Human Service: In Two Questions

Question 1:

“Adler believed that what we are born with is not crucial, but rather the use we make of our natural endowment.” Explain this statement and give your own views on an individual’s capacity for creativity and choice.

A professor once told me “it’s very important to choose carefully when being born.” This tongue in check comment gives insight into the structural, cultural, and socio-economic factors that affect a person’s life chances and outlook. Virtually all social workers in group settings and human service professionals that structural causes are at the root of many personal problems understand it. However, Adler adds a dimension of personal responsibility to the mix when he argues that it is not what we are born with that is the most important, but how we use what we are given. This view is essentially anti-determinism and deals with personality and psychology rather than sociological aspects.

The goal of the Adlerian approach is therapeutic. It is designed to instill an individual's confidence and self-determination, taking responsibility for actions and for the outcome. The stress is on what individuals themselves can influence and produce – the key being an understanding that individuals cannot change or influence the behavior of others, but they do have the power to change their own actions and attitudes. Coming to this understanding will make for a more empowered, productive, and relational individual.

While I do believe that a majority of social ills come from structural causes, I also believe that individuals have the capacity for choice and creativity within their environment. As a human service professional, I need to emphasize this role in psychology, as it is what will be most beneficial for the individuals themselves. It is their actions, their plans, their behaviors, and their attitudes that they can change “in the now.” Of course, there are certain limitations, but this is what will make for more healthy psychology, leading to a more healthy life.

Question 2:

If you were asked in a job interview how you saw your role as a human service counselor, how would you answer?

While the field of human services is broadly defined, I believe that there are certain roles that individuals can find within the field. Finding this specific role is what will make for the most effective human service professionals. Through all of these roles, however, runs a common theme: meeting human needs through knowledge, by focusing on both prevention and remediation. The mission and goal of the human service field is to “advance the autonomy of service users, build civic engagement, promote advocacy for social change at all levels of society, and improve human service systems so they are more accessible, egalitarian, integrated, efficient, and effective” (Chenault & Burnford, 1978). Despite all of this academic and professional jargon, the mission can be boiled down to something quite simple: helping people. Through all of this, a role as a human service professional means a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of those you are serving.

Personally, I see my role as a human service counselor is, quite simply, to help others. This can be done in many capacities but should be done well with an emphasis placed on counseling psychology instead of clinical psychology. I want to assist both individuals and communities to be the best that they can be. I seek to show patience and understanding when interacting with others, and I believe that bringing this to the table as a human service counselor is the most valuable thing I can bring.

Of course, there are limitations to the work that I can do. I believe that it is a strength, rather than a weakness, to recognize this truth. In my role as a human service counselor, I must learn to separate work from personal life, and cases from other cases. Doing so will increase my own “self-care” and allow me to better serve those I am working with. I look forward to continuing to explore my role as a human service counselor and learning new ways in which I can serve both individuals and communities.

References

Adler, A. (1938). Social interest: A challenge to mankind. J. Linton and R. Vaughan (Trans.). London: Faber and Faber Ltd.

Adler, A. (1956). The individual psychology of Alfred Adler. H. L. Ansbacher and R. R. Ansbacher (Eds.). New York: Harper Torchbooks.

Chenault, J; Burnford, F (1978). Human services professional education: Future directions. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Dumont, M (1970). "The changing face of professionalism". Social Policy 1: 26–31.

National Human Services. (2013). What are human services? Accessed: http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/what-is-human-services