Skills and Characteristics of Mental Health Human Services Workers

Introduction

Table of Contents

This paper aims at exploring the characteristics and skills required of mental Health human services workers. An analysis of the vital skills will be presented and the fundamental characteristics such as having a caring heart, patience, compassionate, and driven with the desire to see all people gain the best out of their lives. This is because the success of our lives is driven with having a sense of purpose, direction and meaning (Bloom, Owen,  and  Covington,  2003).  The main role of the human service workers is to help their clients to become


Mental Health Human Services profession

Each day life is characterized by various social, emotional and mental challenges as well as the rewards in life. The professional dealing with human services has to addresses these rewards and challenges faced by their clients and also the kind of abuses   that the clients have undergone such as issues related to alcohol, drugs, sexual abuse, physical abuse and the abuse towards the elderly people.


The human services workers also have to address the life conditions among clients such as unemployment, financial challenges and hardships, poverty and illness among others. The workers are out there to  support   people in need of  a  helping  hand  towards the attainment of  a much better  kind of life  than the one  they  had before. They help the clients to be self sufficient. The workers further plan and evaluate and take action according to the plan to provide emotional support to their clients (Moffat, 2001)


Some of the essential characteristics which all human services workers should have are good communication skills. This implies that they have to be good listeners and understand the need of the clients.  Good communication basically forms the foundation of a positive relationship with the clients.  Being a good listener means that the worker has to put  aside his or her  personal  thoughts and  work  in order to fully hear out the client who could be at the  verge of  breaking down or faced  with insecurity and anger.


The human service worker has to listen to what the client is saying with all his or her mind and heart. The human service workers  conduct their duties within the mental health care systems and in other related agencies. They get in   touch with clients at the levels of their operations and understanding.  Apart from the client with mental health needs, the workers further provide support to family members in educating them on ways of helping their loved ones to adjust. Thus the mental health workers become important in the recovery   process of the patients.


Both the Mental Health Services and Human Service Workers form a group   of social   workers who aim to make their clients have better options.  They  assist  the clients  to  gain treatment they need and  further play  an important  role in  family  connections which is needed in helping to restore the life of  the clients. The human service workers becomes  part of the life of clients  up to when they  are able  to  survive on their own  which is an important aspect for their  survival. The workers therefore act as coaches to the lives of their clients through educating them with life skills and tasks to complete on their own. The education is considered to be part of the recovery process and has to be done in stages and learned at every time.


The skills and characteristic of a mental health human social worker

The a  mental health human social worker has to be an individual with a burning desire  and to  work as a catalysts  in improving the lives of human beings.  They have to do all they can within their capabilities to help those in need. They should have good written and verbal communication skills with the ability to listen and to be non judgmental filled with   understanding and empathy.


The  workers dealing with clients should have  good  judgment  and  with  emotional maturity, they should control them selves by being  calm in stressful situations, be of  flexible attitude and positive at all times, have good  skills for decision making  and solving problems. The workers also have to have the interest to resolve the problems that people face. They should be able to maintain contact with their clients professionally and to develop new ways or programs of doing things.  Finally the human service servants should be abele to work part time as well as to work independently.


The personnel in human services should put his personal preferences and prejudices aside so that he or she serves all clients equally and appropriately and for them to use their common sense in dealing with the highly diverse clientele.  For them to be successful, they have to practice ethical requirements because without practicing ethics, they will fail to look at the big picture as a whole. another key aspect that the human service workers should  know is  to  avoid  being judgmental for their is a reason with helping and seeing  clients  and the thing  that the  clients expect  is not  to be constantly reminded of  their wooing deeds. Education not only through books but personal experiences assists the human services workers.


Skills development  is  important to the human service professionals which is through  furthers  their equation  and  taking  classes.  The main desired and appropriate courses for these filed workers include social work, psychology, nursing, repatriation therapy and occupational therapy.  They should have good counseling skills because they constantly deal with patients in support of their problems. The human services should have knowledge as part of their learning processes for academic and cognitive rids.


Conclusion

The paper has managed to  present some of  the, most important characteristics and  skills  of  the Mental Health services workers, Skills  are learned aspects through education or  from personal experience. The qualities are the virtues which the workers are born with. These characteristics should be aspects like good communication, empathetic, and having the desire to assist clients in any form of challenge they face. Having these skills and qualities boost in the development human service filed in attaining its goals.


Reference

Hannah-Moffat, K. (2001) Punishment in Disguise of Women in Canada, University of TorontoPress, p 67

Bloom, B, Owen, B.  and  Covington,  S.(2003) Gender-Responsive  Strategies, National Institute of Corrections. Washington DC:





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