What Is Human Services?

What is Human Services

To understand what Human Services are we must first understand how the concept of Human Services originated. As a general concept Human Services can be traced back to ancient times, in those days it was mostly religious sanctions that provided social services. These services include housing, clothing, food, educational needs as well as medical services whether they are physical or mental. The concept of Human Services as we know them did not gain a uniformed platform in the United States until the early 1950's. In its early days it was known as the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare but in the early 1980's it was renamed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Under this new department education was remanded to the Education Department, and the HHS was left to oversee Social Security, Public Health Services, and Family Support Services. This is the system we are all accustomed to today, and although it may be flawed in many ways it is light years ahead of many of countries.

The basic concept behind Human Services organizations is to provide the opportunity to all members of society to thrive. This calls for basic physical, emotional, and economic needs to be met by outside organizations when an individual cannot provide them for themselves. There are many intervention and strategic services that are in place to provide social services. They include but are not limited to preventive and early intervention services, crisis intervention services, rehabilitation and support, as well as programs designed to keep kids from getting into trouble that would place them in the system. Programs like SNAP formerly known as Food Stamps, Social Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Income (SSDI), Medicare and Medicaid all help to meet the needs of various members of society. People from all walks of life can at anytime find themselves in need of Human Services, many people used to believe that the services were used only by people considered to be degenerates. Through public education most now view Human Services for what they are, a needed service that is often used as a stepping stone for people to become independent fully functioning members of society.

One of the most critical elements of the Human Services program are the people that work to implement the programs that are put forth. It is critical that workers in these fields are sympathetic and show empathy towards the people that they are assisting while at the same time maintaining a professional attitude. This means that while we must be caring and compassionate we cannot become too involved personally, this is often times one of the most difficult parts of the job. Ethics demand that we maintain boundaries between professionals and clients, these boundaries range from personal friendships with clients to sexual relationships with clients. These kinds of inappropriate relationships form when professional boundaries are not maintained, when this