1.3 Theories, Practices, and Concepts Central to Human Services
1.3 Theories, Practices, and Concepts Central to Human Services
The introduction to this section is based on the work of Aika Fricke while she was a candidate for her MSW at Ferris State University (figure 1.5).
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Aika Fricke has worked for Community Mental Health for Central Michigan since 2008 as a clubhouse advocate, case manager, and most recently as an employment specialist. She is a full-time mother to “four lovely children and a full-time wife to a wonderful and very supportive husband, as without his tremendous support furthering my education would not have been possible.”
Human services professionals take a generalist approach, which means they use their broad knowledge across many disciplines and methods to solve problems. An advantage of the generalist approach is the awareness of theories, foundational concepts, and practices of multiple fields and practitioners that promote well-being. A generalist approach introduces students to the application of addressing social problems at the individual (micro), group (mezzo), and community (macro) levels while following ethical principles and critical thinking (Inderbitzen, 2014). Generalist human services workers in a helping profession use a wide range of prevention, intervention, and remediation methods when working with families, groups, individuals, and communities to promote human and social well-being (Johnson & Yanca, 2010).
Being a generalist practitioner prepares you to enter nearly any profession within the human services and social work fields, depending on your population of interest (Inderbitzen, 2014). You may develop a specialty within the generalist approach during your education, internships, or professional life. For example, the program director for people experiencing homelessness would apply their generalist knowledge to a specific population: those who have housing insecurity or are houseless. A medical social worker would apply their broad knowledge to a specific group of people hospitalized at a cancer center.
Why Theories and Research Matter
Have you ever wondered, “Why is my three-year-old so inquisitive?” or “Why are some fifth graders rejected by their classmates?” or “Why do some people become addicted to alcohol and others do not?” Theories can help explain these and other occurrences. Theories offer possible explanations about how we develop, why we change over time, and what kinds of influences impact development.
A theory guides and helps us interpret research findings as well. It provides the researcher with a blueprint or model to help piece together various studies. Think of theories as guidelines, much like directions that come with an appliance or something that requires assembly. The instructions can help you piece together smaller parts more easily than you would using only trial and error. There are many theories of development. In this book, we have chosen to draw on many theories, several of which are summarized in this chapter.
Ecological