The National Alliance on Mental Illness NH (NAMI NH). A client-facing role within this organization
is a Family Peer Support Specialist in the Children's Department. The primary function of this role is
to provide one-to-one in-home/virtually or in-the-community support to families/caregivers of
children and/or adolescents with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED). A requirement to be
considered for this position is lived experience with a family member or a parent of a child with SED
that has experience with resources and recovery empowerment. This 1:1 support includes advocacy
for family needs and applicable outside programs, promotion of NAMI programs and support groups
for families, and participation in wrap-around team meetings/services. In addition to 1:1 service, this
individual attends community events, works collaboratively with stakeholders, and maintains
data/reports for grants (NAMI NH, n.d.).
The five phases of the helping process preparation, the client arrives, exploring the problem,
intervention strategies, and ending client services, as identified in our reading, are applicable to this
position (Woodside & McClam, 2018). The preparation phase would be researching the identified
family case file. The client arrival phase, which may look a little different, would be where the initial
meeting would take place. This is most likely an in-home meeting and continues in-home throughout
as the idea is to meet where the client is at and what is easiest for them. The intervention strategy
phase would be identifying the needs and supporting the family in applicable services. This could be
introducing the family to resources such as support groups and counseling/testing centers. Ending
client services would either be determined by the family's level of need/success or if one party decides
to terminate services for one reason or another.
One of the client-facing roles in my selected human services agency is an art therapist. An Art
therapist is an Art therapy which is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of
expression through visual art media. Art therapy, as a creative arts therapy profession, originated in
the fields of art and psychotherapy and may vary in definition. The duties of an art therapist are to
assess client needs or disorders, using drawing, painting, sculpting, or other artistic processes. Talk
with clients during art or other therapy sessions to build rapport, acknowledge their progress, or reflect
upon their reactions to the artistic process. Client-facing generally refers to job activities that involve
direct interaction or contact with a client or customer. Individuals in these roles advise customers and
help to solve problems for companies. c How this role relates to the helping process is it provides a way
for the client to be open and address their problems in a unique way that may suit them better than
talking it out or maybe they need to draw it out to feel like they can face/talk about their problems. it
can also provide a sense of calm for a client to draw rather than talk especially those who have PTSD.
it gives a visual to the intervention that is to come which can be very helpful in facing a problem and
not running from it or pretending it is not there. Art therapy is just a unique way to help them process
their problems and or emotions.
Resources:
Woodside, M. R., & McClam, T. (2018). An Introduction to Human Services (9th ed.). Cengage
Learning US. https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781337671262
NAMI NH. (n.d.). Family Peer Support Specialist - statewide. BambooHR. Retrieved November 27,
2022, from https://naminh.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=86&source=aWQ9Ng
Woodside, M. R., McClam, T. (2018). An Introduction to Human Services, 9th Edition. [[VitalSource
Bookshelf version]]. c Retrieved from vbk://9781337671262
