A Look to the Future: Trends in the Functions and Roles of the Human Service Professional

1. A Look to the Future: Trends in the Functions and Roles of the Human Service Professional Chapter Ten

2. Trends in Client Populations • Increase in work with specific, unique groups: • The incarcerated, their families, and the victims of crime • Individuals who are HIV positive • The homeless and the poor • Older people • Individuals who are chronically mentally ill • Individuals with disabilities • Individuals at risk for chemical dependence • Let’s take a brief look at each

3. Trends in Client Populations • The incarcerated, their families, and the victims of crime • 2.3 million Americans in jail or prison • 5 million on probation or parole (3%) • Most prisoners undereducated, abused, abusers od substances • Need for services are clear • Multisystem approach (using many resources and different kinds of helpers) has become more popular

4. Trends in Client Populations • Individuals who are HIV positive • 1 million Americans are HIV positive • Over half million Americans have died of AIDS • 33 million people in world are HIV positive or have AIDS • Early identification and support is the key • Are you able to talk about sexual activity with anyone, particularly with someone who may be HIV positive? • Many different kinds of jobs available for HS professionals: support, needle distribution programs, AIDS education, etc.

5. Trends in Client Populations • The homeless and the poor • 3 million Americans homeless per year • 1.3 million homeless are children • All types of people: single-parent families, families, deinstitutionalized mentally ill, people who lost jobs • 40 million poor Americans (13%) • 19% of children are poor • Poor is associated with race (see Figure 8.4, p. 226, from Chapter 8) • McKinney act provides: mental health services, substance abuse treatment, outreach services, emergency food and shelter, housing, health care, education, job training, and child care.

6. Trends in Client Populations • Older People • By 2030, 20% of americnas will be 65 or older • Older persons increasingly a diverse population • Increased need for social services: income assistance, health care, housing, employment, leisure activities, environmental assistance, and more • Jobs at day treatment programs, foster care settings, senior centers, religious organizations, social service agencies, nursing homes, and more

7. Trends in Client Populations • Individuals who are chronically mentally ill • Whereas years ago most of the mentally ill today are not in mental hospitals (partly due to “Donaldson v. O’Connor”—see Box 10.3) • Many are homeless, many go to mental health centers • Treatment is better with current psychotropic medications and due to the increase in services through social service agencies • Proliferation of services yields needs for more human service professionals

8. Trends in Client Populations • Individuals with disabilities • 19% of Americans over the age of 5 have a disability in one of a number of broad areas • Individuals with disabilities continue to be discriminated against for jobs, educational opportunities, and more • Some laws that have helped to stop discrimination • PL94-142 and IDEA • Rehabilitation Act of 1973 • Americans with Disabilities Act • As individuals with disabilities continue to become increasingly are able to live well with their disabling conditions, the need for services will expand and will offer HSPs opportunities for jobs

9. Trends in Client Populations • Individuals at risk for chemical dependence • Large percentages of Americans abuse or are dependent on drugs or alcohol (see percentages at top of p. 298) • Substance abuse is found in all socioeconomic classes • Substance abuse related to violent crimes, problems on the job, changing morals, and more • Many opportunities for jobs for the HSP in this area: detox units, halfway houses, treatment centers

10. Standards in the Profession • Four prominent standards that are expected to be crucial in the future: • Program accreditation • CSHSE • Increases program strength • If you graduate from an accredited program, you are waived from some or all of the work experience for the HS—BCP • Credentialing: • HS—BCP Today, close to 2,000 certified • Will increase quickly as it is a relatively new certification • Ethical codes • Approved in 1995 and mark of the maturity of a profession • Is currently undergoing a revision • Skill standards (Discussed in earlier chapters) • Used in development of accreditation and credentialing standards • Will increase quality of human service professionals

11. Technology in Human Service Work • The vast majority of Americans have a computer and Internet access. • Human service professionals have adapted to this new technology. • Uses: case management, communication, training, assessment, and diagnosis • Rise in online counseling and helping • Need for new ethical guidelines

