Introduction to Human Services, An: Policy and Practice

For introduction to human services courses.

Show future Human Service Professionals how history, politics, and the economy shape social welfare programs and policies

An Introduction to Human Services: Policy and Practice puts the field of human services into a historical context, provides insights into the social welfare field, and gives concrete examples of how primary intervention strategies are put into daily practice in human service agencies. The text presents the many career options offered in the field of human services and discusses the stresses that a human service worker will face in day-to-day work, with practical suggestions for avoiding burnout. The 9th Edition explores the current state of the field of human services with new and updated coverage, including: an expanded chapter on working with diversity, with updated discussions of immigration and working with LGBTQ clients (Ch. 7); an expanded chapter on social welfare programs and policies (Ch. 6); and an increased focus on practical applications.

Table of Contents:

• 1. What Are Human Services? What Do Human Service Workers Do?
• 2. The Changing Nature of the Helping Process
• 3. Strategies, Activities, and Tasks of Human Service Work
• 4. Attitudes/Values, Skills, and Knowledge of the Human Service Worker
• 5. Values and Ethical Dilemmas
• 6. Social Welfare Programs and Policies
• 7. Working with Diversity
• 8. Interviewing
• 9. Direct Strategies: Working With People One-on-One
• 10. Working With Groups
• 11. Planning a Human Service Program
• 12. Indirect Strategies: Organizing for Change
• 13. Understanding Legal Issues
• 14. Staying Current and Avoiding Burnout

Barbara Schram graduated from Antioch College and received master's degrees in both sociology and social work from Columbia University and a doctorate from Harvard University with a specialization in education and social policy. She worked as the program direction of a large recreational and cultural organization, planning programs for children and young adults and supervising staff who delivered these services. Barbara spent several years as the director of a community agency in a low-income urban area, helping parents become involved in their children's education and effect changes in the schools that better reflected their cultural background and values. She spent 26 years at Northeastern University, where she originated and then taught in the Human Services program. She designed appropriate courses and supervised student internships. Barbara has done extensive volunteer work with citizen groups involved in interracial and special needs adoptions, improving services for persons with learning disabilities and improving prison education programs. In addition to this text she has written more than 20 articles and a book entitled Creating the SmallScale Social Program: From Idea to Implementation to Evaluation.

Betty Reid Mandell was Professor Emerita at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts. She was the editor of The Crisis of Caregiving: Social Welfare Policy in the United States, Palgrave/Macmillan, 2010, as well as the coeditor of New Politics.

Paul L. Dann, Ph.D., is the Director of the MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and the MS in Human Services at New England College and has taught at the College since 1997. He teaches Cultural Foundations, Graduate Capstone, and Research Methods. Paul has his MA and Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems and also serves as the Executive Director of NFI North, a non-profit multi-service mental health and human services agency providing care to children, youth, families, and adults throughout New Hampshire and Maine. Paul is and has served as a Board member of multiple non-profit and behavioral health organizations. He is a former Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Innovation and trains nationally on effective leadership development, resiliency, and culture. Paul is a dynamic public speaker and in his free time, he's the front man for a regionally recognized blues band.

Lynn Peterson was a student of Barbara Schram's at Northeastern University, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Human Services. The practical, hands-on approach of The Introduction to Human Services and Creating the Small-Scale Social Programs books provided her with essential skills to working in the field of human services. In her “Strategies of Intervention” class with Dr. Schram, Ms. Peterson's team planned and executed a successful human service professionals' retreat on Thompson Island. Following work as a congregate housing coordinator for Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley, Ms. Peterson earned a Master's degree in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University, with a focus on affordable housing. She has worked in the affordable housing field as a planner, developer and funder. While working at the Women's Institute for Housing and Economic Development, she developed supportive housing and education programs for low-income women. She was a contributing author to Shut Out: Low Income Mothers and Higher Education in Post-Welfare America.