HSM 230 Personal Leadership Plan

The area of human services in which I would most like to work is with the homeless. Besides having my own personal experiences with homelessness, I think that it is an ongoing issue in the United States that needs community and governmental assistance. With the economy being in a state of recession, the rate of homelessness is continuing to increase with no sign of slowing down. People are losing their incomes leading them to losing their homes. While some are able to downsize to a smaller place that is more affordable for themselves and their families, there are others that are unable to secure a place to live and have resorted to either living with relatives, in motels or even worse, shelters.

As a leader in the field that I have chosen, the moral responsibility that I would need to encompass is helping those that need to be helped to the best of my ability. I would need to help and serve the homeless because it is something that I am truly passionate about, not because there is something in it for me other than the knowing that I assisted in servicing those in my community. I would need to protect my clients right to privacy and refrain from crossing the lines of maintaining a relationship other than professional; even though I do believe that organizations benefit from transformational leadership. I would also need to treat those in need with the upmost dignity and respect.

One thing that we must realize is that as a leader of a human service organization, there are responsibilities not only to your clients but to your colleagues, the community and the profession of human services as well. There are guidelines that you will be required to follow by law and moral standards that you will be required to follow based on ethics and integrity. When it comes to servicing the homeless population, having a strong ethical foreground is most important. I say this because I will be dealing with people who are in vulnerable positions and a fragile state of mind; most will likely need a specific type of help and service in several different areas. The homeless will need someone to not only assist them in getting off of the street and a hot meal. They will need services that will help them get into a place of their own; they will also need assistance with job placement, education, financial and money management services as well. It can be difficult for someone who has been homeless for quite some time to acclimate into a situation in which they are now responsible for taking care of a houhsehold, or for a person who is use to making more money learning how to survive on a lot less.

Society is changing and because everyone has to tighten their belt loop, it seems that people are feeling less and less obligated to help those less fortunate than themselves. To be honest, I don’t know if I could directly say that it is everyone’s responsibility to take care of someone else’s family, however I do feel that it is everyones responsibility to make sure that our communities are continuing to thrive and that we make sure children have a hot healthy meal, proper clothing, education and a safe and stable place to live.

As a leader helping to stomp out homelessness, my goal would be to create outreach programs and services that are directed specifically at homeless men women and families. I would want to create comradiry amongst the communities and get them involved in by making “no family left behind” foundation. This foundation, while maintaining families integrity and privacy, would put together a plan to help homeless men, women and families to help themselves out of their current homeless situation into a better one. The majority of the monies collected for the foundation would go solely towards the cause and I would only employee people that I felt were passionate about doing away with homelessness in our communities. I am all for helping everyone and I would definitely make sure that no one was discriminated against for any reason. If a person is homeless they are in the same group and need help regardless of their age, race, gender, etc.

As I stated earlier in this essay, I have past experiences with homelessness and I know many people who have battled with it as well. There were several programs available, but not one that was of any real assistance, especially for people with no children; as though they deserved to be homeless. There were also plenty of programs that cared more about getting funded by the government to pay it’s employee’s salaries or getting a spot on the local news station but it never seemed as though the organizations were there for the purpose of trying to eliminate homelessness. All in all as a leader of an organization that is to assist the homeless, it is imperative that I make sure that my clients general welfare is my main concern at all times. As long as I hold my clients well-being on a hierarchy and stick to a moral code that is ethically sound I believe that all my goals will be achieved.