Future as a Human Services Profession
Society encounters several day-to-day challenges. These challenges affect individuals in different ways. Moreover, daily interactions among human beings result in different outcomes, some positive while others negative. These interactions occur at various levels, such as individual, family, as well as the community. How every person reacts to these daily challenges is different. However, while most interactions lead to societal development, some of them result in several problems affecting specific individuals; these are generally determined as vices within society. Several societal vices exist, including crimes, corruption, wars, and domestic violence. These vices touch on various areas in the general set up of society; these aspects are social, political, cultural, economic and religious. Many people have chosen to pursues careers in human services in a bid to help society manage some of these issues. Professionals within the boundaries of social service have the task of gathering information on how some of the societal problems impact people’s lives, and are keen to offer various solutions to individuals affected by the issues. The future of professionals in human service is promising, and being one of them (a case manager in particular) provides various challenges and opportunities for further learning and personal development; this paper analyses multiple aspects of a career in human services.
Case Manager Career Evaluation
One of the career lines in the broad human services profession is becoming a case manager. Case managers are responsible for identifying client needs and working with them to find solutions to particular needs (Martin, 2018). Case managers work with various clients, including teens and families, politicians and other senior officers, immigrants, drug addicts, people with disabilities, and victims of specific circumstances such as domestic violence. Case managers are integral in rebuilding the societal values and issues that might be lost under various circumstances such as family disputes, community clashes, and other crimes such as drug peddling and civil wars (Martin, 2018). Case managers are critical to helping people recover from some of the worst experiences in life, providing them the opportunity to rebuild trust among themselves and better their lives.
Working with victims of domestic violence is one of the most fulfilling aspects of life. Society experiences several episodes of domestic violence. Domestic violence is aggressive behaviour within the family setting, usually between spouses; it may result in injury or, in fatal cases, death of a partner. In most cases, those who bear the brunt of domestic violence are mostly women and children. Working with these vulnerable populations, women and children who are domestic violence victims is one crucial aspect of a career as a case manager. The World Health Organization (2017) notes that domestic violence does not only negatively affect and deny the victims their fundamental human rights, but it is also a critical public health concern. WHO (2017) further notes that approximately thirty-five percent of women globally have fallen victims of domestic violence, suffering several unfortunate incidences such as sexual and physical abuse.
Case managers work in various environments, with a host of organizations. Organizations that may require case managers include government, nonprofit, as well as the private sector (Martin, 2018). Working with nonprofit organizations would be the right choice for individuals working as case managers. As the name suggests, nonprofit organizations are not profit-oriented; instead, they channel a considerable percentage of their resources toward realizing their goals. Moreover, these organizations acquire a significant portion of their financial support from donors. Thus, working with such organizations also provides one with the skills necessary for international associations and lobbying.
Appraisal of Issues Facing the Human Services Profession
Domestic violence cases are issues that human service professionals, such as case managers, face in their daily work. Victims of domestic violence are numerous, mainly women and children. One major historical, societal issue associated with domestic violence has been society’s view of women. In most cases, women were viewed as inferior beings when compared to men; the community did not empower women and did not advocate for equal rights for men and women. In certain situations, women were classified as slaves to men, doing all the work; men were at liberty to do anything to women. Such societal views are identified as the main drivers of domestic violence. A second historical issue that has contributed to the rise in domestic violence if failure to speak out. Most families that are characterized by episodes of domestic violence are not known because the victims fail to speak out. Most domestic violence victims do not openly speak out for fear of being laughed at or ignored.
Case managers dealing with domestic violence victims tell of various challenges affecting the clients. These challenges also affect the case managers, and they may even subsequently affect human service organizations. Among the challenges faced by domestic violence victims are low self-esteem, permanent physical disabilities, anxiety and depression, poor access to social services, lack of trust (especially in the opposite gender), as well as limited financial resources hindering faster access to medical support. Case managers’ encounter with domestic violence victims can also affect them (Martin, 2018). Some of the situations may be difficult to believe, especially where there is gross physical abuse. Some of the challenges to case managers include stress, anger, confusion, lack of trust from the clients, and fear in certain situations. Noting the effects such encounters may have on case managers, Puterbaugh (2015) observes that human service professionals need to be adequately prepared, both mentally and physically, to deal with the daily encounters with their clients effectively. Ultimately, challenges encountered by the case managers may negatively impact their organizations. The organizations may not meet their goals in time; they may also have to spend on further retraining of the case managers (Miller, Tice & Harnek Hall, 2008).
Most of the challenges encountered by domestic violence victims may not be solved immediately, posing a future problem for them, the case managers, and the organizations. In particular, is financial challenges and an inability to trust people the victims. Case managers will also find it difficult to talk to such individuals. Moreover, with inadequate self-care, case managers are bound to perform poorly in their duties. All these issues also present future challenges to human service organizations. Human service organizations will have to train their staff correctly and make adjustments to their operations management with respect to the changing times. These organizations face challenges such as reduced funding, agency budget cuts and downsizing, and the increasing dominance of managed care offered by healthcare facilities (Miller, Tice & Harnek Hall, 2008).
