Client Paper

Client Paper

Brandi Lemm

BSHS 305

07/27/2015

Lowell Brubaker

Client Paper

Human Services is a broad field with many different sectors, all with the common goal of providing services to the people of society when needed. These services include assistance in securing basic needs, medical and psychological services, employment, substance abuse, and domestic abuse services. Human service professionals include social workers, counselors, advocates, administrators, behavior specialists, educators, and case managers. Human service clients can generally be anyone who is in need of assistance that is provided by a human service professional, and can include individuals, families, and groups of people. Here we will look at the different issues that human service clients are faced with and the skills that a human service professional should possess in order to provide appropriate services.

Human service clients face a number of problems and situations that end up leading them to seeking help from human service professionals. These problems include domestic violence and family problems, violent crimes, physical and mental illnesses and disabilities, behavioral issues, substance abuse, basic needs problems, unemployment, or anything that may cause a problem or hardship in living. Client problems range from short term problems to lifelong problems and can be divided into the developmental perspective, situational perspective, human needs perspective, societal change perspective, and environmental influences. The developmental perspective looks at problems that are caused by a breakdown or disruption in a person’s development as a whole, and is causing a problem within a person’s life. The situational perspective looks at problems that are caused by a specific situation such as unemployment, divorce or any major life change that is caused by a particular situation. The human needs perspective refers to problems that occur when a person’s basic human needs are not being met, and includes housing, food, and clothing. The societal change perspective looks at the problems that a client might face in our ever changing society with new societal demands, old versus new values, and differences in societal outlooks. The environmental influences perspective refers to the problems that might occur when living in a particular environment and can include a current home or living situation, geographical location, or any other environmental issue that causes a problem. Some of these clients will seek services because they are in need of assistance due to circumstances out of their control, and others will need assistance due to their own life choices, but it is important to look at each client through the same professional eyes.

Human service professionals need to have knowledge about what helping skills will be useful when making a connection with a client. Many clients may seem apprehensive or anxious when coming to seek services, and it is the job of the human services professional to make them feel at ease in order to provide them with the help they need. Communication is a helping skill that is imperative to have in order to ensure you are sending and receiving the right messages to and from your client. Verbal communications are the words that we speak to deliver a message to another person, and will normally consist of a cognitive component of facts, and an affective component of feelings about the message. Non-verbal communications consist of tone of voice, body posture, hand and body gestures, eye contact and touch. It is extremely important to be sure that your verbal and non-verbal communications are working together in order to deliver the message that you want to send to your client. Even if you say the right things and ask the right questions, if you are sending off the wrong non-verbal communications, you will find that your message is not being received the way you intended.