive model of education
that strengthens students‘ understanding of the dynamics of oppression
and enhances their capacity for self-reflection and compassion.
The Emergence of Human Services Education Historically, social workers succored the sick and advocated for
the poor out of necessity and compassion, oftentimes without a formal
education or living wage. At the turn of the twentieth century, Jane
Addams started Hull House in Chicago, forging what became known as
the Settlement House Movement (Mandell & Schram, 2008). Mostly
white middle-class women lived among the people they served in
immigrant communities offering not only direct service, but also support
for community development, unions, and immigrants‘ integration into
society. By employing the systems change strategy of intervention, the
Settlement House Movement ethos tended towards empathy and social
justice, forming the foundation for the human services profession.
―Addams imprinted on the field the values of respect for cultural
differences and reaching out to clients where one finds them‖ (Mandell
& Schram, 2008, p. 64). Her style and particular understanding of
helping transcended rigid boundaries. As a result, these early human
service professionals experienced the immediacy of human need; they
walked with the people in praxis. In 1931, Addams became the first
American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
This movement coincided with the work of Charity
Organizations (COs), also run by white middle-class women. COs
offered direct service usually by means of one-time financial assistance
for people they often considered lesser, exercising an almost surgical
delineation based on class and reinforcing a superior-inferior dynamic
which oftentimes resulted in a hyper-effectuation of boundaries. In
contrast to the Settlement House Movement, the direct service ethos of
many COs tended towards pity and charity; an individual‘s lack of
privilege was often attributed to moral deficiency. Freire critiques similar
45 | P a g e
attitudes and methodologies, stating that ―true generosity consists
precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity‖
(Freire 1970/2000, p. 45). Any situation that exploits or hinders an
oppressed individual, according to Freire, ―constitutes violence, even
when sweetened by false generosity‖ (p. 55).
The COs‘s focus on each individual as a ―case‖ strongly
influenced clinical social work programs as they developed at the
university level (Mandell & Schram, 2008). Today, some educators
charge social work programs with obscurantism, challenging them to
change with the times. The interplay of poverty, racism, violence and
other forms of oppression requires social workers to adopt a multicausal
approach when assessing the needs of clients and their communities.
―Students of social work need to imbibe special skills and learn strategies
for dealing with the newer forms and dimensions of social conflict.
Advocacy of peace and justice should also necessarily be linked to
values of self-determination, human rights and social equity‖ (Narayan,
2000, p. 196).
Growing partly out of the social work movement, human
services began to develop as a profession during the 1950s and 1960s as
former clients started becoming grassroots workers in their own
communities, partly with the assistance of the New Careers for the Poor
Movement in 1965 (Mandell & Schram, 2008). These
―paraprofessionals‖ started seeking formal training to support their
experience and employment. Hence, the creation of multi-disciplinary
human services programs at community colleges in the 1960s and
credentialing in 1983 by the National Commission for Human Service
Workers (McClam, 1999). This history has important implications when
analyzing Freire‘s pedagogy, whereby marginalized individuals
participate in the transformation of their own situations.
Engaging Students in the Classroom Students choose the human services profession out of a desire to
help people. Many of them associate altruism and charity with being a
good person and living a meaningful life. When the author of this paper
invited students to share their reasons for wanting to work in the field,
one student proudly proclaimed: ―I want to love everybody.‖ Freire
writes, ―Dialogue cannot exist…in absence of a profound love for the
world and for people‖ (Freire, 1970/2000, p. 89). Students are navigating
through a troubled world; their sensitivity can lead them to feel sorry for
people who do not share their privilege. While this sensitivity can be a
fertile disposition at the outset of one‘s academic experience, moving
from pity and charity to empathy and social justice is essential to the
Freirean process of learning; a process which teaches that true generosity
is exercised through praxis, not hand-outs.
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How can educators guide students into a historical vocation
towards full humanization? What does ―full humanization‖ mean to
young people who live in a technologically-frenzied world of instant
gratification? It certainly takes more than three seconds to download full
humanization. Can their patience withstand the arduous journey to the
mountaintop, knowing that, in the end, they may not even get to the
promised land? Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a good starting point; its
challenging and inspiring nature makes it accessible for teachers and
students. While Freire‘s social critiques challenge individuals to confront
the inequities perpetuated in society, his scholarship also provides
empowering strategies for system change. He exercises remarkable skill
in affirming people‘s roles in moving from ―the death-affirming climate
of oppression‖ to ―life-affirming humanization‖ (p. 68).
Freire was an educator. While his ideas can be applied to many
academic disciplines, the opportunities provided by the human services
classroom to explore his theories and demonstrate praxis are abundant.
One risk with exercising Freire‘s pedagogy is that students may finish a
course feeling as if they have a comprehensive understanding of
oppression; however, in reality, they may still have limited or no
experience in physical forms of oppression such as poverty, racism,
imprisonment, or exile. In this case, the praxis is missing. In many
human services programs, however, students are required to complete
field internships intended to combine theory and practice. These
programs are structured as praxis, making academic and emotional
distancing less likely. Students become forced to test Freire‘s theories in
the chaotic reality they encounter in the field.
It is in the classroom where the intentional structures of student-
to-student and student-to-teacher interrelate. A dialectical dynamic is
fostered by Freire‘s problem-posing model of education, which affirms
an egalitarian form of learning where the teacher is a ―teacher-student‖
and the students are ―students-teachers‖ engaging in mutual inquiry
(Freire, 1970/2000). Students and teacher together ask questions,
examine societal and personal assumptions, and explore new possibilities
by applying their combined resources of life experience, intellectual
understanding, curiosity, and action. This powerful conduit of learning is
praxis. A teacher‘s efforts to this end are ―imbued with a profound trust
in people and their creative power…they [are] partners of the students‖
(p. 75). Information is viewed from a subjective framework; knowledge
is considered dynamic and alive, requiring dialectical interchange to
deconstruct and apply learning.
Freire contrasts the problem-posing model with the banking
model where ―the teacher knows everything and the students know
nothing‖ and where the teacher is ―depositor, prescriber, domesticator‖
(pp. 73, 75). The banking model may result in students merely storing
the deposits to recall at a later time for an exam. In this model, it is
47 | P a g e
possible for instructors to administer exams simply to ensure conformity
to standards predetermined by the instructor and institution. Freire
condemns the banking model for its treatment of knowledge as
fragmented and for the manner in which it limits students‘ self-
determination, deadening their natural curiosity. A number of
educational theorists share Freire‘s critique of the banking model
claiming that ―education with inert ideas is not only useless: it is, above
all, harmful‖ (Whitehead, 1967, p. 1).
In his essay, White Studies: The Intellectual Imperialism of
Higher Education, Native scholar Ward Churchill (1998) calls what
happens in universities ―intellectual sophistry‖ and alleges it to be ―a
monocultural paradigm…which predictably corresponds to the culture of
the colonizer, [and] amounts to little more than a diversionary
mechanism through which power relations are reinforced, the status quo
maintained‖ (p. 339). Narayan (2000) ascribes a similar problem to the
helping disciplines: ―Higher education in most countries is elitist and the
privilege of a few, and social work education is no exception‖ (p. 196).
Instructors who choose to incorporate Freirean pedagogy into their
courses will undoubtedly encounter these barriers.
The essential point of Freire‘s problem-posing model is that it
equalizes power between and among the teacher-student and students-
teachers. If this dichotomy is not equalized, students may feel trapped by
unquestionable authority, regardless of their social group. It is more
likely, however, to trigger an eerie familiarity among minority students.
If this happens, the educational system and the instructor are not
appropriately inviting and guiding intellectual inquiry and true dialogue.
For minority students who, given their historicity, enter the classroom
already disadvantaged, this feeling of entrapment may mirror their
experience of colonization. Indeed an authoritarian teacher and
intimidated student may mimic the relationship of colonizer/colonized,
the very dichotomy referenced by Churchill (1998) and embedded
throughout Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
There are at least three relationships in which this dichotomy can
spiral into the lowest common denominator of colonizer/colonized. First
is the relationship between the student and the cultural history the student
brings into the classroom; second is between the teacher and the student;
third is between the student and the student‘s future clients. There is a
good possibility that the student has never before been in a position of
authority. Human service professionals may be vulnerable to perceiving
their status and authority as undue license to exercise power over
another. Taking power away from a client infringes on their self-
determination, contravening the Ethical Standards for Human Services
Professionals.
48 | P a g e
It is, therefore, vitally important that education ―begin with the
solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of
the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students‖
(Freire, 1970/2000, p. 72). If not successfully reconciled, this
relationship may become an inconvenient stumbling block at best and a
perpetuation of domination at worst, harming both future human service
professionals and clients. When explaining the anti-dialogical mistakes
of revolution, Freire referred to the latter tendency as ―a replication of
the relations of oppression‖ (p. 129). If this relationship is successfully
reconciled, it can be a positive model for the worker-client relationship,
hastening meaningful solutions while helping to heal past injury.
Affirmation and Critique of Freire in the Classroom Paulo Freire writes, ―The pedagogy of the oppressed cannot be
developed or practiced by the oppressors‖ (1970/2000, p. 54). Identifying
the oppressor is not always easy, however. Churchill (1998), for
example, submits that all white people are oppressors committing daily
genocide against Native Americans (W. Churchill, personal
communication, November 2002). Within this definition, no white
person is qualified to even lead Freire‘s pedagogy. Notwithstanding, it is
the intention of this paper to validate the application of Freire‘s
pedagogy regardless of the cultural background of its practitioners.
Freirean values and concepts provide an invaluable counterweight to the
impersonal, alienating banking model of education that hinders and
discourages many students.
Jonathan Martin (2009), assistant professor of sociology at
Framingham State College, employed certain processes of critical
pedagogy delineated by Freire, including student-centered dialogics,
democratic expression, and self reflection. Specific classroom activities
included small group exercises, self-selected projects with a component
of activism (praxis), and readings about the history of victorious social
movements in the United States. Not surprisingly, it was in his elective
courses at this primarily working-class college where Martin recorded a
greater degree of critical transformation among his students.
Most of these students started the semester describing
themselves as unaware of social and political issues and fairly
disinterested in politics. As a semester progressed, their comments in
these courses indicated that they were becoming increasingly aware of
the severity, pervasiveness, and structural roots of inequality, skeptical of
dominant discourses that either denied or justified inequity, and willing
to support collective and government action to rectify unjust conditions
(Martin, 2009, p. 40).
Martin submits that the application of Freirean concepts in the
classroom successfully led a majority of the students to ―perceive social,
political, and economic contradictions, and to take action against the
49 | P a g e
oppressive elements of reality‖ (Freire, 1970/2000, p. 35). This is
Freire‘s definition of conscientization.