Performance Evaluation as a Case Manager
Excellent performance as a case manager requires various critical skills and qualifications. Significant to these skills and qualifications, is a degree in the field of choice, with proven hands-on experience, preferably from placements and internships (Martin, 2018). Moreover, case managers need to have various qualities such as effective communication and interpersonal skills, problem-solving and analytical skills. Individuals in this profession encounter clients with different problems, hence the need to be adequately prepared for complex situations (Puterbaugh, 2015). Supervision of case managers can be done through scheduled appraisal programs organized by their employers. Additionally, surveillance can be done by determining work progress and meeting the set targets for a particular time frame. Self-care is of the essence to a case manager. Good self-care helps individuals take good care of themselves while working as case managers, but it also helps them build good working relationships with colleagues. Building good working relationships with colleagues is integral to achieving excellent results at the workplace, as well as building a platform for consultations and caring for one another (Puterbaugh, 2015).
As a case manager, maintenance of good working relationships with clients is vital for one’s success. Dealing with victims of domestic violence needs patience, good communication and persuasive skills, patience as well as honesty; some may not be open to their stories being disclosed (Martin, 2018). Thus, case managers need to consider such issues to develop a good working relationship with their clients. Organizations working with case managers need to be open about their progress, goals and ambitions, sharing them with their employees. While case managers have got personal goals and ambitions, organizations should be helpful and offer good working environment for the case managers to fully commit to the course of the particular organizations. Because most nonprofit organizations heavily depend on funding, it is important for them to plan ahead and keep their employees, among them case managers, informed about any possible changes. They should also offer services that promote further training and capacity development.
Community Impact on Clients and the Organization
Society has a huge role to play when it comes to preventing domestic violence. Case managers need support from the particular communities they work in to accomplish their tasks of helping domestic violence victims. Working with different communities may positively or negatively impact case managers and their organizations. Negative impact may be in the form of resistance or lack of cooperation while positive impact may be from support and provision of various resources such as security (Puterbaugh, 2015). Organizational work may be promoted by the community thorough offering support in various ways such as promotion of awareness and helping stop domestic violence (Miller, Tice & Harnek Hall, 2008).
Case managers work to serve the community in several ways. community engagement is one way of doing this. Creating awareness among community members can go a long way in preventing domestic violence. Moreover, ensuring that one is in the right frame of mind helps them discharge their duties well; this can be achieved through regular self-checks. Case managers greatly contribute to the realization of global goals on several issues. For instance, case managers dealing with issues of domestic violence and effects on women contribute to the promotion of peace and human rights globally. Furthermore, working with victims of domestic violence contributes to the attainment of some of the United Nation’s seventeen goals, particularly on gender equality (goal 5) and peace justice and strong institution (United Nations, 2020).
Comparison of Human Resource Organizations
Two major organizations that have got interest in ending domestic violence against women are The World Bank and United Nations Women (UN Women). Both organizations are working toward the reduction and possibly the eradication of domestic violence against women. A second similarity between the two organizations is their global nature; they support other organizations and governments across the world in the fight against domestic violence on women. One difference between the two organizations is that while the United Nations Women majorly works through partnerships with various other agencies (UN Women, 2020), the World Bank works majorly through funding of other agencies, and conducting research. The world bank also supports other projects all over the world, not just those concerned with domestic violence. On the other hand, UN Women only deals with issues of domestic violence and women empowerment. Of the two, the UN women is a more effective model of a human services agency. It has got all its resources directed at women empowerment and fighting domestic violence against women.
Conclusion
Many people have chosen to pursues careers in human services in a bid to help society manage some of the problems in society such as domestic violence. One of the career lines in the broad human services profession is case manager, responsible for identifying client needs, and working with them to find solutions to the particular needs. Working with victims of domestic violence is one of the most fulfilling aspects of life. Various challenges facing case managers, their clients and organizations include lack of trust from clients as well as fluctuations in funding. Self-care, good relationships with clients and colleagues is integral to a case manager. Various organizations work towards ending domestic violence against women. Such organizations include The World Bank and The United Nations Women.
References
Martin, M. E. (2018). Introduction to human services: Through the eyes of practice settings (4th ed.). Pearson.
Miller, S. E., Tice, C. J., & Harnek Hall, D. M. (2008). The generalist model: Where do the micro and macro converge? (Links to an external site.) Advances in Social Work, 9(2), 80–90. https://doi.org/10.18060/203
Puterbaugh, D. (2015, May 28). Self-care in the world of empirically supported treatments (Links to an external site.). Counseling Today. http://ct.counseling.org/2015/05/self-care-in-the-world-of-empirically-supported-treatments/
The World Bank. (2020). Gender-Based Violence (Violence Against Women and Girls).
United Nations. (2020). 17 Goals to transform the world for persons with disabilities. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/envision2030.html
UN Women. (2020). Ending violence against women. Retrieved from https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women
World Health Organization. (2017). Violence Against Women. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women