Human Services Skills

Recently, released from prison Todd and Reggie, in an interracial relationship are seeking couples counseling and are both having a difficult time integrating into society. They have no one on the outside that is able to help them. Reggie is still on probation while Todd is done. Both men have come in for couples counseling however there may be more issues in their relationship that needs to be worked on. The human service professional is there to empower the clients to help to find and locate resources needed to make meaningful changes and ability to trust and respect one another.

Human service professionals are in the business of helping. It is the goal to provide people with the basic needs in order to help individuals sustain and maintain a better and healthier lifestyle. The human service professional will take on many roles, job titles and descriptions, such as counselor, interventionists, social worker, substance abuse counselor all of which in Todd and Reggie’s case are needed. She may need to use techniques such as open-ended questions, paraphrasing and reflecting into the lives in order to identify and to clarify the problems that are plaguing Todd and Reggie.

Personal values, beliefs, prejudices and stereotypes can help or harm the helping process, I think it would do both harm as well as help. I would generally be hesitant in the beginning of meeting with Todd and Reggie only because of my personal values and of my Christian beliefs but again that is only my initial thought. They have sought out help and that is the reason the human professional is there to assist. I’m sure that these feelings pass through all HS professional minds.

Stereotypes lead to prejudice and prejudice leads to negative biases, poorly informed opinions, or unjustified assumptions about individuals who belong to a certain group or fit into a particular category (Murphy, Dillion 2010). In order to comply with Reggie and Todd, all those feelings and beliefs will have to be put aside in order to fully help them both. If not there would be more harm than help. Human service professionals should be trained extensively to work with same sex realtionships.

“If therapists fail to invest in personal exploration before working with lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients, they are at risk for potentially harming clients, because they may unknowingly project their own issues onto clients or miss key components of assessment or intervention” (Godfrey et al. , 2006). Potential ethical and legal issues surrounding this case and my obligations, probably would be the confidentiality requirements it is also my ethical issue to report any information I may have about either individual hurting the other I think with all of their drug and abuse issues I feel that if not addressed it may become a problem.

Since Todd has already voiced his fear of Reggie and of his alcohol and drug abuse and physical abuse piled on with the stress Reggie is already feeling, I may fear Todd could possibly be in danger. And it would be my obligation to report such actions if it arises, also Reggie is still on probation which could endanger his freedom if he violates it. Because Reggie and Todd have come in seeking couples counseling, I must first address how good it was for them to come in, it shows how important their relationship is to each other trying to save what they have.

First I will go through the confidentiality and ethical requirements. I will advise them of the process of how we will be addressing each issue. And that maybe later I will ask to speak individually with them both, it seems as Todd is the speaker and Reggie does not have much to say while Todd is in the room and this might give me a better idea on Reggie’s concerns as an individual. See how we can incorporate the help of family members to help in the relationship. I feel it may be able to alleviate some of the family stress they both are feeling.

It may also help relieve some stress and anxiety on both Reggie and Todd. And next the importance of seeing how abuse will continue to weigh heavy on the relationship if not addressed soon. Then this maybe just a brief description of some of the issues that need immediate attention, but after collecting and gathering all the information on both Reggie and Todd we can discuss the possible outcome and the effects of counseling and how each of the individual feel and any concerns they may have, then we can hope to achieve their goals.