Alternately, the experience of Alison Jones (1999), a professor in
feminist studies at the University of Auckland, brings into question the
universal applicability and value of Freire‘s pedagogy. She separated her
all-female class into two groups: Indigenous (Maori and Pacific Islander)
and non-Indigenous (Pakeha of European Ancestry). Comments in the
students‘ end-of-quarter journals revealed marked satisfaction among the
Indigenous women and marked dissatisfaction among the non-
Indigenous women. Jones reports that the latter group felt cheated out of
a cross-cultural experience, as if they had a right to hear the stories and
perspectives of the Indigenous women. The Indigenous women, on the
other hand, participated in the first stage of Freire‘s pedagogy, which
belongs to the oppressed: the unveiling of the world of oppression and
the development of the oppressed‘s commitment to its transformation
through praxis (Freire 1970/2000).
The reason Jones presents this case as a critique of the Freirean
model is that even if a desegregated exchange had taken place among the
students, it may not have met Freire‘s standard of dialogue, which is
necessarily free from depositing and consuming (Freire, 1970/2000). The
Indigenous students entered the course prepared to argue their points,
and they expected to feel pressure to fit into the white students‘ ways of
thinking and speaking (Jones, 1999a, para18). They anticipated anti-
dialogical action when ―the vanquished are dispossessed of their word,
their expressiveness, their culture‖ (Freire 1970/2000, p. 138). In Jones‘s
segregated classroom, however, these students were empowered: they
felt a shift in power relations that brought them to the center ―where
white people normally reside‖ (Jones, 1999a, para 21). They experienced
dialogue true to the Freirean sense.
Jones writes, ―Access to the other, to ‗know‘ the other - the
demand to ‗hear‘ the voice of the subaltern - is a demand for a pedagogy
by the oppressed‖ (1999b, para 33). This desire to consume on the part of
the dominant group led Jones to conclude that ―the call for dialogue or
border crossing is not a call for voices to speak, but is really a call for the
members of powerful groups to listen to the usually excluded and
suppressed voice‖ (para 23). If Freire‘s pedagogy is to work, she
submits, people within the dominant group must listen, but only when
the act of listening is not an entitlement to hear.
This is the edge of Freirean pedagogy. Both Churchill‘s (1998)
indictment of the inherent power structure of the university and Freire‘s
attack of the banking model suggests that the very nature of the
university is exclusionary and that its ―praxis of domination‖ (Freire,
1970/2000, p. 126) prohibits true liberation. Freire hopes that open and
equitable dialogue will be beneficial to all participants—―no one can say
a true word alone‖ (Freire 1970/2000, p. 88), while instructors who
50 | P a g e
engage his pedagogy hope that cultural sensitivity will be heightened by
the opportunity to hear others‘ voices. Yet even if perfectly applied,
Freire‘s pedagogy cannot guarantee a satisfactory birth of empathy and
solidarity on the part of the dominant group. Nor can it guarantee an
acceptance, softening, or forgiveness on the part of the non-dominant
group—which, according to Jones‘s findings, is what the dominant group
desires.
The Worker-Client Relationship How do students bring this pedagogy—whether actualized or
defeated in the classroom—out into the world? Specifically, how do they
enliven it in the field of human services? When the teacher-student
relationship successfully facilitates conscientization and solidarity, it can
inspire a similar relationship between the human service professional and
the client. Aboriginal educator and activist Lilla Watson (n.d.) is credited
with a quote that captures Freire‘s thesis in what could be a proclamation
to human services students: "If you have come here to help me, you are
wasting your time....But if you have come because your liberation is
bound up with mine, then let us work together." Watson‘s sentiment is
especially interesting to consider given that many people who entered the
human services profession in the 1960s and 1970s were former clients,
indigenous to the communities in which they worked. Hence, they were
not considered intruders, but co-seekers and co-reformers.
Human services actively espouses two primary strategies of
intervention: direct service and systems change (Mandell & Schram,
2008). The work of Paulo Freire eloquently demonstrates a productive
mix of direct service and systems change. One example being his dual
action of teaching people to read while at the same time transforming the
system that repressed the illiterate. Freire enters into that partnership of
solidarity lifted up by Watson (n.d.).
Without a professional awareness of reciprocity, human service
professionals may see themselves as dispensers of solutions and their
clients as consumers—a thought-byproduct of our society‘s consumerist
ideology. This is the banking model of human services. Seeing people
in need as mere recipients of what is given to them can be dangerous in a
number ways. Even the term ―human services‖ implies that someone is
being serviced, as if they are a car in need of repair. Similarly, the term
―worker-client‖ is deliberately used by the author in the current
manuscript so as to move away from the traditional sense of "helper" and
"helping," and into a problem-posing relationship as articulated by
Freire. "Worker" implies that, indeed, the person is getting paid to work
in a professional capacity, which is an understandable role. It is a more
value-neutral term than ―helper.‖ Thus, ―worker-client‖ allows for a
more egalitarian expression of relationship than ―helper-client.‖ Just as
the binary dialectic of ―us vs. them‖ precipitates wars, so can
51 | P a g e
dichotomized thought, however well-intentioned, result in cultural
intrusion and imperialism as described by Churchill (1998). Moreover, it
is an objectification of both worker and client and thus precludes any
possibility of solidarity.
In human services, the concept of multicausality (Mandell &
Schram, 2008) states that there is more than one cause of a client‘s
situation, and that although two people may find themselves in a similar
circumstance, the contributing factors may differ. In addition, a client‘s
―presenting-problem,‖ the one that appears most salient at the time of
encounter, may not be the one causing the most damage. It is essential
for human services students to comprehend multicausality, lest they
become vulnerable to making the fundamental attribution error of
attributing a person‘s undesirable behavior to their character and
personhood, while failing to take into account the myriad social-
historical systems that come into play. This mentality of blaming the
victim further separates the worker from the client. Conversely,
multicausality opens the door to building positive rapport and
discovering the matrix of the client‘s problems and internal resources.
This is the problem-posing model of human services.
Similarly, on a macro-level, Iris Marion Young (1990) writes
about multiple forms of oppression, submitting that different social
groups can experience oppression in a variety of forms at different times
and to different degrees. She articulates five faces of oppression:
exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and
violence. She names marginalization as the most dangerous because it
expels a whole group of people from meaningful participation in society.
Whether human service professionals are dealing with the homeless,
mentally ill, veterans, abused children, women on welfare, African
refugees, or farm workers, they will encounter marginalized people and
marginalized social groups. Certainly human service professionals have
an immediate responsibility to address the client‘s presenting problem
(direct service); but they should also be aware of the sometimes invisible
secondary and tertiary effects of the socially-generated ―faces‖ of
oppression and what actions can be taken to create long-lasting, systemic
reform (systems change).
Freire‘s problem-posing model of education transfers from the
classroom into the field in a way that challenges the separation-based
sociology into which both students and professionals are indoctrinated.
Just as his model transforms the teacher-student duality into a
relationship of mutual inquiry, it lays the groundwork for a more
humanized worker-client relationship based on a partnership toward
common goals. It is important to remember that institutionally-prescribed
standards guide university curriculum development, course content, and
grading scale, thereby limiting the extent to which the problem-posing
model can be practiced in the classroom. Likewise, the rules and
52 | P a g e
regulations by which human service agencies operate narrow the degree
to which worker-client power relations can be equalized.
Working Toward Liberation The university instructor who is committed to the problem-
posing model of education becomes a partner of the students in
community dialectics and critical thinking. This partnership serves as a
useful model for the worker-client relationship. Many oppressors, by
contrast, ―use the banking concept of education in conjunction with a
paternalistic social action apparatus, within which the oppressed receive
the euphemistic [or, in the case of human services, the literal] title of
‗welfare recipients‘‖ (Freire, 1970/2000, p. 74). This banking model
cements in place the dynamic of the ‗superior‘ worker producing and the
‗inferior‘ client consuming. Freire challenges the clinical definition of
―helping‖ to prioritize empathy, solidarity, and social action. Ultimately,
he invites human service professionals to disavow personal agendas in
favor of walking the path of servanthood, inviting compassion and
partnership instead of pity and control. Servanthood was the path of Jane
Addams and her progressive colleagues in the Settlement House
Movement who fought ―alongside the people for the recovery of the
people‘s stolen humanity‖ (p. 95).
One of the most empowering aspects of the educational process
is discovering one‘s own efficacy. The pedagogy of the oppressed
teaches people to see themselves as historical beings capable of
transforming the world. This capability is a powerful conduit, whether
actualized in Brazilian peasant communities or in the human services
classroom. Its practical and theoretical approaches inform both direct
service and systems change interventions.
As praxis, Freirean pedagogy is a harbinger of hope in a hurting
world, serving as an important educational foundation for human
services students as they step out into the world to work with people in
need and change the structures that limit them. Working towards the
liberation of society‘s most vulnerable, marginalized, and discarded
people—not on a one-person crusade of charity, but with the people,
seeking justice together—is, according to Freire, the historical vocation
of human beings. For the human service professional, it is a privilege and
a gift.
References Churchill, W. (1998). White studies: The intellectual imperialism of
higher education. In C. Willett (Ed.), Theorizing
multiculturalism: A guide to the current debate (pp. 334-348).
Oxford, England: Blackwell.
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Freire, P. (1970/2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30 th anniversary ed.).
New York, NY: Continuum. (Original work published in 1970)
Jones, A (1999). The limits of cross-cultural dialogue: Pedagogy, desire,
and absolution in the classroom. Educational Theory, 49(3).
299-316. doi:10.1111/j.1741-5446.1999.00299.x
Jones, A. (1999). Pedagogy by the oppressed: The limits of classroom
dialogue. Paper presented at the meeting of AARE-NZARE.
University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Mandell, B., & Schram, B. (2008). Introduction to human services:
Policy and practice (7 th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn &
Bacon.
Martin, J. (2008). Pedagogy of the alienated: Can Freirean teaching reach
working-class students? Equity and Excellence in Education,
41(1). 31-44. doi:10.1080/10665680701773776
McClam, T. (1999). Let‘s talk credentialing: An interview with Mary
DiGiovanni. Human Service Education: A Journal of the
National Organization for Human Service Education, 19(1), 3-
10.
Narayan, L. (2000). Freire and Gandhi: Their relevance for social work
education. International Social Work, 43(2), 193-204.
doi:10.1177/002087280004300205
Watson, L. (n.d.). Lilla: International women‘s network. Retrieved from
http://lillanetwork.wordpress.com/about/
Whitehead, A.N. (1956). The aims of education and other essays. New
York, NY: The Free Press.
Young, I. M. (1990). Justice and the politics of difference. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
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Combating Problem and Pathology: A Genderqueer Primer for the Human Service Educator
Trevor G. Gates
Jane Addams College of Social Work
Abstract
People with non-heteronormative gender identities have been historically
problematized and pathologized in mental health education. Gender
variance has been historically framed as an abnormality, an aberration, or
a deviance from the binary norms of male and female. Human service
educators are well-positioned to reshape students' thinking on
genderqueer identity from a strengths and wellness model. This
discussion provides an overview of genderqueer identity and provides
specific strategies for incorporating genderqueer content in the
classroom. The importance for human service educators to engage
students in strengths-focused education about the genderqueer is
explored.
Introduction The fact that transsexuals, cross-dressers, and other transgenders
have tended, as a matter of strategic necessity, to become lay
experts in the medicalized field of ―gender dysphoria,‖ and in the
laws regulating and disciplining trans behavior has, I believe,
been partly responsible for the relative ease with which they
have moved into more explicitly political, and more
determinedly visible, forms of organization and discourse in
recent years... This work must continue if non-traditional gender
is to become a viable way of life for a greater number of those of
us for whom it is currently difficult and dangerous, if not
impossible, to express our gender freely. (Norton, 1997, p. 161)
A focus on lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) issues has increased
in human service literature, yet content on gender variance is scarce.
Clinical issues in working with the differently gendered are often
presumed to be similar to those encountered working with LGB
populations, when, in reality, they are quite different. Gender identity
refers to a continuum between male and female, while sexual orientation
refers to an individual‘s attraction to women and/or men (Taylor, 2007).
Genderqueer people is a term used throughout this paper to refer to those
with non-gender normative identities, gender variant, or, in other words,
differently gendered people. The term genderqueer is difficult to define,
but generally refers to people who reject and/or transgress traditional
gender boundaries (Nestle, Wilchins, & Howell, 2006). Differently
55 | P a g e
gendered people are often framed in research and practice from a
pathology-based medical model, rather than understood from a
biopsychosocial perspective (Lev, 2006). Those unfamiliar with gender
variance may classify it as deviant, abnormal, and pathology-based
behavior, rather than a ―normal‖ part of a range of human experience.
Human service professionals are in a unique position to
understand individuals holistically, rather than from a pathological point
of view, because traditionally, human service professions have
represented a break from a pathology-based understanding of the human
condition (Woodside & McClam, 2008). Instead, human service
practitioners are focused on maintaining and promoting the overall
quality of life for our service population (Zins, 2001). Human service
professionals appreciate the complex diversity of human beings and
work towards respecting, accepting, and treating people with dignity at
all times (National Organization for Human Services [NOHS], 1996).
Whether working on an individual level or as a change agent on a macro
level, human service professionals are aware of the sociopolitical
realities that affect the lives of people who are marginalized (Corey &
Corey, 2007; NOHS, 1996). Unfortunately, the scant literature available
on sexual minorities does not tend to include the emerging concept of
genderqueer identity.
Dennis Saleebey‘s (2009) formation of the strengths perspective
provides a useful framework for genderqueer education in the human
services. The strengths perspective holds that every individual, group,
and community has a number of resources. Consumers who seek the
services of human service professionals already possess strength,
wisdom, and assets from which they draw upon:
[Strengths perspectives] assume that [clients] know something,
have learned lessons from experiences, have hopes, have
interests, and can do some things masterfully. These may be
obscured by the stresses of the moment, submerged under the
weight of crisis, oppression, or illness but, nonetheless, they
abide (Saleebey, p. 15).
The strengths perspective resists a focus on ―problems, human deficits,
what is broken, gone wrong, or failed‖ (Blundo, 2001, p. 297), and
instead favors a focus on the assets, supports, exceptions, and
possibilities that our clients already possess (Munford & Sanders, 2005).
Problem and pathology-focused discussion on people who are
genderqueer (which is described throughout the paper as people with
―non-normative‖ gender identity) has done little more than to further
stigmatize clients with this identity. A strengths-focused frame can
challenge the customary problem and pathology-focused frame of gender
variance. This discussion provides an overview of genderqueer identity
56 | P a g e
and provides specific strategies for incorporating genderqueer content in
the classroom. Further, human service educators are challenged to recast
their discussions on genderqueer identity from a strengths-based
framework.
Understanding the Genderqueer To begin our discussion of strengths-focused education on
genderqueer issues in human services, it may first be helpful to consider
the range of identities that may encompass a genderqueer identity.
Human services is a profession characterized by ―an appreciation of
human beings in all [emphasis added] of their diversity‖ (NOHS, 1996,
n.p.); thus, educators and practitioners must have an understanding of the
full range of human diversity.
The literature on genderqueer identity is sparse at best, and there
is no universally accepted definition of genderqueer, which may reflect
the genderqueer community‘s resistance to being pigeonholed into a
single category. One of the only full-length texts that discusses
genderqueer identity offers an ambiguous conceptualization, describing
the genderqueer person as an individual who fits neither the so-called
ideal nor the normative female or male gender roles (Nestle, Wilchins, &
Howell, 2006). They reject the gender binary of male and female, and
challenge societal rules that either explicitly or implicitly state that
individuals must be either male or female and never in between (Corwin,
2009; Negrete, 2007).
Genderqueer people sometimes identify as transgender; that is,
people whose gender identity is different from their socially assigned
gender on the basis of their biological sex, and who may or may not
surgically or chemically alter their bodies in order to match their sex to
their gender identity (Bettcher, 2007; Morrow, 2006). Others may reject
a transgender identity in the same way they reject binary gender
identities. Genderqueer people may choose to wear clothing typically
worn by people of the opposite gender or may express a range of
outward expressions of gender (Ellis & Erikse, 2002). For example, a
genderqueer person might wear clothing traditionally worn by females
but may identify as male (or, for that matter, identify as neither male nor
female). Genderqueer people may also be identified with other gender
non-conformers, such as drag queens and kings, crossdressers,
transsexuals, or others who ―perform‖ gender differently than might be
expected by their society (Negrete, 2007).
Many genderqueer individuals reject other forms of sexual
identity that tend to dichotomize the behavioral expression of sexuality.
Genderqueer people may practice same-gender or opposite-gender sex
(and some may not engage in sex at all), with one or more partners who
may identify as male, female, genderqueer, or none of the above:
57 | P a g e
Just like any other transgender people, we might have a different
name for ourselves than the gendered name we were given at
birth; we might dress differently than most people of our birth
gender and try to ―pass‖ as another gender on a daily basis; we
might take hormones or get operations to modify our bodies. The
difference is that we are not ―switching‖ from female to male or
vice versa, or living as a gay man and a lesbian and a teenage
boy and a drag king, or living as no gender at all, ambiguously,
or as something entirely other (Nuccitelli, n.d.).
Genderqueer people have intimate partners, spouses, and significant
others who may fall within the traditional gender binary. Some
genderqueer people, especially transgender identified people who
chemically or surgically modify their bodies and ―transition‖ to another
gender, remain in relationships with pre-transition partners, though the
issue is understandably complex for partners (Cohen, Padilla, &
Aravena, 2006).
Pathologizing the Genderqueer Pathologizing the genderqueer person‘s behaviors and identities
has a long history, which some argue is deeply rooted in the development
and legitimization of the human service professions. Those who initially
conceived the social work profession, with the exception of settlement
house movement pioneers such as Jane Addams, sought to clarify and
standardize the profession‘s method of providing help to people in need
by aligning the profession with the medical model. The mission of social
work was conceived by Mary Richmond of the Charity Organization
Society, to extend beyond benevolence and charity for the poor, to a
systematic, organized, and standardized method of casework (Wenocur
& Reisch, 2001). Casework was perceived to be a process of problem-
solving, and individually-focused ―problems‖ were broadly defined as
issues in daily living that impeded the level of satisfaction clients
experienced in their lives (Turner & Jaco, 1996). Many early agencies
within the human service realm operated on the presumption that
problems were largely based upon the individual‘s moral or character
defects (Morris, 2000).
The trend towards diagnosis of client ―problems‖ emerged in the
mental health professions, particularly psychiatry and psychology, and to
a lesser extent in other allied fields such as social work and counseling.
Human services practitioners have a history of advocacy for individuals
or groups of clients who have been marginalized, and human services, as
a whole, represented a break from psychopathology in favor of wellness
and mental ―health‖ models (Ezell, 2001); however, the influence of
psychology and psychiatry on counseling and human services is
significant, and therefore worth mentioning.
58 | P a g e
Many scholars have traced the historic marriage of the mental
health professions to medically oriented models, such as psychiatry and
psychology. In the mental health fields, the medical model and the need
for standardization has led to fairly widespread adoption of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders
(Newman, Dannenfelser, & Clemmons, 2007). In the DSM, the behaviors
and identities of sexual minority groups, including the LGBTQ
community, were problematized and pathologized. Non-heteronormative
identities like the genderqueer were framed as illnesses, moral
perversities, or other departures from the ―acceptable‖ (Krikorian, 2008).
Although homosexuality as a mental health disorder was removed from
the DSM in 1973, a host of other so-called gender identity disorders,
including transsexualism, and gender identity disorders of childhood,
adolescence, and adulthood, have remained.
The most recent DSM-IV-TR (2000) continues to contain a
pathological conceptualization of variant gender identity, particularly in
the so-called gender identity disorder diagnosis, defined as ―a strong and
persistent cross-gender identification, not merely a desire for any
perceived cultural advantages of being the other sex‖ (p. 259). Human
services has effectively distanced itself as a field from the DSM (e.g.,
human service practitioners are generally not trained to ―diagnose‖ client
problems), but psychopathology, particularly of the genderqueer, remains
part of our collective consciousness in the mental health fields.
Effective human service practice breaks free from understanding
the genderqueer person's experiences from a point of pathology. The
effective human service practitioner recognizes the person's intrinsic
value and worth (Brill & Levine, 2005), rather than the status quo of
―problems‖ or ―pathology‖ which are common in early mental health
fields like psychiatry and psychology (Margolin, 2007; Rapp & Gosha,
2006). In general, human service practitioners have always rejected the
medical model in favor of wellness models (Mehr & Kawischer, 2008);
however, those unfamiliar with the behaviors and identities of sexual
minority groups, including the LGBTQ community, may be tempted to
adopt ideas that are part of our collective consciousness that pathologize
the genderqueer. Human service educators are in a position to train future
practitioners who will utilize a wellness model when working with the
genderqueer. The manner in which human service educators can begin to
reframe the thinking of future practitioners will be explored next.
Reframing the Genderqueer Human service educators are in a position to transform future
human service professionals to work to recast the genderqueer as strong
and capable. The task of challenging heteronormative assumptions in the
human service classroom about the genderqueer is deeply political but
potentially transformative. Activist and educator Paulo Freire (1970)
59 | P a g e
discussed education as being transformative for both the oppressor and
the oppressed:
As the oppressors dehumanize others and violate their rights,
they themselves also become dehumanized. As the oppressed,
fighting to be human, take away the oppressors' power to
dominate and suppress, they restore to the oppressors the
humanity they lost in the exercise of oppression. (p. 38)
Strengthening communities is transformative for both the genderqueer
and the educator, and education is a ―bold act of rebellion‖ for the
genderqueer community:
Creating and strengthening community are bold acts of rebellion
for transgendered people. Anyone who simply hosts a drag
contest is on some level an activist. A network of local
organizations, plus groups that have national and international
membership, strives to provide for the social, cultural, and
political needs of many different kinds of transgendered people.
