When An Anthropologist Supervises Human Services Field Placements

1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-14
Author(s):  
Therese Dillon Warden

A strategic use of modified ethnography by Human Service field placement students' functions to raise the students' awareness regarding the existence, as well as characteristics and purposes of values and value systems in Human Services Organizations. The advent and growth of thousands of Human Service agencies in every community in the U.S., in conjunction with the paraprofessional movement in the sixties, has necessitated the parallel development of a corresponding career ladder. Field placements or internships have evolved as an integral part of education for individuals entering the Human Services field. Their philosophical and pragmatic development has been influenced in all phases by individuals from a multitude of disciplines. Social anthropologists have a great deal to offer the Human Services field and, in this instance, input into a rational protocol for a field placement regimen.

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Rathgeb Smith ◽  
Susan D. Phillips

AbstractNonprofit human service agencies are an essential part of the social safety net and their role in many policy fields such as community care, workforce development, and disability services is growing. The funding, delivery and entire configuration of human services systems is in transition in the US, as in many other countries, albeit with great variation depending upon local and regional circumstances. Consequently, nonprofit human service agencies need to develop sustainable program and business models that are also responsive to the heightened expectations on transparency and accountability. In addition, policymakers and government officials will need to work closely with nonprofit human service agencies in order to ensure effective and efficient service delivery. Drawing on evidence from the policy and nonprofit literatures, this brief offers a set of hypotheses about the implications, and possible paradoxes, for the nonprofit sector that are likely to emerge from the increasingly competitive environment among service providers and corresponding pressure by public and private funders for more collaboration among agencies. We explore both public policy for nonprofits in human services and strategic responses by this sector, considering the first order effects designed to enable nonprofits to adapt to a reconfigured model, and the second order effects in which governments and nonprofits address the consequences of the first round. These effects are likely to vary by organizational size and by service field, resulting in quite different outcomes and relationships with government for large multi-service agencies and those in highly regulated fields such as child protection versus small nonprofits, particularly in fields such as community care with closer connections to the informal sector.


2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 236-240
Author(s):  
Rachael Sanders

AbstractAs a way of restricting the spread of COVID-19, methods of social distancing were instituted in most places that people gather, including workplaces. As such, human service agencies have implemented novel ways of delivering services to clients, with a common method being telehealth. For some practitioners this was unchartered waters and required rapid adaption to their everyday practice. I was interested to hear about their experiences and what useful learning came from it. I spoke, informally, with 13 people across four settings in a regional city in Victoria, asking them about the problems, positive changes and innovations that emerged. There were reports of challenges to overcome as well as benefits that may well become long-lasting. Practitioners adapted quickly and successfully to telehealth, with only minor problems that they managed to iron out quite quickly. They were mindful of people’s differing levels of capacity and access to technology and learned to be gentle and kind to themselves and others as they adapted. Some people came to realise that they like to work from home because it improves their work-life balance. Others, however, are keen to return to the workplace; highlighting the importance for flexibility based on individual circumstances. There was a strong sense of improved communication between agencies as they were better able to connect via telehealth compared with former in-person practices.


1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeheskel Hasenfeld ◽  
Mark A. Chesler

The authors juxtapose autobiographical accounts of their personal and professional lives to examine the interplay of their personas and work in the social sciences. Chesler is an action researcher and change agent who focuses primarily on young people and their parents and on those providing them human services. Hasenfeld is an academic who focuses primarily on relations between clients and human service providers and on the systemic changes needed to improve these relations. They share domain assumptions, particularly a belief in the “good” society based on justice, social equality, and respect for diversity, are committed to improving the life chances of the oppressed and disadvantaged, and believe that empowering the clients of human service agencies is crucial to improving the effectiveness and responsiveness of such organizations.


1998 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Dana

This paper summarizes findings from applications of the Agency Cultural Competence Checklist in three human service agencies. This checklist was developed on the basis of published literature and culture-specific agencies were chosen to document checklist findings in settings known to be culturally competent. As anticipated, all three agencies were culturally competent in attitudes, although the range of services differed. This paper provides some baseline data for using the checklist in mainstream agencies in which predominantly Euro-American providers serve minority populations.


1996 ◽  
Vol 77 (7) ◽  
pp. 403-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryann Amodeo ◽  
Nancy Robb ◽  
Sonith Peou ◽  
Hanh Tran

Southeast Asians are experiencing increasing problems with alcohol and other drug abuse. Because few culturally specific treatment models are available, mainstream substance-abuse programs will increasingly be called on to provide services to clients and consultation to Southeast Asian human service agencies. The authors describe ways that existing mainstream treatment methods may be ineffective and recommend program modifications to increase cultural relevance.


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