Human Services

Joseph Mehr has been involved with the Human Services field virtually since its inception.  In the 1960s he developed an NIMH Paraprofessional Manpower and Training grant which funded the development of a Human Service career series for the state of Illinois. In the 1970s he wrote, and obtained a U.S. Foundation for Higher Education grant to integrate Mental Health system training programs with the college and University systems, allowing many human service workers to acquire college credit for their ongoing employment training. He is a Clinical Psychologist with years of college teaching experience in Psychology and in Human Services, and has written well regarded college texts for both fields. In the late 1970s he wrote one of the first college level introductory texts in the field of Human Services.  In 2001 he retired from his full time work, and currently is actively engaged in clinical consultation. Ronald Kanwischer is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at SIU School of Medicine.  He serves as the Outpatient Residency Services Coordinator, Director of Continuing Education for the Department of Psychiatry, as well as a psychotherapist and teacher.  He has over twenty-seven years of experience in the fields of substance abuse and mental health.  Mr. Kanwischer consults to a variety of service systems on clinical and client motivational issues including the Illinois Department of Human Services, community agencies, and the Criminal Justice system.  He is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, and teaches Motivational Interviewing in workshops and on an individual basis.

• Preface  PART I  Orientation and Perspective  1  Human Services: A New Direction     What Is a Human Services Worker? Multiple Views    Box 1.1: Typical Employment Titles for Human Service Workers    Current Conceptions of Human Services Systems    Box 1.2: “There She Lies, the Great Melting Pot”    Social Policy and Human Services    Summary    Discussion Questions   Learning Experiences    Endnote    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites      2  A History of Helping     The Dark Past of Helping    Social Welfare: Toward a Community Approach    Box 2.1: A History of Prejudice    Summary    Discussion Questions  Learning Experiences    Endnote    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites      PART II  Human Services: Defining Roles, Problems, and Boundaries  3  Human Service Workers: Agents of Change     Human Services: A New Profession    Role Functions of the Human Service Worker    Human Service Workers: What They Really Do    Human Service Workers in a Multicultural Society    Competence and Credentialing    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Endnotes    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites      4  Human Services: Identifying Problems and Causes     Identifying Problems    Theoretical Causes of Problem Behavior    An Ecological Synthesis: The Life Matrix    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites    5  Human Services Boundaries: Special Populations, Special Systems     Problems and Services for Children and Adolescents    Box 5.1: Cultural Diversity in the Workplace    Box 5.2: Types of Out-of-Home Placement    Domestic Abuse Services    Problems and Services for the Elderly    Drug Abuse: The Problem and Human Services    Services for Mentally Retarded People    Mental Health Problems and Service Systems    Correctional Systems    Poverty: A Common Denominator    Homeless People    The Multiproblem Client    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites      PART III Contemporary Strategies  6  Medical and Psychiatric Approaches and the Person in Need     AIDS: Physical Disease as a Human Services Issue    Box 6.1: HIV/AIDS in the Cross-Cultural Context    The Basics of the Medical and Psychiatric Models    Common Treatment Strategies of the Psychiatric Model    Prospects for the Medical and Psychiatric Models    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites      7  Behavioral Approaches and the Person in Need     Four Models of Learned Behavior    Learning Problem Behaviors    Representative Behavioral Treatment Approaches    The Effectiveness of Behavioral Strategies    Summary    Discussion Questions   Learning Experiences    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites      8  Psychotherapeutic Approaches and the Person in Need     Psychoanalysis    Rogers’s Client-Centered Therapy    Prescriptive Psychotherapy    Box 8.1: Some Ethnocultural Issues and Psychotherapists    Structural Variations of the Psychotherapeutic Approaches    Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Psychotherapeutic Approaches    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Endnotes    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites      9  Integrating Contemporary Strategies, Personal Relationship Skills, and the Supervisory Process    Using Contemporary Strategies    Using Personal Relationship Skills    Box 9.1: Cross-Cultural Communication Barriers and Strategies for Breaking Through    Who Helps the Helper? Supervision and Teamwork    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites      PART IV  Human Services and Psychosocial Change Agentry  10  Problem Assessment, Planning, and Brokering     Typical Problems Seen by Human Service Workers    The Need for Assessment    Principles of Triage    The Initial Assessment Interview    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Recommended Readings    Internet Site      11  Case Management: The Cornerstone for Human Services     Approaches to Case Management    Case Management in a Variety of Settings    Box 11.1: That Other Kind of Case Management    Issues in Case Management    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Recommended Readings    Internet Site     12  Inspiring Change in Human Services Clients     The Process of Change    Motivation for Change    Motivational Interviewing    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Recommended Readings    Internet Site      13  Crisis Intervention     Understanding Crisis States    Signs of Crisis States    Crisis Behavior during Major Disasters    Box 13.1: Differences in the Responses of Children and Adolescents to Disasters by General Age Group    Common Crisis Situations    Intervening in the Crisis    Box 13.2: Desirable Characteristics, Skills, and Abilities of Crisis Workers    Box 13.3: Myths about Suicide    Crisis Intervention for the Crisis Worker    The Goal and Setting of Crisis Intervention    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Endnotes    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites      14  Social Intervention: Prevention through Environmental Change     Prevention in Human Services    Limited Social Intervention    Box 14.1: The Ethnic Agency    Comprehensive Social Intervention    Sociocultural Intervention in Human Services    Box 14.2: Traditional Cultural Helpers and Human Services    Human Services and Social Advocacy    Summary    Discussion Questions    Learning Experiences    Endnotes    Recommended Readings    Internet Sites      15  Social Control, Human Rights, Ethics, and the Law    Box 15.1: A Lack of Cultural Sensitivity?    The Therapeutic State    Human Rights Issues and Human Services    A Human Services Bill of Rights   Ethical Standards for Human Service Workers   Summary    Discussion Questions Learning ExperiencesEndnoteRecommended ReadingsInternet Sites  Glossary References  Index