Through conferences, publications, information-and-referral
services, the promulgation of art and literature, lobbying and
defamation work, and a host of other activities, these largely
volunteer-run efforts do an amazing amount of valuable work.
(Califia, 2003, Introduction, p. xxx)
Human service educators who work to promote change in the attitudes of
their classrooms towards the genderqueer community are engaging in
transformative activist work.
Though educating students on genderqueer issues is deeply
political, human service professionals are called upon by our professional
organizations to work towards competent practice with sexual minority
communities. Despite calls from the NOHS (1996) and National
Association of Social Workers (2005) to include competent and
affirmative practice with the LGBTQ community, gender variance
remains an area inadequately addressed in the human service literature
(Mallon, 1999). Pathology-focused thinking has dominated our discourse
about the genderqueer and gender variant, and has arguably enabled the
human services to carve out its professional space in the business of
helping people in need; however, it does little to educate human service
students about competent practice with individuals who are genderqueer.
Saleebey (2009) has criticized the problem-focused lens, stating
that ―every individual, group, family, and community has strengths‖ (p.
15). This statement is a useful impetus for strengths-focused human
services education about the genderqueer. Strengths-focused paradigms
recognizes that clients are assumed experts in their own lives, and have a
60 | P a g e
multitude of interpersonal and psychosocial resources from which they
draw upon as they live their lives (Oko, 2006). Strengths-focused
education helps students identify a number of strengths and interpersonal
resources that genderqueer clients already possess. Persistent ―cross-
gendered identification,‖ or multi-gendered identities can and should be
removed from a problem-focused discourse and that transition can take
place in the human service classroom.
Recommendations Wellness models are consistently part of human service
education, and those wellness models can be useful in reshaping our
students' thinking about people who are genderqueer. Yet, education on
sexual minority and gender identity was likely sparse in many educators
professional training, and content on genderqueer identity was likely
nonexistent. Following are specific strategies for increasing genderqueer
content in human service education:
1. Evaluate and challenge your own thinking about genderqueer identity. Much of our own exposure to non-normative gender
identities may be quite limited. We may tend to think of gender
as being primarily a binary and biologically-assigned concept. In
order to educate our students about genderqueer people from a
strengths perspective, we must be free from bias about non-
normative gender identity.
2. Talk about genderqueer identity on the first day of class, during introductions. For example, ―My name is Professor X or Student
X, I identify as male (female/genderqueer/other category), and I
prefer to go by male pronouns.‖ If you as the educator identify as
genderqueer, ―come out‖ to your students at the beginning of the
term.
3. Clearly define genderqueer identity for your students. Your students may have no exposure to genderqueer identity, and your
class may be their first opportunity for introduction. Be prepared
to answer their questions. You are also wise to be prepared for
negative reactions, as some students may have rigid ideas about
gender identity.
4. Include genderqueer examples throughout the curriculum. Discussions of genderqueer identity do not need to be confined
to diversity courses or sexuality courses. One manner in which
the genderqueer population can be addressed in any course is
through case examples. If your course textbook does not include
case examples with non-normative gender identities, adapt the
case examples to reflect genderqueer identity.
5. Challenge thinking in the classroom that marginalizes people who are genderqueer. Many of your human service students
would likely pause before openly making racist, sexist, or
61 | P a g e
classist statements. Unfortunately, marginalizing genderqueer
people is still considered socially acceptable to many people.
Human service educators should challenge this thinking.
6. Utilize campus and off-campus resources specific to sexual orientation and gender identity. Many urban (and some rural)
college communities have advocacy organizations for people of
different sexual orientation and gender identity. Solicit these
organizations' help with talking about genderqueer identity,
especially if this is a new area for you as an educator.
7. Encourage your students to be allies to people who are genderqueer. Being familiar with genderqueer identity is not
enough. Human service educators must challenge students to
actively work towards fighting oppressive and pathologizing
views of people who are genderqueer.
Conclusion and Future Directions Genderqueer people challenge the human service educator to re-
think the societal status quo of pathologizing and problematizing those
with less conventional gender identities. Genderqueer people may
identify as male, female, both, or neither, and may have male, female, or
other genderqueer partners. They have a number of interpersonal
resources from which they draw upon to live their lives. Wellness models
in human service education are excellent starting places for encouraging
our students to look beyond pathological conceptualizations of the
genderqueer, towards strengths.
There are a number of inherent limitations in engaging a human
service class in a strengths-focused discussion of the genderqueer. First,
using a strengths-focused framework may be problematic because
strengths-focused work, though widely accepted in the field, has a
history of being poorly operationalized (Staudt, Howard, & Drake,
2001). Second, providing the human service student with an introduction
to genderqueer identity is not without problems. In fact, genderqueer
people may question some of the essentialist underpinnings of the
argument that they can be understood, categorized, and defined.
Genderqueer education provides the student with a glimpse of the
diversity of human experience that he or she may encounter as a
professional. Finally, strengths-focused human service education may
gloss over the ―problems‖ that may necessitate the human service
intervention with the genderqueer in the first place. Because society is
often not a friendly place for the genderqueer, they may legitimately
have some stressors—and perhaps problems—that they wish to
overcome.
Research on genderqueer identity is sparse. Future human
service research must begin to examine the needs of people with
genderqueer identity. Qualitative research that captures the lived
62 | P a g e
experiences of people who are genderqueer, can help human service
practitioners better understand and identify appropriate interventions that
are tailored to the needs of this community. Additionally, future
empirical research on human service education is needed to help
educator identify best practices for teaching about genderqueer identity.
Teaching about genderqueer identity is challenging, but this teaching can
be best supported through additional research on gendequeer
communities.
Strengths-focused human service education can highlight the
resources and capabilities of the genderqueer. Genderqueer people often
face a great deal of hostility in their communities. However, though
society can be an unsafe place for the genderqueer, they possess a
number of interpersonal assets and resources, not pathology. Human
service education can be a starting place for future professionals to
recognize the enormous potential of the genderqueer community.
References American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical
manual of mental disorders (4 th ed., text revision). Washington,
DC: Author.
Bettcher, T. M. (2007). Evil deceivers and make-believers: On
transphobic violence and the politics of illusion. Hypatia, 22(3),
44-65.
Blundo, R. (2001). Learning strengths-based practice: Challenging our
personal and professional frames. Families in Society: The
Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 82(3), 296-
304.
Brill, N. I., & Levine, J. (2005). Working with people: the helping
process (8 th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Califia, P. (2003). Sex changes: The politics of transgenderism (2 nd
ed.). San Francisco: Cleis Press.
Cohen, H. L., Padilla, Y. C., & Aravena, V. C. (2006). Psychosocial
support for families of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
people. In D. F. Morrow & L. Messinger, (Eds.), Sexual
orientation and gender expression in social work practice:
working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people
(pp. 153-176). New York: Columbia University Press.
Corey, M. S., & Corey, G. (2007). Becoming a helper (5 th ed.). Belmont,
CA: Brooks/Cole.
Corwin, A. I. (2009). Language and gender variance: Constructing
gender beyond the male/female binary. Electronic Journal of
Human Sexuality, 12. Retrieved from
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Ellis, K. M., & Eriksen, K. (2002). Transsexual and transgenderist
experience and treatment options. The Family Journal: Coun-
seling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 10(3), 289-299.
Ezell, M. (2001). Advocacy in the human services. Belmont, CA:
Thomson.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum
Publishing Company.
Krikorian, G. (2008). Transphobia. In L. Tin (Ed.), Dictionary of
homophobia (pp. 468-471). Vancouver, BC: Arsenal Pulp
Press.
Lev, A. I. (2006). Transgender emergence within families. In D. F.
Morrow & L. Messinger (Eds.), Sexual orientation and gender
expression in social work practice: working with gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender people (pp. 263-283). New York:
Columbia University Press.
Mallon, G. P. (1999). Knowledge for practice with transgendered
persons. In G. Mallon (Ed.), Social services with
transgendered youth (pp. 1-18). Binghamton, NY: Harrington
Park Press.
Mehr, J. J., & Kawischer, R. (2008). Human services: Concepts and
intervention strategies. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Morris, R. (2000). Social work‘s century of evolution as a profession:
Choices made, opportunities lost. From the individual and
society to the individual. In J. G. Hopps & R. M. Morris (Eds.),
Social work at the millennium: Critical reflections on the
future of the profession (pp. 42-70). New York: Free Press.
Morrow, D. F. (2006). Sexual orientation and gender identity expression.
In D. F. Morrow & L. Messinger (Eds.), Sexual orientation and
gender expression in social work practice: Working with gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people (pp. 3-17). New
York: Columbia University Press.
Munford, R., & Sanders, J. (2005). Working with families: Strengths-
based approaches. In M. Nash, R. Munford, & K. O‘Donoghue
(Eds.), Social work theories in action (pp. 158-173).
Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
National Association of Social Workers. (2005). National committee on
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. Retrieved from
http://www.socialworkers.org/governance/cmtes/nclgbi.asp
National Organization for Human Services. (1996). Ethical standards for
human service professionals. Retrieved from
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human-service-professionals
Negrete, N. E. (2007). Bringing visibility to an (in)visible population:
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Nestle, J., Wilchins, R. A., & Howell, C. (2006). GenderQueer: Voices
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Newman, B. S., Dannenfelser, P. L., & Clemons, V. (2007). The
diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders in graduate
social work education: Then and now. Journal of Social Work
Education, 43(2), 297-307.
Norton, J. (1997). Brain says you're a girl, but I think you're a sissy boy:
Cultural origins of transphobia. Journal of Gay, Lesbian, and
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Nuccitelli, D. (n.d.). A queergendered FAQ. Retrieved from
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Oko, J. (2006). Evaluating alternative approaches to social work: A
critical review of the strengths perspective. Families in Society:
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Perlman, H. H. (1957). Social casework: A problem-solving process.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Rapp, C. A., & Gosha, R. J. (2006). The strengths model: Case
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(Ed.), The strengths perspective in social work practice (pp. 1-
22). Boston: Pearson.
Staudt, M., Howard, M. O., & Drake, B. (2001). The operationalization,
implementation, and effectiveness of the strengths perspective: A
review of empirical studies. Journal of Social Service Research,
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development of American social work in a market economy.
