Preview

Skills & Characteristics

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1154 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Skills & Characteristics
Skills & Characteristics of Mental Health Human Services Workers
BSHS/471
December 24, 2013

Skills & Characteristics of Mental Health Human Services Workers

Personal characteristics of a human services professional can be both essential and detrimental for success. Essential characteristics of a professional do not make the job easier. However, they create a higher tendency for the professional to work successfully with clients. An open-minded professional recognizes differences between themselves and clients. They treat those differences with respect and include them in treatment according to the clients’ desires. Judgment can be appropriate in a human services setting. For example, a counselor may judge a recently relapsed client by revoking privileges within a clinic. Patience is the most essential characteristic. A professional must be able to deal with relapses in negative behavior. They cannot let human weakness impede progress. Professionals who choose the human services field in order to help people make genuine progress with clients. They maintain connections that benefit both parties.
Detrimental characteristics of a professional do not make the job impossible. However, they can impede a professional’s relationship with their client when unchecked. A narrow-minded professional does not recognize differences between themselves and clients. They assume that differences result from a harmful lifestyle on the clients’ behalf. Judgment becomes inappropriate when it results in ill-informed assessments of the client. For example, judging a mother as incompetent without a full assessment is inappropriate. Impatience from professional to client can cause the professional to rush the clients’ progress. Internalized impatience within the professional can cause a lot of mistakes. Professionals who choose the human services field mainly for money make artificial progress with clients. The quality of their work is usually lacking. On the one hand,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Best Essays

    Client Safety – Professional Competence and Fitness to Practice – Respect for Differences in Lifestyles and Beliefs between Clients – Respect for Client Self-Determination – Prohibitions on Exploitation of Clients – Contracting – Confidentiality – Duty to Maintain the Profession’s Reputation.…

    • 3740 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Client Paper BSHS 305

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Understanding the needs, concerns and the attitudes of the clients is important on the part of the client human services providers, since it will help them to provide quality services to the clients. Some social, cultural, and personal factors do affect the provision of services to the clients. For a client to gain quality and satisfaction on the goods that are being provided by the service provider, it is important for the provider to assess their needs and even know them before going to provide the services to them. This paper aims at looking at the range of problems that affect clients who consume human services, and prevent them from getting the best out of the service providers. In addition, the essay will look at the specific helping or supportive skills that can be used to the clients.…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    BG unit 9 HN205

    • 850 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The field of Human Services is broadly defined, uniquely approaching the objective of meeting human needs through an interdisciplinary knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of service populations. The Human Services profession is one which promotes improved service delivery systems by addressing not only the quality of direct services, but also by seeking to improve accessibility, accountability, and coordination among professionals and agencies in service delivery. (http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/what-is-human-services). "Human services professional" is a generic term for people who hold professional and paraprofessional jobs in such diverse settings as group homes and halfway houses; correctional, intellectual disability, and community mental health centers; family, child, and youth service agencies, and programs concerned with alcoholism, drug abuse, family violence, and aging. Depending on the employment setting and the kinds of clients served there, job titles and duties vary a great deal. The primary purpose of the human services professional is to assist individual and communities to function as effectively as possible in the major domains of living. A strong desire to help others is an important consideration for a job as a human services worker. Individuals who show patience, understanding, and caring in their dealings with others are highly valued by employers. Other important personal traits include communication skills, a strong sense of responsibility, and the ability to manage time effectively. (http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/what-is-human-services). When you think about it we all are in the human service field in some way or another, helping someone across the street, picking up something someone dropped for them, helping…

    • 850 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Professiona Idenity Paper

    • 1479 Words
    • 6 Pages

    counselor. For all of us, it is a lifelong process” (Journal of counseling and development, 2006 p. 116. Vol. 84). When thinking about the characteristics of a counselor, I think about the qualities I would seek in a person that I would like to have as a friend or confidant: Patience, empathy, a good listener; conversely, well versed and skilled in their area of expertise, life experience and ethics/values. Counselors work closely and intimately with individuals and have to maintain appropriate boundaries while balancing the ability to establish trust and empathy. “ An effective counselor is one who works with clients to produce a positive outcome, a positive change in the…