12. Crisis, Disaster, and Trauma Training • The helping professions realized after Hurricane Katrina that we were not prepared to deal with crises, disasters, and trauma • Increasingly, curriculum will cover these areas for HSPs • Perhaps included in new accreditation standards??? • A developmental and primary prevention emphasis • Focus on understanding the developmental level of the client • Primary prevention • Secondary prevention • Tertiary prevention

13. A Developmental and Primary Prevention Emphasis • The positive nature of human service helping will likely lead HSPs to have an increasingly developmental focus • This focus helps the HSP see the importance on education prior to expected developmental problems in a wide range of areas (psychological growth, career changes, physical growth) • Primary prevention focuses on educating the public and helping them understand issues that are likely to arise. • Secondary prevention: Control of nonseveremental health problems • Tertiary prevention: focus on sever mental health problems • With primary prevention efforts, you can sometimes avoid secondary and tertiary prevention • See Figure 10.1, p. 302

14. Managed Health Care • 1973 Health Maintenance Organization Act passed • Expanded HMOs, PPOs, and EAPS • Managed health care is designed to • Reduce cost of mental health care • Increase primary prevention • There is an increase in medical and human service professionals working side by side and understanding each other’s fields.

15. Medicine and Human Services • Increasingly, human service professional working closely with medical professionals doing: • Counseling individuals and their families about the results of genetic testing • Counseling individuals and their families about the progression of a disease • Providing preventive and health education workshops for individual • Working with doctors’ patients to foster motivation for prevention and treatment • Being a referral source for counseling and re • Being an advocate for the patients’ of medical professionals

16. Social Justice, Advocacy, and Multicultural Counseling/International Perspective • This is an increased focus on cultural competence in training programs to deal with an increasingly diverse population • Agencies will increasingly focus on providing a multicultural environment in their attitude, the people they employ, and the types of client’s they are attract • Increased use of Multicultural Counseling Competencies and Advocacy Competencies • As the world has gotten smaller (e.g., Internet) we will see increased sharing of ideas and of resources from others, globally

17. Stress, Cynicism, and Burnout • HSPs often experience compassion fatigue/vicarious traumatization syndrome • Hans Selye suggested that stress can be seen as a health response that enables a person to handle new or highly charged situations. But too much stress can lead to health problems • Increased stress among human service professionals means that they need to learn to look after themselves. • See next slide

18. Wellness • One way of caring for yourself is by assessing your wellness through the Indivisible Self Model (see Box 10.5) • Carl Whitaker suggest you can take of yourself by: • Place yourself as a priority • Learn how to love • Listen to your impulses • Listen to your inner voice, and listen to others • Enjoy your significant other more than anyone else • Fracture role structures and challenge authority • Challenge yourself—you’re not always right • Build long-term relationships so you feel safe and grounded enough to express your feelings • Act “crazy” and whimsical • Face the fact that you must continue to grow and change until you die

19. Ethical, Professional, and Legal Issues/Effective Human Service Professional • Education never ends. • The effective human service professional is happy to take on new challenges and welcomes change and growth. • Who is the effective human service professionals? • Bob who attends workshops, has a positive attitude, goes to aerobics, and meditates • Rivers who is encouraging of all people he meets and is warm, caring, and a great listener • Maggie who is always willing to take a stand and be an advocate for others • Steve, who is a leader, willing to confront his colleagues and always working on his self growth. • And you: • “Within yourself is the potential to be caring, loving, reflective, energized, an advocate, a risk taker, a leader, and a doer!”

20. Summary • A focus on the future and possible changes in the human service profession • Client populations • The role of technology • Need for training in disaster, trauma, and crisis care • Emphasis on primary prevention • Changes in health care, the role of the human service professional, and relationships with other professionals • Importance of maintaining a positive outlook; how to avoid stress, cynicism, and burnout and maintain wellness • Importance of continued education

21. Exercises • pp. 308-313 • Includes: • Interviewing individuals from different populations • Changes in technology • How to deal with stress and burnout • Group discussions