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65 | P a g e
The Human Services-Board Certified Practitioner (HS-BCP) Credential is offered by the Center for Credentialing & Education, Inc. (CCE) in consultation with the National Organization for Human Services (NOHS) and the Council for Standards in Human Service Education (CSHSE).
The credential is designed for human services practitioners holding technical certification or an associate, bachelor’s, or advanced degree, and documents compliance with established standards in the human services profession.
Detailed information and the application packet can be found at: www.cce-global.org/credentials-offered/hsbcp.
Test administration for new applicants will begin in December 2010.
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66 | P a g e
Who or Whom? A Program Innovation to Improve the Writing Skills of Human Service Students
Jill C. Dustin, Laurie Craigen, and Tammi Milliken
Old Dominion University
Abstract Writing is perhaps one of the most essential skills of the human service
practitioner. However, many human service students lack the writing
skills required to perform the necessary duties of their profession. This
article describes an innovative initiative designed to strengthen the
writing skills of students enrolled in a baccalaureate-level human
services program.
Introduction Considerable evidence exists to support the notion that writing
matters to educators, to business leaders, and to the general public
(National Commission on Writing, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006; National
Writing Project & Nagin, 2006; Street & Stang, 2008). In regards to the
human services field, human service practitioners are often tasked with
writing well-constructed case reports, clearly expressing the meaning and
significance of their professional judgments, translating observations into
narratives, crafting appeals to governmental agencies, and writing
proposals that will result in funding needed to support programs
(Neukrug, 2008).
The authors‘ experiences as faculty in a human services
baccalaureate program have convinced them that a large proportion of
their human service students lack the writing skills necessary to carry out
the vital tasks of a human service practitioner. As evidenced in class
discussions, these students have shown a complexity in processing the
concepts presented in their classes but struggle to translate them to
written word in a manner that is fluent and grammatically correct. Our
concerns over the declining writing skills of students in our human
services program spring from a comparison of today‘s students with
those in the past. There is research that demonstrates a steady decline in
the writing skills of students at all levels of education over the past few
decades (Applebee, Langer, & Mullis, 1986; Corrallo, 1995; National
Commission on Writing, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006). As such, considerable
attention has been paid to students‘ writing skills in recent years
(National Commission on Writing, 2003, 2006).
Applebee, Langer, Mullis, Latham, and Gentile (1994) state that
a large proportion of American students have weak writing skills. One
reason may be that the vast majority of writing is done in English classes
with very little done in other content areas. Freshman composition
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courses are often inadequate in solidifying writing skills. Students are
rarely assigned compositions of a paragraph or more (National Writing
Project & Nagin, 2006) and in many instances, writing beyond simple
note taking and filling in the blanks remains a relatively rare occurrence
(Persky, Daane, & Jin, 2003; Roe, Stoodt, & Burns, 2000). As such, it is
often necessary that programs integrate writing skill development
throughout their curriculum (Fallahi, Wood, Austad, & Fallahi, 2006).
Although some may assert that writing is a minor skill needed by
the human service practitioner, these authors wholeheartedly disagree.
Writing is perhaps one of the most essential skills of the human service
practitioner. The helping professionals‘ lack of writing skills can impede
their career development and may impair the lives of their clients.
According to the National Commission on Writing (2003), many
working Americans would not be able to hold their positions if they were
not proficient writers.
In an attempt to address the need to improve the writing skills of
human service students at one particular institution, the authors designed
and implemented a program initiative for its baccalaureate-level human
services program. The innovation, a collaborative effort among the
program, college, and university, was created by the human service
faculty to enhance the writing skills of their students.
The Program Innovation Rather than developing and implementing this innovation within
the boundaries of the human services program, our plan involved the
collaboration, consultation, and support of the human services faculty,
the Department Chair, the Associate Dean and Dean of the College of
Education, the Director of the Writing Center, and the Director of
Writing Tutorial Services. Following a series of meetings and
consultations with all of the aforementioned parties over a three-month
period, the following 10-point plan was created and then implemented:
1. Human services faculty and instructors added additional writing assignments to their course requirements.
2. Human services faculty allocated a larger proportion of the students‘ grades to writing skills.
3. Information on Writing Tutorial Services (WTS) and the Writing Center was posted on Blackboard and in all the human services
course syllabi.
4. Faculty were encouraged to require students to submit their papers to WTS or meet with a writing tutor prior to submitting
writing assignments.
5. Faculty used the university‘s Exit Exam of Writing Proficiency (EEWP) grading rubric when grading writing assignments.
68 | P a g e
6. Human services faculty and instructors referred students to WTS whenever faculty and instructors determined a student‘s writing
skills were in need of improvement.
7. Information on Writing Tutorial Services and the Writing Center was posted on the Human Services‘ website and in the Human
Services Program Handbooks.
8. Academic advisors verified that all of their advisees had taken the Writing Sample Placement Test (WSPT). The WSPT is a
required assessment for all incoming students at the university.
The Writing Center placed registration blocks on students who
had not taken the WSPT prior to the student‘s second semester.
All students whose scores on the WSPT were less than
satisfactory were referred to Writing Tutorial Services for
assistance with their writing.
9. The Director of the Writing Center created a 1-hour writing skills workshop DVD which was distributed to all distance-
learning sites for student use.
10. A faculty member created and narrated an APA writing skills Power Point presentation which was distributed to all human
services faculty to be posted on Blackboard for student use.
Conclusion In order to determine the effectiveness of the innovation, pass
rates on the Exit Exam of Writing Proficiency (EEWP) were examined
over a period of six semesters. The EEWP is a three-hour university
exam which determines whether students completing a baccalaureate
degree are competent writers. All undergraduate students enrolled at this
university are required to pass the EEWP in order to receive their degree.
This program, which has just begun, has already seen a small increase in
pass rates from 60% to 62%.
To further demonstrate the program‘s commitment to
strengthening the writing skills of its human service students, beginning
fall 2010, the program will add an additional writing intensive course to
its curriculum. In addition, this initiative is now a component of the
human services program‘s action plan which will be tracked and
measured through the university‘s assessment and planning management
system.
As the program continues, we hope to see more demonstrable
increases and make adjustments to the program as necessary. We
anticipate, over time, to be able to demonstrate significant improvement
in writing skills through this program.
In order to improve the writing skills of human service students,
human service educators must put writing skills on center stage by
communicating the significance of first-rate writing to success in the
human services field and insisting on quality writing. Prior to the
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implementation of the comprehensive writing plan, the human services
program had one of the lowest exit exam pass rates in the college.
Human services became the only program in the college that
implemented a deliberate strategy for improving the writing skills of our
students, resulting in consistent improvement in pass rates during the
testing periods. While the findings in this study were not statistically
significant, we believe that the upward trend in scores should not be
ignored. Additional research is needed to determine the long-term
impact of this initiative and to demonstrate its generalizability to other
programs, colleges, and universities.
This program innovation speaks to the value of developing and
implementing a plan to improve the writing skills of undergraduate
human service students. The writers‘ human services program made it a
priority to enhance the students‘ writing skills and, as a result,
encouraging gains were achieved. This initiative also speaks to the
importance of creating a plan that is comprehensive and systematic.
Rather than developing this plan within the boundaries of the human
services program, our plan involved the collaboration, consultation, and
support of the department, college, and university. Given the
encouraging preliminary results of our program initiative, the Dean
forwarded the Human Services‘ action plan to all Department Chairs and
Program Directors in the College of Education. All college departments
were asked to develop similar plans for their programs. Thus, through
our program innovation, our human services program was able to create
change starting at the programmatic level and moving upwards to the
departmental level and the college level.
References Applebee, A. Langer, J. A., Mullis, I.V.S., Latham, A.S., & Gentile, C.A.
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Corrallo, S. (1995). National assessment of college student learning:
Identifying college graduates' essential skills in writing, speech
and listening, and critical thinking: Final Project Report.
Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
(NCES Document No. 95001)
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program for improving undergraduate psychology students‘
basic writing skills. Teaching of Psychology, 33(3), 171-175.
doi:10.1207/s15328023top3303_3
National Commission on Writing. (2003). The neglected "R": The need
for a writing revolution. New York: College Board. Retrieved
from
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ctedr.pdf
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National Commission on Writing. (2004). Writing: A ticket to work ... or
a ticket out: A survey of business leaders. New York: College
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/writing-ticket-to-work.pdf
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from state government. New York: College Board. Retrieved
from
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rful-message-from-state.pdf
National Commission on Writing. (2006). Writing and school reform.
New York: College Board. Retrieved from
http://writingcommission.org/prod_downloads/writingcom/writi
ng-school-reform-natl-comm-writing.pdf
National Writing Project & Nagin, C. (2006). Because writing matters:
Improving student writing in our schools (Rev. ed.). San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Neukrug, E. (2008). Theory, practice, and trends in human services: An
introduction to an emerging profession (4 th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Brooks/Cole.
Persky, H. R., Daane, M. C., & Jin, Y. (2003). The nation's report card:
Writing 2002. Washington, DC: National Center for Education
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Roe, B. D., Stoodt, B. D., & Bums, P. C. (2000). Secondary school
literacy instruction: The content areas (7th ed.). Boston:
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Street, C., & Stang, K. (2008). Improving the teaching of writing across
the curriculum: A model for teaching in-service secondary
teachers to write. Action in Teacher Education, 30(1), 37-49.
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Using a Wiki for Collaboration and Learning in Helping Profession Education: A Pilot Study
Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw and Richard J. Silvey
Liberty University
Introduction
Collaboration and consultation are considered essential skills for
every human service (HMSV) professional (Dinkmeyer, Carlson, &
Dinkmeyer, 2000). HMSV educators are, thus, challenged to identify
teaching strategies and methods to assist students in developing these
two crucial skills. The implementation of cooperative computer-mediated
tasks, such as using the computer to produce a collaborative product and
using Web-based collaborative technologies, such as wikis, blogs, and
discussion forums, have been shown to promote social interaction and
learning in some higher education courses (Liaw, Chen, & Huang, 2008;
Underwood & Underwood, 1999). This fact suggests that computer
mediated learning environments and the employment of Web-based
technologies may provide HMSV educators with unique opportunities to
assist students in cultivating not only their personal knowledge, but also
essential professional collaboration skills (Ahern et al., 2006).
Currently, limited research exists about the use of web-based
technologies for learning and collaboration in HMSV education.
Researchers and practitioners indicate that helping profession education
lags behind other disciplines in both its use of and research about web-
based technologies (Karper, Robinson, & Casado-Kehoe, 2005).
Additional studies are needed in this area. Thus, the purpose of the
present study is to explore the use of a web-based technology, a wiki, as
a medium for learning and for collaboration in the training process of
helping profession students. Since the existing literature indicates that
web-based technologies will play an increasingly important role in
mental health treatment (Wolf-Branigin, 2009), the present study also
aims to explore students‘ attitudes toward using wiki technology in their
future careers.
The Pilot Study In the spring of 2010, a pilot study was conducted to investigate
graduate students‘ perceptions of using a wiki for a course management
system and as a collaborative workspace for group projects. The pilot
sample for the study consisted of 22 students enrolled in one section of a
hybrid course, Consultation, Coordination, and Referral. The sample
consisted of 6 (27.3%) males and 16 (72.7%) females. Thirteen (59.1%)
of the participants were Caucasian, 7 (31.8%) of the participants were
African American, and 2 (9%) of the participants classified themselves
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as other. All students were completing a master‘s degree in human
services or counseling. The hybrid course was offered in a one-week
intensive format. Students participated in a five-day on-campus course
for 8 hours a day; students also completed both pre- and post-intensive
tasks on the internet via the course wiki. LiveText™ was used for
assignment submission and grading. Only one participant had previously
used a wiki.
Prior to the beginning of the course, the instructor created a wiki
using wikispaces.com. A wiki is a website in which any individual can
add and modify information using a ―what you see is what you get‖
(WYSIWYG) editor. A well-known example of a wiki is Wikipedia.
Students were invited to join the class wiki as contributors via e-mail.
Upon acceptance, students were able to view and to contribute to the
class wiki. When students first visited the wiki, they could view the
homepage, which provided the course content (syllabus, PowerPoints,
etc.), as well as tutorials on how to contribute to the wiki. A class wiki
example may be found at: http://edtechexplorations.wikispaces.com/
Helping+Profession+Course+Homepage.
Students used the wiki not only to access the course content but
also to collaboratively complete four written learning tasks. The assigned
tasks included: (a) an informed consent, (b) a crisis management plan, (c)
an ethical dilemma case study, and (d) a counselor/administration
contract. The purpose of the assignments were three-fold: (a) to assist
learners in constructing an enhanced understanding of referral,
consultation, and collaboration; (b) to expose learners to web-based
technology and develop their collaboration skills, and (c) to create a
sustainable resource for learners to access after completion of their
academic career at the university. Students worked in groups of 4-6 on
the projects. Students used the wiki discussion forum throughout the
course to discuss course content and assignments, and the students also
created personal wiki pages and posted individual course assignments.
After completing the course, 22 (100%) students responded to a
two-part survey. Part one of the survey consisted of the Perceived
Learning Instrument (Richmond et al., 1987), used to measure students‘
perceived learning in regard to the wiki assignments. The instrument also
contained one item designed to measure students‘ attitudes about the
wiki. Part two of the survey consisted of six open-ended survey questions
pertaining to the students‘ experiences with the wiki and the contribution
it made to their sense of community and learning.
Results Descriptive statistics for the quantitative survey data indicate that
students benefitted from use of the wiki. On a 10-point Likert scale (0-9),
on average students indicated a high level of perceived learning when
using the wiki (M = 7.91, SD = 1.02). On a 4-point Likert scale, results
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demonstrated that students indicated a moderate level of satisfaction (M
= 2.91, SD = .92).
Qualitative data provides a more in-depth understanding of
students‘ perceptions of the wiki. The open-ended responses of the web-
based survey were analyzed using a qualitative analysis based on the
emerging design approach (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). Data was coded in
three stages, and triangulation was used to increase reliability of analysis.
Three coders separately read the data and allowed themes to emerge.
Coders met to discuss proposed themes and decided upon a list of
themes. The three coders then separately coded each open-ended
response using the list of themes. The coders reached a high degree of
agreement. Any disagreement in the coding process that arose was
discussed and negotiated until mutual agreement was reached. Final
coding was adopted and verified.
One of the most prominent categories that emerged from the data
analysis indicated that a majority (72.73%) of participants found the wiki
was useful for peer-to-peer and peer-to-instructor collaboration, as well
as the establishment of a connection in the class. Students felt that the
wiki enabled them to communicate readily with one another, to share
knowledge, and to interact with one another in order to create new
knowledge. A majority of the participants (72.73%) also indicated that
the wiki contributed to their learning. Students noted that the wiki was
useful for learning because it provided one easy-to-navigate, centralized
location for information sharing (4.55%) and a location to interact and to
share knowledge (40.91%). Some students (36.36%) noted that the use of
the wiki was a new and challenging experience that deepened their
understanding of web-based technologies. In addition, students noted
specific ideas concerning how they could implement a wiki in their
current and future careers. One student noted that he/she would see it
useful for the presentation of online workshops. Responses also indicated
that the instructor‘s ability to design and facilitate the course via the wiki
influenced the students‘ collaboration and learning in the course. Nine
percent stated that the Wiki was not helpful for collaboration or learning.
Students attributed this negative opinion to a lack of familiarity with wiki
technology, which put them on a learning curve. Only one student
indicated that he/she was not motivated to learn the new technology and
preferred more familiar technologies for learning, such as BlackBoard™.
Conclusion Educators are concerned with identifying ways to assist students
in developing collaboration and consultation skills, since these skills are
essential in the human services profession. Student self-reports indicated
that the use of the wiki contributed to students‘ learning and
collaboration experience. Students also noted that the wiki could be
useful in their career as helping professionals. The existing research on
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the use of web-based technologies for learning and collaboration in
helping profession education is limited; therefore, additional studies that
explore the use of specific web-based technologies in assisting students
to develop needed professional skills would be a valuable contribution to
the current body of research. This pilot study serves as a basis for
continued research in the use of a wiki for learning for collaboration and
professional skill development. The findings imply that the use of a wiki
promotes collaboration, social interaction, and learning; thus, the wiki
serves as a tool that HMSV educators can use to instill collaborative
skills necessary for the human service profession.
There are several limitations inherent in this study. Students may
have felt safer, and therefore may have been more honest, disclosing
their feelings or opinions in a web-based survey (Van Selm &
Jankowski, 2006); however, the potential for dishonest reporting still
existed. Furthermore, only students‘ perceptions were evaluated. Results
provide information about how students felt about the wiki; however,
findings do not reflect objective outcomes. The small sample size also
limits generalizability. Limitations necessitate future research. Limited
generalization of results could be improved by replications of the study
across other samples and universities. Research could be extended using
qualitative analysis. Actual student interactions on the wiki could be
analyzed to determine if community is formed among students as they
work on the wiki. In addition, a pre and post observation of students
collaboration skills could be examined.
References Ahern, T. C., Thomas, J. A., Tallent-Runnels, M. K., Lan, W.Y., Cooper,
S., Lu, X., & Cyrus, J. (2006). The effect of social grounding on
collaboration in a computer-mediated small group discussion.
Internet and Higher Education, 9, 37–46.
doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2005.09.008
Dinkmeyer, D., Carlson, J, & Dinkmeyer, D. (2000). Consultation:
School mental health professionals as consultations (2 nd
ed.).
Philadelphia: Brunner/Mazel.
Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Competing paradigms in
qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.),
Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 105-117). London: Sage.
Karper, C., Robinson, E. H. & Casado-Kehoe, M. (2005). Computer
assisted instruction and academic achievement in counselor
education. Journal of Technology in Counseling, 5 (1). Retrieved
from http://jtc.colstate.edu/Vol4_1/Karper/Karper.htm
Liaw, S. S., Chen, G. D., & Huang, H. M. (2008). Users‘ attitudes
toward web-based collaborative learning systems for knowledge
management. Computers and Education, 50 (3), 950–961.
doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2006.09.007
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Richmond, V. P., Gorham, J., & McCroskey, J. C. (1987). The
relationship between selected immediacy behaviors and
cognitive learning. In M. L. McLaughlin (Ed.), Communication
yearbook 10 (pp. 574- 574). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Wolf-Branigin, M. (2009). New media and social networks:
Considerations from addictions treatment clients. Journal of
Technology in Human Services, 27(4), 339 – 345. doi:
10.1080/15228830903329864. doi:10.1080/15228830903329864
Underwood, J. & Underwood, G. (1999). Task effects on co-operation
and collaborative learning with computers. In K. Littleton and P.
Light (Eds.), Learning with computers (pp. 10-23). London:
Routledge.
Van Selm, M., & Jankowski, N. W. (2006). Conducting online surveys.
Quality and Quantity, 40, 435-456. doi:10.1007/s11135-005-
8081-8
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The Transition from Student to Professional: A Model for Outcome Driven Field Placements
Martha Tweed, Kim Judson, and Brian Simmons
California State University Monterey Bay
Abstract This article introduces an outcomes-based undergraduate field education
program model focused on expanded field experiences and student
professional development through integrative field seminars in the junior
and senior years. The unique features of the program that lead to a
successful transition from student to professional are discussed.
Professional Development in Field Education Much has been written about the manner in which the field
education and socialization experience provides students with skills and
professional development opportunities (Barretti, 2004; Berg-Weger &
Birkenmaier, 2000; Lager & Robbins, 2004; Goldstein, 2001). In this
experience, it is essential to be mindful of what students learn (outcomes)
as well as the process through which they learn to acquire the knowledge
and skills necessary to address a wide range of social problems, so that
they can become effective helpers.
Professional conduct, or behaviors that are desirable and
necessary for practice, are a major concern for educators and
practitioners. The ability to excel in academic courses may not
necessarily translate into an ability to demonstrate ethical and effective
behaviors in the field (Milliken & Neukrug, 2009). Professional identity
can be described as the meeting of personal needs through professional
service and assuming the values of a specific profession or discipline
(Milliken & Neukrug, 2010); professional development is a much
broader term that can be defined generically as the process of becoming a
professional person through the acquisition of behaviors, attitudes and
skills necessary for competent practice in a discipline. In the human
services field, such skills have been identified by the Southern Regional
Educational Board (SREB, 1967) and a more recent national job analysis
(Taylor, Bradley, & Warren, 1996).
The Collaborative Health and Human Services (CHHS) program
at California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) has several
unique features that address students‘ professional development. The
first unique feature is the 13 clearly defined Major Learning Outcomes
(MLOs) that were developed by faculty and human services‘
practitioners, that provide the framework for students to demonstrate the
competency necessary to meet graduation requirements. The CHHS
Field Program focuses specifically on the professional development
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aspects of these MLOs, which are based on established skills in the field.
It integrates classroom and field experiences, so that students can
demonstrate competency in a wide range of areas. A full description of
the following CHHS Major Learning Outcomes can be found at the
program website (http://hhspp.csumb.edu/academic/CHHS/mlo.htm):
1. Collaboration 2. Conflict Resolution & Negotiation 3. Cross Cultural Competence 4. Financial Management 5. Information Management 6. Knowledge of Health & Human Services (Social Work & Public
Health)
7. Leadership 8. Personal & Professional Communication 9. Professional Development 10. Personal & Professional Ethics 11. Public Policy Analysis 12. Statistics & Research Methods 13. Systems Management
The second unique feature of the program is that it requires two
separate, year-long internships; one completed in the junior and one in
the senior year. Through the two internships, students accrue a minimum
of four hundred hours in the field prior to graduation. This expanded
internship experience is supported by a four-semester field seminar
sequence that spans the junior and senior years. The seminar provides
opportunities for students to reflect on the competencies being acquired
through their internship experiences, and to focus on their personal and
professional development in an agency setting. The first semester of the
field sequence is the most intensive, as frequent field seminars in this
beginning phase are essential to students‘ development of a professional
identity; including the professional behaviors appropriate for work in
human services. Since most CHHS students are young adults, frequent
seminars provide a mechanism to address the developmental issues and
challenges that may arise in field education due to their immaturity and
lack of professional experience.