    • 1479 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this paper, I will be describing the range of problems facing human services clients and how the specific helping skills that can be used with clients. There are many problems a human services faces with a client. The needs can range from helping clients with issues such as, substance abuse, mental or physical illness, grief, disabilities, caring for children and families, domestic violence, Veterans, and a personal loss. Also, a human services clients can have a large range of family problems that can lead into more difficult problems. (Woodside & McClam, (2011).…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Unit 13 – Command and Control By Kristian Norris P3 - Explain the skills and personal qualities required for command and control M2 - Assess the skills required for given practical command and control scenarios and compare these to own performance It is very important in the public services that we see many skills and qualities from a personnel to show that they have command and control In this presentation I have used three skills and three qualities, describe them, giving an example and then giving a real life scenario in which I have undergone. Communication - Skill Communications is the passing on of information through multiple ways such as speaking or writing. Good communication is needed as they will be expected to talk and listen to members of the public or co-workers, we would see an example of this when they would visit a family after the death or injury of a loved one where they must go in and communicate appropriately.…

    • 1480 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This assignment is intended to build upon a foundation that is already established for the counselor as she continues to develop her craft and professional identity within ethical boundaries. In order to provide important information about the client a counseling packet has been generated. It is important to foster a environment that is inviting and safe from the initial contact. Therefore enabling the client to feel comfortable and set the atmosphere for future sessions in the event the client does indeed want to continue. Understanding that the main focus is the needs of the client.…

    • 3669 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Working in the field of human services is a unique, yet rewarding career. Human services workers engage with diverse populations and carry different titles to include counselors, case managers, milieu therapists, social workers, etc. Regardless of what title a human service worker may hold, communication between a client and professional is vital. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a client from a particular background and address his presenting issues. It will review how I would interview my client to include specific communication techniques, ways I would establish a working relationship, discuss possible boundary issues, and recommendations or referrals to certain groups for this client.…

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Paraprofessionals in the human services field can be considered both an important asset and a nuisance to the clinicians and the clients served. One of the many benefits of the paraprofessional in the human service career field could be that they require less training than typical clinician or other human service professional. The…

    • 1423 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    this, they just never knew a better way or thought their way of dealing with…

    • 2771 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Human Service Professional

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Personal values, beliefs, prejudices and stereotypes can help the helping process when the client and the human service professional share the same idea or belief. The human service professional may be able to add to what the client feels or knows or enlighten the client in a positive way because of their personal knowledge or experience. On the other hand it could harm the helping process if beliefs are different. In this case study if the human service professional has any negative feelings about homosexuality, then Todd and Reggie may not receive the full help they are in search of. Although the focus is on getting themselves together, they came in as a couple with some relationship issues that they need to work on.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Career Skills

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages

    1. Why is the job search process a cycle rather than a series of steps?…

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Human Service profession is a very demanding field but at the same time it can be exceptionally rewarding to the individuals working in this area. Successful human service professionals possess the following traits and/or characteristics; strong interpersonal and communication skills; the ability to relate to the consumer without allowing their own personal experiences to reduce the ability to be effective; being able to efficiently identify and provide services needed; the capability to set up proper boundaries. Regardless of which area the professional works in all human service professionals share some of the same traits. Each professional possesses an expansive variety of skills and has a broad variety of responsibilities associated to their roles in helping people overcome an assortment of societal problems. Making decisions based on urges, desires, passions, personal biases, negative stereotypes or uninformed opinions is an unethical human behavior that human service professionals must stay away from.…

    • 3273 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hn/205 Unit 9 Assignment

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The human service professional is there to empower the clients to help to find and locate resources needed to make meaningful changes and ability to trust and respect one another. Human service professionals are in the business of helping.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Goals Of Human Service

    • 329 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The goal of the human service professional is to enable people to live more satisfying, and more productive lives, through the utilization of society’s knowledge, resources, and technical innovations. Of course there are major characteristics that one must have to help reach these goals;…

    • 329 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays