This essay asks you to reflect on important aspects of this course, developed through your activities, readings and peer discussions, and to reflect on your knowledge and skills, and your current or future practice as a human services practitioner using the case study below.
Your work with the group of youths in the shopping centre has been beneficial and trusting relationships have been formed. Because of this, one of the youths, Jason who is fifteen years old has sought you out. He tells you he has been feeling pretty hopeless. He ran away from home last year because of family violence and has been barely surviving on the streets with help from his mates. He tells you he had been sexually abused by a religious minister and had been thinking about this a lot lately. He’s not really sure why he came to see you. He just felt like talking to someone today.
In your essay, discuss the following:
1. The purpose of human services, values and ethics, and the knowledge (consider Hudson, 1997) and skills you will need to assess Jason’s case.
2. Describe the process of assessment and discuss the structural influences as well as the individual factors that you would consider in undertaking your assessment of Jason’s situation and his social arrangements. Structural factors might include disadvantage due to inequitable policies, legislation, organisational procedures, lack of resources, values and beliefs held by society, or oppression based on gender, age, ability, sexual preference, religion, culture or other, for example.
3. Briefly describe the interventions based on your assessment that you might develop collaboratively with Jason and how you would evaluate them.
4. Thinking about Jason’s case and other scenarios you have studied this semester, identify and discuss one or more key learnings that challenged you. Perhaps thinking critically and reflecting on practice has changed your view on how welfare is delivered or the influences on the behaviour of individuals, or gaining new knowledge through your readings has caused you to reflect on this issue. Discuss what have you learned about yourself in this process and what knowledge and skills you have identified that require further development as a human services worker,