Professional Development Plan for Human Services - Essay Example

Professional Development Plan for Human Services Professional Development Plan for Human Services A professional Development Plan (PDP) refers to the process of preparing individual’s plans for professional growth based on an individual’s professional growth as evidenced by the impact of growth a student attains. PDP will apply to a person’s skills gained from the person’s growth as well as career development. The PDP is essential while one aims at advancing in a particular position or focus on a new goal or the existing one. As a student of human services with a goal of championing assistance for vulnerable adults, I intend to present a PDP that will prove essential to achieving my goals, professional objective as well as being in line with the college mission (Forde, 2011). My personal goals aim at making a society through which all individuals have equal rights and are free from abuse of any kind. After paying a close observation of vulnerable adults, it came to my realization that the society in general mistreats the vulnerable adults. Vulnerable adults refer to individuals of 18 years and above that lack mental capability to make decisions. The mental incapacity renders these individuals exposable to abuse and humiliation at their homes or even at the social care units. Enrolling in Human Services course proves essential in ensuring attainment of these personal goals. Human Services entails a broad definition but critical in enhancing achievement of caring for the vulnerable adults. We may attribute Human services to a unique approach that aims at achieving human needs basing its course on an interdisciplinary platform (Mandell and Schram, 2013). The objective of these needs relates to prevention human challenges, remediation of problems as well as an individual commitment to improving the overall quality of life in the population. Focusing on my personal goal and its relationship with the course of study plays a significant role as deviations from the main course are minimal. Considering the professional goal of my undertaking will also play an important role. The Human services profession is a profession that promotes improvement of service delivery systems through addressing direct quality services. Beyond focusing on the quality of direct services, the human resource profession also seeks to improve accountability, accessibility, as well as coordination among agencies as well as professionals in service delivery (Forde, 2011). Through balancing the three aspects mentioned above, attainment of the future objective is possible. The school mission also ensures that Health Services students remain focused on attaining the course objective as well as professional goal. The college provides provision of diversified careers of professionals providing them with an opportunity to transform them. Transformation aims at developing the students from scholar-practitioners to professionals equipped with essential materials to change the society. Human Services learning within the college is not only taught, but also in line with the university mission. For a student like me who wishes to become an outstanding human services profession, drawing from the college mission, through the professional goals as well as aligning the course objectives will ensure attainment of well-built career. My personal goals of ensuring individuals have equal rights and are free from abuse will be achieved through maintaining and relating to these guiding principles. Individuals with adequate decision-making capacities will do not fall under the category that is exposed to abuse or treated unfairly. Ensuring vulnerable adults get equal rights and remain free from abuse remains my personal goals. In Human Services course, academic definitions derived from social work fields refers a vulnerable adult as an individual who lacks the most fundamental skills in human life. The vulnerable adult is deemed as any person aged 18 years and above-requiring community care services as a result of mental disability, age, illness or any other disability. Consequently, these individuals lack the capability to take care of themselves or protect themselves from exploitation or harm. The reason behind the lack of these basic human life skills is attributed to lack of learning of these basic essentials while during the formative years that entails childhood through adolescence to young adulthood. A vulnerable individual lacks the capacity to properly learn and maintain these skills. The challenge renders the sensitive individuals a challenge of obtaining friends, acquaintances or even family members who may assist them in the areas they suffer (Stewart, 2012). In order for a person to be classified as vulnerable, the adult’s actions must be unable to improve that individual without getting assistance from another typical adult. Consequently, a person must display characters that indicate the person is a risk to himself when not provided with assistance. My learning experience does not only come from academic knowledge, but also from engaging in volunteer activities aimed at assisting vulnerable adults. Much of these volunteer activities I have engaged in are in Michigan State. Michigan State under the Department of human services has established a system that enhances human services volunteers to participate in community activities aimed at improving the well-being of the vulnerable adults (Michigan 2013). The state has so far achieved tremendous growth in ensuring volunteer activities from willing individuals is facilitated. Over the course of my volunteer period that date back to three years back with at least a month in a year as a volunteer a lot has impacted my knowledge regarding human services. First, although human services professionals work in offices, they also work in the field. Field visits remain essential in developing an understanding of the challenges and abuse forms that vulnerable individuals undergo. During my visit to care units for the vulnerable adults, I learned how careful a social worker needs to be while dealing with a sensitive person. Although academic teachings emphasize that aspect, practical visits present the real challenge that a human service professional encounters. Unlike the healthy individuals that are willing to open up and share with one another, vulnerable individuals opt to keep it to themselves. The biggest challenge that one encounters relates to how to convince these individuals to share with you their feelings. Another important learning point developed through volunteer activities refers to the manner and form of abuse that occurs even in social care homes or units (Martin, 2001). Although the majority believes that care homes and social care units present the best caring for the vulnerable adults, through my volunteer time I learned that the abuse may occur in these places too. The form of ill-treatment made by some workers may be unknown to them. These abuses include restrictions of time as well as approach to the limit of information given to the vulnerable individuals (Stewart, 2011) While jokes are standard to ordinary human beings, they might offend the sensitive persons. The experience in these volunteer activities remains essential in shaping my personal goals, reflecting on human services course content as well as adhering to human resource professional goals. My role in relation to assisting the vulnerable individual may occur in various instances