Client Paper
BSHS 305
Historical Development of Human Services: An Introduction
April 10, 2014

Client Paper
Introduction
While some clients can be a little difficult, they are individuals with multifaceted perspectives that include psychological, biological, cultural, social, financial, educational, vocational, and spiritual components (Woodside & McClam, p. 131, 2011). Clients can be helped in many different ways, therefore being a diverse Human Service Professional enables you to be an effective helper. There are a range of problems that clients encounter such as addictions, homelessness, and mental illnesses. With these problems will come various different skills the professional can use to effectively help their clients. Below we will talk about a range of problems the client faces and the helping skills that can be used to effectively help the client.
Range of Problems Facing Clients
When thinking about the client and what problems may occur, we need to look at the whole person not just the problem. Problems for clients are rarely single issues, and the human service professional should approach each client with the expectation of more than one problem (Woodside & McClam, p. 131, 2011).
There are different factors to each of these problems which are cultural values of society, developmental needs of the individual, and some clients lack resources or skills, or both to be able to solve problems (Woodside & McClam, p. 163, 2011). These problems can be broken down into stages. First being identifying the problem and discussing it. Next, solutions to the problem are formulated and implemented. Then finally, the results are evaluated.
The problems that face the clients can be either short term or long term problems. Some short term problems can be things like living in a bad environment, unemployment, poor attendance at school, and domestic violence. All of which can be solve with an effective plan to better each situation. Problems can also be categorizes as long term. These long term problems can take some brainstorming by the professional to make sure he or she takes the rights approach to help the clients with their needs. Some of these problems are things like addictions, disabilities, homelessness, and mental illness. With each problem we as professionals need to fully understand where the problem lies.
There are five different ways we can look at the problems; developmental perspective, situational perspective, hierarchical needs, needs created by society, and environmental influences (Woodside & McClam, p. 163, 2011). When looking at the developmental perspective we have to realize that some people go through the same things at different points in their lives. Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man best describes each stage and what should be met in each of the stages. Next we would look into the situational perspective of a problem. Some clients have problems such as a divorce in a family or someone losing their job best describes the situational perspective. Meeting your own human needs and to be able to provide food or shelter would be the first step in the hierarchical perspective. Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs that is helpful in the problem identification process (Woodside & McClam, p. 163, 2011). Maslow believed you could not successfully move through one stage to proceed to the next until the basic needs are met. Societal change is another perspective that will contribute to the problems of a client. Our society is so mainstreamed and face paced now so some person can get left behind or dropped by the way side when it comes to change. Homelessness is a serious factor in societal changes and we can see this in the growing number of veterans how are living on our streets and in our shelters. Lastly the environmental influence goes along with the societal perspective and it can be best describe as it has layers. These layers would be the first you encounter as a young child, then as you are an adolescent and you experience the neighborhood and friends you are involved with. On the outer most parts of the layers would be national or global changes that wouldn’t affect us as much as the inner layers (Woodside & McClam, p. 163, 2011).
Another problem the client would face would be the involuntary placement by protective services or the justice system. When some clients begin to work with the human service professional, it may be a little difficult at first because they would not be fully trusting of the professional. Thus the professional with the most effective helping skills will get through to more clients than the professional who is not looking at the whole client.
Helping Skills that can be used with clients
The effectiveness of the helping process depends greatly on the skills of the helper and communication is the foundation for all interpersonal relationships (Woodside & McClam, p. 163, 2011). The relationship we have with our clients will set their wiliness to cooperate with the goals they need to achieve. Secondly, the client needs to understand the process of the relationship does have a time limit with the purpose of all goals being accomplished. Third as a professional there is a level of authority we have so that we enable the client to resolve whatever the problem is. Furthermore, the relationship is always to be built around the client and in the context of his or her goals.
Throughout all this communication, we as professionals will be looking at the verbal and nonverbal aspects. The verbal cognitive message addresses such matters as who, what, where, when, and why (Woodside & McClam, p. 163, 2011). The nonverbal behaviors would include things like the person’s posture, tone of voice, gestures, eye contact, and touch (Woodside & McClam, p. 163, 2011). If someone is leaning back in their chair with their arms crossed this could mean they were not interested in anything you are saying. However, if someone leaning forward and on the edge of their seat waiting on your every word this clearly means they are engaged and interested in what you are saying.
Another helping skill is effective listening and responding. The way we listen and respond to the client is crucial in building a helping relationship (Woodside & McClam, p. 163, 2011). Active listening or attending behavior is something a human service professional would need to master to make the client feel important. Some examples of these two skills would be facing the client when engaging in conversation, keeping eye contact, and verbal tracking. Asking the right question is all a part the response. Open and closed questions help the professional learn crucial things about the client and can be effective the helping process.
Being diverse and being in tune with cultural differences is a great skill for a human service profession to possess. The first step to a multicultural approach to human services begins with recognition that all people have in common the capacity for thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (Woodside & McClam, p. 163, 2011). Understanding cultural differences is another helping skill a professional can indulge in to make the client feel more comfortable.
In conclusion, there can be some difficulties when dealing with multifaceted individuals. A more diverse human service profession may be more effective with clients with the wide range of problems and issues they face. Some helping skills work with one client, while those skills may not work with the next client you has. Being able to work through the crisis with the client and help them pull through is one of the best feelings of achievement a human service professional could experience.

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References

Woodside, M., & McClam, T. (2011). An introduction to human services (7th ed.). Retrieved from https://portal.phoenix.edu/classroom/coursematerials/bshs_305/20140327/OSIRIS:44743237.