"Human Services?... That must be so rewarding." By Gail S. Bernstein, Ph.D., P.C.

Excerpted from the Introduction of "Human Services?... That must be so rewarding.", by Gail S. Bernstein, Ph.D., P.C.

Copyright © 1999 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Introduction

This book addresses topics human services professionals usually do not discuss. Most of us are trained in school and/or on the job in methods of providing services. Our training rarely includes consideration of the following questions:

Why do I want to do this?

What do I expect to get out of it?

What do I expect to accomplish?

What values will I employ to guide my work?

How will I act while I provide services?

How do I manage the stressful aspects of working in human services?

This book is about those questions. The focus here, unlike most human services texts, is clearly on the provider of services rather than on the recipient. That focus is not from any lack of concern for the people who receive our services. Instead, it is the result of my conviction that the most effective and thoughtful services are delivered by people who have clear answers to the questions listed above.

Chapter 1, "On Knowing Yourself," addresses personal motives, goals, and limits for the human services professional. Chapter 2, "On Minding Other People's Business," is about client rights and the dignity of the individual. Chapter 3, "Human Problems, Human Services' Values," suggests fundamental values for the human services professional. Chapters 4-7 cover professional behavior, specifically professional relationships, time management, communication, and professional development. Chapter 8 concerns the necessity for and the ways to improve self-care and stress management. Chapter 9, "The Proactive Human Services Professional," reflects on human services as a career choice. Throughout the text you will find comments from 11 human services professionals who, in personal interviews, were asked to address the topics covered here. Extended interviews with two of these professionals appear in Chapter 9.

The skills addressed in this volume are complex and difficult to acquire. Each chapter is an introduction to a topic about which many books and scholarly articles have been written. I suggest that you read and work through no more than a chapter a week, taking time to thoroughly consider the questions raised.

My purpose is to provide a book that is, above all, practical and applied rather than academic. Although references are included, I made no attempt to examine thoroughly the vast literature pertaining to the topics covered. Instead, I relied on a few selected references, some contemporary and some classic; the generosity of colleagues and students in sharing information; and more than 30 years of my personal experience in human services, health care, and education.

The audience for this book includes

• current and future advocates
• direct care providers
• geriatrics specialists
• social workers
• counselors and mental health workers
• psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychiatric nurses
• independent living center staff
• occupational and physical therapists
• speech-language pathologists
• developmental disabilities workers

Sometimes "professional" is defined as a person with a college degree, but I do not believe in defining professionalism in that way. In my opinion, professionalism is a function of how a person functions on the job. Whenever "human services professionals" are referred to in this book, the intent is to include everyone who provides human services, regardless of level or type of education.