The seminars are further supported by the use of the textbook
Getting the Most from Your Human Services Internship (Myers-Kiser,
2009). The textbook provides structure and content to the learning
process and aligns very well with the various phases of the field
education process. Myers-Kiser emphasizes the many essential elements
of field education, including professional ethics, diversity, use of
supervision, professional writing, and assessment of progress in the
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internship. It provides an integrated framework for students‘ thinking
about and reflecting on their experiences in the field.
Students benefit from these extended placements, which allow
them to develop a more in-depth understanding of the agencies and their
role as beginning professionals. The extended placements also allow
students to further clarify the settings and populations that they prefer to
work with as professionals upon graduation.
The third unique aspect of the program includes the extended
opportunities students have for professional development through the
mentoring process. The cumulative two-year field experience allows
students to develop significant relationships with at least two field
mentors. These relationships provide exposure to a variety of supervision
styles and processes, as well as modeling of behaviors and conduct
appropriate to professional settings, including teamwork, accountability,
timeliness, professional work ethic, respect for self and others, and
professional ethics. These relationships may also help students learn to
balance the competing demands of work and family life. The
relationships are especially important for today‘s student body, which
includes many single parents who often work at least part-time while
attending college. The agency Field Mentor provides ongoing feedback
to the student through assessment of progress in identified learning
objectives for selected MLO‘s for each semester.
The fourth aspect of the program is the use of a confidential self-
assessment tool as part of the orientation to the Field Program. The self-
assessment clarifies the student‘s background and experience, and helps
to identify practice areas or populations that may be currently
overwhelming or inappropriate for the student. The assessment,
completed prior to referring a student to an agency for an internship
interview, helps students increase their level of self-awareness related to
sensitive issues in the field and readiness to work with specific
vulnerable populations. It also helps the Field Coordinator determine the
most appropriate field placement settings for the student‘s level of
maturity, security and preparation. In addition, it may also help students
incorporate self-reflection into their professional development repertoire.
Ultimately, the Field Coordinator makes the final placement decision, in
an attempt to prevent students from self-selecting settings that might
elicit past emotional issues and thereby cause unnecessary distress and
disruption to the learning process.
Finally, an intensive professional writing component is
integrated into the academic and field experiences, with assistance from
a designated writing instructor who incorporates specific professional
writing competencies for human services professionals, within a general
writing intensive course. The need for professional level writing has been
consistently emphasized by community agencies across all human
services settings and by human services programs themselves (Dustin,
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Craigen, & Milliken, 2010). The program has addressed this need by
providing students with ample opportunities to develop their writing by
producing business letters, reports, client assessments, case plans, and
other agency documents. Each of these unique features helps to support
the successful transition of the student to an entry level professional.
Conclusions One of the primary goals of a pre-professional program like
CHHS is to prepare students for successful entry level professional
positions in health and human service agencies. Opportunities to
experience professional life in an agency prior to graduation are critical
to the successful transition from student to professional status. In
addition, these opportunities provide a solid foundation for graduates to
successfully compete for entry into graduate school in related fields.
Providing an outcome-based approach, an extended two-year internship,
extensive mentoring, a self-assessment that assists in appropriate student
placement, and a focus on professional-level writing, all help to provide
a training ground for careers in the helping professions.
Although there are some challenges when students begin the
field experience early in the program, we often see significant
professional growth and maturity in our students as demonstrated by
increased confidence, poise, and professional demeanor. Students often
express how much they benefit from having two years of field
placement, and how the second year in particular shaped their future
professional goals and aspirations. While some academic programs may
question the wisdom of starting juniors in a professional level
experience, we see great value to both students and agencies.
We recognize the challenges inherent in attempting to replicate
this two-year extended field experience and the outcomes-based learning
approaches described. We also appreciate the trend across professionally
oriented academic programs toward having better-defined learning
outcomes, as well as enhancing instructors‘ abilities to assess student
achievement relative to program and course outcomes. Programs moving
towards a more outcomes-based model and facing similar student
learning challenges, may find these approaches useful as they revise the
assumptions and paradigms used in their own field programs.
References Barretti, M. (2004). What do we know about the professional
socialization of our students? Journal of Social Work Education,
40(2), 255-268.
Birkenmaier, J. & Berg-Weger, M. (2000). Good habits for highly
effective practicum students. The New Social Worker, 8(2), 13-
14, 16.
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California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) (n.d.) Collaborative
health & human services program major learning outcomes.
Retrieved from
http://hhspp.csumb.edu/academic/CHHS/mlo.htm
Dustin, J., Craigen, L., & Milliken, T. (2010). Who or whom? A program
innovation to improve the writing skills of human service
students. Journal of Human Services, 30(1), 66-70.
Goldstein, H. (2001). Experiential learning: A foundation for social work
education and practice. Alexandria, VA: Council on Social
Work Education.
Lager, P., & Robbins, V.C. (2004). Field education: Exploring the future,
expanding the vision. Journal of Social Work Education, 40(1),
3-11.
Myers-Kiser, P. (2009). Getting the most from your human services
internship (3 rd
ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Milliken, T., & Neukrug E. (2010). An introduction to the special
section on professional standards in human services, Journal of
Human Services, 30(1), 5-7.
Milliken, T., & Neukrug, E. (2009). Perceptions of ethical behavior of
human service professionals. Human Service Education, 29(1),
35-48.
Southern Regional Educational Board. (1967). Roles and
functions for different levels of mental health workers. Atlanta,
GA: Author.
Taylor, M., Bradley, V., & Warren, R. (1996). The community support
skill standards: Tools for managing change and achieving
outcomes: Skill standards for direct service workers in the
human services. Cambridge, MA: Human Services Research
Institute.
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Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals
Content: Preamble | Section I - For Professionals | Responsibilities To
Clients | To Community and Society | To Colleagues | To the Profession |
To Employers | To Self | Section II - For Educators
Preamble Human services is a profession developing in response to and in
anticipation of the direction of human needs and human problems in the
late twentieth century. Characterized particularly by an appreciation of
human beings in all of their diversity, human services offers assistance to
its clients within the context of their community and environment.
Human service professionals and those who educate them, regardless of
whether they are students, faculty or practitioners, promote and
encourage the unique values and characteristics of human services. In so
doing human service professionals and educators uphold the integrity
and ethics of the profession, partake in constructive criticism of the
profession, promote client and community well-being, and enhance their
own professional growth.
The ethical guidelines presented are a set of standards of conduct which
the human service professionals and educators consider in ethical and
professional decision making. It is hoped that these guidelines will be of
assistance when human service professionals and educators are
challenged by difficult ethical dilemmas. Although ethical codes are not
legal documents, they may be used to assist in the adjudication of issues
related to ethical human service behavior.
SECTION I—STANDARDS FOR HUMAN SERVICE
PROFESSIONALS
Human service professionals function in many ways and carry out many
roles. They enter into professional-client relationships with individuals,
families, groups and communities who are all referred to as ―clients‖ in
these standards. Among their roles are caregiver, case manager, broker,
teacher/educator, behavior changer, consultant, outreach professional,
mobilizer, advocate, community planner, community change organizer,
evaluator and administrator (SREB, 1967).The following standards are
written with these multifaceted roles in mind.
The Human Service Professional’s Responsibility to Clients
Statement 1
Human service professionals negotiate with clients the purpose, goals,
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and nature of the helping relationship prior to its onset as well as inform
clients of the limitations of the proposed relationship.
Statement 2
Human service professionals respect the integrity and welfare of the
client at all times. Each client is treated with respect, acceptance and
dignity.
Statement 3
Human service professionals protect the client‘s right to privacy and
confidentiality except when such confidentiality would cause harm to the
client or others, when agency guidelines state otherwise, or under other
stated conditions (e.g., local, state, or federal laws). Professionals inform
clients of the limits of confidentiality prior to the onset of the helping
relationship.
Statement 4
If it is suspected that danger or harm may occur to the client or to others
as a result of a client‘s behavior, the human service professional acts in
an appropriate and professional manner to protect the safety of those
individuals. This may involve seeking consultation, supervision, and/or
breaking the confidentiality of the relationship.
Statement 5
Human service professionals protect the integrity, safety, and security of
client records. All written client information that is shared with other
professionals, except in the course of professional supervision, must have
the client‘s prior written consent.
Statement 6
Human service professionals are aware that in their relationships with
clients power and status are unequal. Therefore they recognize that dual
or multiple relationships may increase the risk of harm to, or exploitation
of, clients, and may impair their professional judgment. However, in
some communities and situations it may not be feasible to avoid social or
other nonprofessional contact with clients.
Human service professionals support the trust implicit in the helping
relationship by avoiding dual relationships that may impair professional
judgment, increase the risk of harm to clients or lead to exploitation.
Statement 7
Sexual relationships with current clients are not considered to be in the
best interest of the client and are prohibited. Sexual relationships with
previous clients are considered dual relationships and are addressed in
Statement 6 (above).
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Statement 8
The client‘s right to self-determination is protected by human service
professionals. They recognize the client‘s right to receive or refuse
services.
Statement 9
Human service professionals recognize and build on client strengths.
The Human Service Professional’s Responsibility
to the Community and Society
Statement 10
Human service professionals are aware of local, state, and federal laws.
They advocate for change in regulations and statutes when such
legislation conflicts with ethical guidelines and/or client rights. Where
laws are harmful to individuals, groups or communities, human service
professionals consider the conflict between the values of obeying the law
and the values of serving people and may decide to initiate social action.
Statement 11
Human service professionals keep informed about current social issues
as they affect the client and the community. They share that information
with clients, groups and community as part of their work.
Statement 12
Human service professionals understand the complex interaction
between individuals, their families, the communities in which they live,
and society.
Statement 13
Human service professionals act as advocates in addressing unmet client
and community needs. Human service professionals provide a
mechanism for identifying unmet client needs, calling attention to these
needs, and assisting in planning and mobilizing to advocate for those
needs at the local community level.
Statement 14
Human service professionals represent their qualifications to the public
accurately.
Statement 15
Human service professionals describe the effectiveness of programs,
treatments, and/or techniques accurately.
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Statement 16
Human service professionals advocate for the rights of all members of
society, particularly those who are members of minorities and groups at
which discriminatory practices have historically been directed.
Statement 17
Human service professionals provide services without discrimination or
preference based on age, ethnicity, culture, race, disability, gender,
religion, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status.
Statement 18
Human service professionals are knowledgeable about the cultures and
communities within which they practice. They are aware of
multiculturalism in society and its impact on the community as well as
individuals within the community. They respect individuals and groups,
their cultures and beliefs.
Statement 19
Human service professionals are aware of their own cultural
backgrounds, beliefs, and values, recognizing the potential for impact on
their relationships with others.
Statement 20
Human service professionals are aware of sociopolitical issues that
differentially affect clients from diverse backgrounds.
Statement 21
Human service professionals seek the training, experience, education and
supervision necessary to ensure their effectiveness in working with
culturally diverse client populations.
The Human Service Professional’s Responsibility
to Colleagues
Statement 22
Human service professionals avoid duplicating another professional‘s
helping relationship with a client. They consult with other professionals
who are assisting the client in a different type of relationship when it is in
the best interest of the client to do so.
Statement 23
When a human service professional has a conflict with a colleague, he or
she first seeks out the colleague in an attempt to manage the problem. If
necessary, the professional then seeks the assistance of supervisors,
consultants or other professionals in efforts to manage the problem.
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Statement 24
Human service professionals respond appropriately to unethical behavior
of colleagues. Usually this means initially talking directly with the
colleague and, if no resolution is forthcoming, reporting the colleague‘s
behavior to supervisory or administrative staff and/or to the professional
organization(s) to which the colleague belongs.
Statement 25
All consultations between human service professionals are kept
confidential unless to do so would result in harm to clients or
communities.
The Human Service Professional’s Responsibility
to the Profession
Statement 26
Human service professionals know the limit and scope of their
professional knowledge and offer services only within their knowledge
and skill base.
Statement 27
Human service professionals seek appropriate consultation and
supervision to assist in decision-making when there are legal, ethical or
other dilemmas.
Statement 28
Human service professionals act with integrity, honesty, genuineness,
and objectivity.
Statement 29
Human service professionals promote cooperation among related
disciplines (e.g., psychology, counseling, social work, nursing, family
and consumer sciences, medicine, education) to foster professional
growth and interests within the various fields.
Statement 30
Human service professionals promote the continuing development of
their profession. They encourage membership in professional
associations, support research endeavors, foster educational
advancement, advocate for appropriate legislative actions, and participate
in other related professional activities.
Statement 31
Human service professionals continually seek out new and effective
approaches to enhance their professional abilities.
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The Human Service Professional’s Responsibility to Employers
Statement 32
Human service professionals adhere to commitments made to their
employers.
Statement 33
Human service professionals participate in efforts to establish and
maintain employment conditions which are conducive to high quality
client services. They assist in evaluating the effectiveness of the agency
through reliable and valid assessment measures.
Statement 34
When a conflict arises between fulfilling the responsibility to the
employer and the responsibility to the client, human service professionals
advise both of the conflict and work conjointly with all involved to
manage the conflict.
The Human Service Professional’s Responsibility to Self
Statement 35
Human service professionals strive to personify those characteristics
typically associated with the profession (e.g., accountability, respect for
others, genuineness, empathy, pragmatism).
Statement 36
Human service professionals foster self-awareness and personal growth
in themselves. They recognize that when professionals are aware of their
own values, attitudes, cultural background, and personal needs, the
process of helping others is less likely to be negatively impacted by those
factors.
Statement 37
Human service professionals recognize a commitment to lifelong
learning and continually upgrade knowledge and skills to serve the
populations better.
SECTION II—STANDARDS FOR HUMAN SERVICE
EDUCATORS
Human Service educators are familiar with, informed by and accountable
to the standards of professional conduct put forth by their institutions of
higher learning; their professional disciplines, for example, American
Association of University Professors (AAUP), American Counseling
Association (ACA), Academy of Criminal Justice (ACJS), American
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Psychological Association (APA), American Sociological Association
(ASA), National Association of Social Workers (NASW), National
Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC),National Education Association
(NEA), and the National Organization for Human Service Education
(NOHSE).
Statement 38
Human service educators uphold the principle of liberal education and
embrace the essence of academic freedom, abstaining from inflicting
their own personal views/morals on students, and allowing students the
freedom to express their views without penalty, censure or ridicule, and
to engage in critical thinking.
Statement 39
Human service educators provide students with readily available and
explicit program policies and criteria regarding program goals and
objectives, recruitment, admission, course requirements, evaluations,
retention and dismissal in accordance with due process procedures.
Statement 40
Human service educators demonstrate high standards of scholarship in
content areas and of pedagogy by staying current with developments in
the field of Human Services and in teaching effectiveness, for example
learning styles and teaching styles.
Statement 41
Human service educators monitor students‘ field experiences to ensure
the quality of the placement site, supervisory experience, and learning
experience towards the goals of professional identity and skill
development.
Statement 42
Human service educators participate actively in the selection of required
readings and use them with care, based strictly on the merits of the
material‘s content, and present relevant information accurately,
objectively and fully.
Statement 43
Human service educators, at the onset of courses: inform students if
sensitive/controversial issues or experiential/affective content or process
are part of the course design; ensure that students are offered
opportunities to discuss in structured ways their reactions to sensitive or
controversial class content; ensure that the presentation of such material
is justified on pedagogical grounds directly related to the course; and,
differentiate between information based on scientific data, anecdotal
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data, and personal opinion.
Statement 44
Human service educators develop and demonstrate culturally sensitive
knowledge, awareness, and teaching methodology.
Statement 45
Human service educators demonstrate full commitment to their
appointed responsibilities, and are enthusiastic about and encouraging of
students‘ learning.
Statement 46
Human service educators model the personal attributes, values and skills
of the human service professional, including but not limited to, the
willingness to seek and respond to feedback from students.
Statement 47
Human service educators establish and uphold appropriate guidelines
concerning self-disclosure or student-disclosure of sensitive/personal
information.
Statement 48
Human service educators establish an appropriate and timely process for
providing clear and objective feedback to students about their
performance on relevant and established course/program academic and
personal competence requirements and their suitability for the field.
Statement 49
Human service educators are aware that in their relationships with
students, power and status are unequal; therefore, human service
educators are responsible to clearly define and maintain ethical and
professional relationships with students, and avoid conduct that is
demeaning, embarrassing or exploitative of students, and to treat students
fairly, equally and without discrimination.
Statement 50
Human service educators recognize and acknowledge the contributions
of students to their work, for example in case material, workshops,
research, and publications.
Statement 51
Human service educators demonstrate professional standards of conduct
in managing personal or professional differences with colleagues, for
example, not disclosing such differences and/or affirming a student‘s
negative opinion of a faculty/program.
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Statement 52
Human service educators ensure that students are familiar with, informed
by, and accountable to the ethical standards and policies put forth by
their program/department, the course syllabus/instructor, their advisor(s),
and the Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals.
Statement 53
Human service educators are aware of all relevant curriculum standards,
including those of the Council for Standards in Human Services
Education (CSHSE); the Community Support Skills Standards; and
state/local standards, and take them into consideration in designing the
curriculum.
Statement 54
Human service educators create a learning context in which students can
achieve the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes of the academic
program.
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Guidelines for Authors
The Journal of Human Services (JHS) is a national refereed journal. Manuscripts judged by the editors to fall within the range of interest of the journal will be submitted to reviewers without the names and identifying information of the authors. The principal audiences of HSE are human service faculty members, administrators, practitioners, and undergraduate and graduate students. Sample areas of interest include teaching methods, models of internships, faculty development, career paths of graduates, credentialing, accreditation, models of undergraduate and graduate study, clinical issues in human service treatment, and supervision of human service practitioners.
JHS publishes three types of submissions: 1) articles, 2) brief notes, and 3) critical reviews of instructional materials and scholarly books of interest to human service educators.
Directions for each type of submission include the following:
1. Articles. Manuscripts for articles should not exceed eighteen (18) typed pages. The page limit includes all pages of the manuscript excluding the title page (i.e., abstract, reference pages, tables, and graphs). Manuscripts may not exceed this page limit. Following the title page include an abstract of not more than 100 words. This statement should express the central idea of the article in non-technical language and should appear on a page separate from the text.
2. Brief Notes. Submissions appropriate for this format include brief reports of research projects or program innovations. Manuscripts should not exceed four (4) double-spaced typed pages; it is recommended that the results and implications occupy at least half of the brief note. A 50- word capsule statement should accompany the note.
3. Critical Reviews. JHS accepts reviews of textbooks, other instructional materials, and scholarly books of interest to human service educators and practitioners. Manuscripts should not exceed three (3) typed pages unless two or more related books are included in one review in which case manuscripts should not exceed five (5) typed pages.
The following instructions apply to all three types of submissions:
1. Manuscripts should be well organized and present the idea in a clear and concise manner. Use headings and subheadings to guide the reader. Avoid the use of jargon and sexist terminology.
2. Manuscripts should be typed in 12-point type with margins of at least one inch on all four sides. All materials should be double spaced including references, all lines of tables, and extensive quotations.
91 | P a g e
3. All material should conform to the style of the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
4. Avoid footnotes wherever possible.
5. Tables should be kept to a minimum. Include only essential data and combine tables whenever possible. Each table should be on a separate sheet of paper following the reference section of the article. Final placement of tables is at the discretion of the editors.
6. Figures (graphs, illustrations) must be supplied in electronic format and must be in black and white with a minimum of gray shading. Use of submitted figures or a re-rendering of the figures for clarity is at the discretion of the editors.
7. Two (2) copies of the manuscript must be electronically submitted (Microsoft Word or text file versions only).The first version should include, on a separate page, the title of the article, the names of the authors, their professional titles, and their institutional affiliations. The second version must be free of any identifying information. Articles‘ titles and headings should be as short as possible.
8. Check all references for completeness; make sure all references mentioned in the text are listed in the reference section and vice versa.
9. Manuscripts are edited for consistency of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. In some cases, portions of manuscripts may be reworded for conciseness or clarity of expression.
10. Manuscripts are accepted for review with the understanding that they represent original work and are not under review by another publication.
NOTE: All manuscripts must meet the specifications detailed above or they will be returned to the authors before review for publication.
Send two (2) electronic Microsoft Word or text file versions of the manuscript, one with and one without identifying information, as well as inquiries concerning the publication via e-mail to:
Editor
Journal of Human Services (JHS)
ENHANCE YOUR SERVICE IN THE HUMAN SERVICES INDUSTRY
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46401_NOHS_COVERS_nk.indd 2 9/30/2010 11:57:04 AM
A Journal of the National Organization
for Human Services
Volume 30, Number 1 ● Fall 2010 ISSN 0890-5428
National Organization for Human Services
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