like, for example, through a social work department, social care units as well as a housing authority among others. Clinical diagnoses are often given by doctors to the vulnerable individuals mostly over an extended period of time before human services professions engage in an individual’s life. The official clinical diagnoses ensure that social workers effectively enter the life of the vulnerable adult to enhance assistive measures. The academic knowledge gained in human services course does not however lack some weaknesses. While the structure presents well-grounded guidelines for human services students, the scheme is theoretical. The role of professional human services individuals offers a more practical nature as opposed to a theoretical approach. As I have experienced through my volunteer activities, some challenges human service providers encounter at the field level may not be covered in academic teachings. However, apart from the few limitations attributed to the learning scheme, the scheme prepares a graduate with the essential knowledge to become a human service profession. The system does not only teach individuals how to become better human services professionals, but ensures students learn the legal requirements related to human services. Planning remains essential in our everyday undertakings, whether from an organization’s perspective or an individual viewpoint. Having learned that failing to plan leads to failure, planning remain a core objective of my course of study. My plan for the study aims at achieving the core objective emphasized under the scope of human services. Human services entail an approach of meeting human needs for applying knowledge from different disciplines to ensure achieving quality of life within the population. The individuals in need of improvement relates to vulnerable persons as well as the poor and the needy. By the time of graduation, I will have developed the essential community support skill standards. As a graduate intending to offer direct human services, the school will enhance my development to attain competences vital in a vast service context within societies across the nation. Assignment 2 Human service education acts as an umbrella to all society’s professions either directly or indirectly in ensuring healthy living standards within the community (Mandell and Schram, 2013). It, therefore, serves as a link between individuals and the systems in place. In the case of Barbara LaRosa, she intends to help Almeada, who suffers from inadequate skills of child care as well as parenting competencies. Having identified the problem, Barbara plans to look for a professional familiar with human service system as well as formal linkages essential in assisting Almeada. She understands if she fails to take action quickly, Almeada will disappear with the human delivery system. Identifying of a helper who will help her neighbor cope with the challenges she is undergoing will prove essential (Woodside and McClam, 2002). The helper role will be to direct Almeada to agencies that provide the required services with effectiveness. Although networking proves as one of the best means of engaging individuals to forums, it fails to tackle some situations. For the case with Almeada or such clients, negotiations for the role remain essential; therefore, networking will not facilitate these negotiations. A human service profession is well equipped to handle that situation based on his knowledge of the systems. The human service profession should build the gap existing between needy individuals among organizations, services as well as agencies providing such services. Good quality delivery will require working together so as to ensure the provision of the best qualities to clients. For the case of Barbara, she needs to identify a human services profession who will link Almeada to the right agencies based on her needs. At the micro level, i would recommend Almeada to search for a trained individual to take care of young kids. The advice will follow for families with the same challenges through providing guidance to accredited agencies. The macro level would require legislation to cater for such activities. Legislation requires working as a champion to enhance human services thereby making those in authority to learn about its importance. Assignment 3 Effective communication skills remain an essential aspect of human services professionals. These attributes ensure that a human services professional communicates effectively with other professions, clients as well as the families of customers and consequently influence change. The attributes required involve both verbal and written skills (Rai and Rai, 2009). In order effectively communicate and drive change, human service professionals need to first develop and create a literate environment. Through creation of a literal environment, an individual realizes through both cognitive and non-cognitive assessments the literacy levels of the learners. Assessment then follows through aims web and determination of comprehension fluency levels among listeners. A human service profession may also develop these attributes through a non-cognitive assessment through determining preferences that increase motivation. The second step of developing good communication skills refer to text selection. Were appropriate texts are selected, a literate environment is enhanced. The third step involves employing an interactive perspective to ensure the audience is in line with the source. The last step in providing effective communication refers to monitoring critical as well as response aspects. It ensures the audience is drawn into the line of thinking that the source provides. With effective communication skills, a human service profession is assured of career success. Differentiating between different member groups and the content of information passed to an individual group will prove essential. For example, dealing with professionals, will take a different form as compared to clients in need of services or suffering individual. Professionals understand the professional language that in most occurrences they prefer. While dealing with professionals, a human services professional should determine the line of profession the other profession comes from through paying much time in listening (worth 2009). Effective listening ensures that one grasps the whole concept enabling in making a rational judgment. On the other hand while dealing with clients, professional jargons are best avoided ensuring that ambiguity does not play in to distort the intended communication References Forde, C. (2011). Professional development, reflection and enquiry. London: Paul Chapman Pub. ;. Gillam, S. (2010). Human services. New York: Ferguson Pub. Kase, R. (2003). The Human services. New York: AMS Press. Mandell, B., & Schram, B. (2013). Human services. New York: Wiley. Martin, M. (2011). Introduction to human services: Through the eyes of practice settings (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Michigan. (2013). Educational development at Michigan State University. East Lansing: The Program. Rai, U., & Rai, S. (2009). Effective communication (Rev. ed.). Mumbai [India: Himalaya Pub. House. Stewart, A. (2012). Supporting vulnerable adults citizenship, capacity, choice. Edinburgh: Dunedin. Woodside, M., & McClam, T. (2002). An introduction to human services (4th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Worth, R. (2009). Communication skills (2nd ed.). New York: Ferguson. Read More