Interacting within the community and working with others is why I wanted to join this particular major. There being built in internships to this major really drew me in and ultimately allowed me to settle on declaring Human Services as my major. I have always had a passion for working with others and through this major I have truly unlocked what I want to do, which is work in Early Childhood Education and intervention. I was able to discover this through one of my internships in direct service with the Opportunity Council’s Head Start Program. In the Human Services Field direct service is a crucial aspect to learn and gain skills in because this is where you interact with clients and the community. Direct service is the ability to work directly with clients in order to serve their needs. This can be face to face or over another form of communication but this type of service is what really creates the working relationship between clients and professionals. Without this type of service we wouldn’t be able to connect and make relationships that create change within this field and our client’s lives.
The courses in which I learned the most about direct service include classes where there were particular skills that needed to be learned which was taught through role playing. In Case Management we were able to role play how we would address issues with clients and how to correctly interact and document what is going on with our clients. We learned ways in which to build rapport while simultaneously learning how we can ask sometimes extremely personal information. By working with my fellow peers in these role play situations I was able to receive feedback, which was perhaps the most valuable outcome from this experience. Since all of us had different strengths and ideas, I was able to get a variation of feedback on what worked with my direct services approach and what I needed to work on. Learning the proper way to create case notes was a great skill to receive training in. It can be very challenging to get all the information you need correctly documented while simultaneously making sure the client feels comfortable with disclosing personal information with you. Having this experience assisted me in the final case study project in which we needed to review a case and find the best way in which to work with the client and manage their services, here is this final paper. Spending time really understanding the importance of quality documentation will be an asset that will definitely be valuable in my future career.
In our Interviewing class we learned about the different types of situations where we may need to interview clients and how to create an atmosphere that is conducive of open and honest communication. Again, by role playing we were able to test our direct service skills in order to hone them. By practicing with different peers and having different scenarios we were able to prepare for the real world in which you may not know who will be coming into your organization or what may be happening that day. Preparation for whatever may happen is the key to having strong direct service skills since you will be dealing with clientele from a diverse background. Having your biases in check is the only way in which you can make sure that you are not impeding any services or growth of your clients.
Perhaps the most influential class that has given me the ability to use direct service has to be in regards to practicum and internship. For my first internship placement I was able to work directly with members of the BSAC when there were events in which I was a part of. Another time when I got to interact with a member was when I was writing the volunteer spotlight for the monthly newsletter. For me this was a new experience because I have never interviewed someone about their life before. Talking with the volunteer, who was also a BSAC member, after a little bit came easily and began to flow. I really tried to use the skills I took from the interviewing course about building rapport to help in this process. In the end I felt great about my interview and at the same time I was able to a professional relationship with the member who would stop in and say hi when I was interning.
At my other internship with the Opportunity Council in the Head Start classrooms I was able to work directly with children and families to make sure that the kids were receiving the best education, while also making sure that the families felt supported. During my first quarter one of my objectives for the internship was to work in small groups with the children to better understand proper techniques for working with children of different developmental levels. Towards the end of my quarter I was able to lead a small group of 8 children through a circle time working on calendar, weather, patterns, counting, and modeling a David Mattison Yellow Journal. I was reviewed {Ashley Johns Observation} by the Lead Teacher, Caitlin Kirst, on my skills leading these children through circle time and what qualities of direct services I had that worked. Through my times working with Head Start I have improved my direct service skills exponentially because I have seen what approaches work with children and in what situations. Understanding that one technique may work with one child but not another due to cultural or development differences is important when working with children since you will see such a range of children’s abilities. This is true for anytime I will work in the field. There will be clients I work with who have differences in culture, development, socioeconomic status along with many other variances but making sure you are respecting all these factors and work side by side with them to accomplish their goals is how you can create change with clients. My internship experiences were able to challenge me in the sense that they exposed me to direct service within the Human Services Sector for the first time. These experiences allowed me time to practice my interviewing, case management, communication, and professionalism outside of the classroom to see what really works with the public.
My philosophy going into this major with regards to direct service was the mindset “how can I help these clients,” which now has shifted. Over the time throughout this program and my internships I have learned to think of direct service as asking the question “what strengths do these clients have and how can these be utilized to reach their goals?” I have realized with the help of this program that the professional is not necessarily the one who should be making decisions, the clients are. The clients are the ones in the situation, in which the professional can never fully understand, which is why we need to empower our clients to make decision that will best fit their lives. As I said earlier every client will be in different situations and will bring diverse qualities to the table. Respecting what your clients are bringing and recognizing that will help to serve the client as a whole, making sure to acknowledge their story.
The biggest way that my professional career will be impacted by my direct service experience is that I have gained confidence in my skills. When I entered my first internship I was unsure of my abilities to work within the public in direct service because I didn’t believe I had experience and the credibility to work with such diverse populations. That quickly ended. By utilizing what I learned in the classroom, I soon learned that I do have the skills to work in direct service because I had the theory background and skills to do so. This program gave me the confidence to go forward in professional development and really practice what I had been taught.
CSHSE Applicable Standards
Standard 12
Standard 13
Standard 15
Standard 16
Standard 17
Standard 19
Standard 20
Standard 21
References
Council for Standards in Human Service Education. (2013). National Standards: Baccalaureate degree in human services. Retrieved from: http://www.cshse.org/pdfs/Standards-Baccalaureate.pdf