The social aspect of health is a crucial element that needs appropriate attention to achieve the general wellbeing of individuals and communities. Consequently, experts in the social sciences fields have a task of ensuring everybody including the vulnerable are accorded proper attention and resources for their social lives. For example, psychologists study a client’s behavioral and emotional patterns to determine aspects that need to be changed in one’s life to have good health. Similarly, social workers focus on ensuring both individuals and groups in communities can meet their basic needs. However, these two professionals among others in social related fields need to work with social and human service assistance to ensure their goals and objectives are achieved. One of the similarities between the three professions is their duty to identify the challenges affecting their clients and recommending solutions or making referrals. Additionally, they are all required to be empathetic and having elaborate communication skills to effectively attend to various challenges in communities. However there are major differences such of them being the education requirements and payment rates. Whereas social and human service assistants only need high school diplomas for entry level positions, social workers are required to have bachelor’s degree in related courses and psychologists need at least a master’ degree. Similarly, social and human service assistants earn the lowers income annually while psychologists earn the highest among the three professionals.
Introduction
The social aspect life is one element that humans cannot do without because they were created to actively interact with others. Consequently, over the years there has been a steady rise of professionals who try to ensure that people coexist peacefully in communities. Therapists, nurses, doctors, counselors, and psychologists are examples of experts who are equipped to improve the wellbeing of societies. However, these individuals need help from other professionals who are closer to members of communities than they are, and these are social and human service assistants. This group is trained to serve clients in various capacities such as family support and rehabilitation. Collaboration of professionals is crucial to the success of any industry. It is, therefore, important to compare and contrast various components of social and human service assistants with social workers and psychologists to understand how the three groups work together to improve the wellbeing of societies.
Responsibilities and Duties
As their title suggests, social and human service assistants help other workers in meeting the needs of clients and those of the communities in various capacities. First, since they interact with clients more than others, they have a duty of determining the kind of aid different clients need before referring them to specific professionals who can then attend to the identified issue. Secondly, they work as coordinators, particularly in the development of the best treatment plans by working collaboratively with professionals and the clients who need help (National Human Services, n.d.). Finally, these groups of experts help clients in paperwork-related processes needed when applying for various programs and also monitor their progress they are receiving the services as required.
Social workers are not so different from social and human service assistants because they also interact with members of the community more often and at personal levels. One of their major responsibilities is to make referrals, which link an individual or family to the required resources. Additionally, they have to ensure that the clients are fully receive the services they need and that they are satisfied. Secondly, the professionals are also expected to work as human rights activists by convincing the concerned bodies the type of resources people need in society (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). The main focus of social workers is always on the vulnerable who lack the voice to speak out their needs. Finally, the experts act as educators and teach people on various life skills such as effective communication and budgeting.
A psychologist is more of a mental doctor who focuses on an individual’s personal strengths, experiences, supports needs, behavior, and emotions in treating them. The professional is tasked with providing primary care through diagnostic interventions and behavioral health promotion. Secondly, the conduct psychological assessments and give equivalent treatments depending on the group of patients from children to individuals with special needs (O-Net Online, n.d.). It is their duty to identify the psychological needs of the different categories and advice accordingly. Finally, they are supposed to work in collaboration with other professionals such as social workers to understand the backgrounds of their patients before settling on the best therapies.
Education Requirements and Professional Competencies
For an entry-level position, social and human service assistants are required to have a minimum of a high school diploma. This is because it is a practical job and most of the training often happens on the field. However, employers still prefer workers with theoretical content and therefore advocate for applicants who also have associate degrees or certificates. Students who wish to join the profession can attend community colleges, vocational training centers, and four-year colleges. Individuals who have gone through the education requirements have a chance of bachelor’s degree and later become licensed social workers.
Additionally, there are various professional standards and competencies required of a social and human service assistant. First, the professionals are expected to be good speakers and active listeners. This is crucial because they interact with a lot of diverse clients and it is necessary for them to communicate effectively. Secondly, they are to exercise social perceptiveness by understanding others’ reactions and responding appropriately (National Human Services, n.d.). Coordination is another important skill a social and human service assistant should have because they collaborate with various professionals in meeting a client’s needs.
To become a social worker, an individual needs to at least have a bachelor’s degree from a certified learning institution. However, employers prefer experts with master’s degree because they have interacted with several projects and possess more knowledge in the field. Additionally, it is imperative that the professionals receive operating licenses due to the nature of their job. There are a lot of similarities between the skills and competencies expected form a social worker and those of social and human service assistant. First, the expert should be able to empathize with others because the nature of the job demands that they interact with diverse individuals particularly the vulnerable ones (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). Secondly, it is imperative that they have impeccable verbal and non-verbal communication skills. It is important social workers understand how to interact with other professionals in an official capacity and do the same with informally with clients. Communication also entails active listening because it is necessary that they are keen enough to identify people’s needs.
Of all the three professions, individuals who wish to be psychologists require the highest level of education qualification with a minimum of a master’s degree. However, a doctorate degree is also a needed for those experts who want to practice counseling psychology and get clinical licenses to do the same (O-Net Online, n.d.). Regarding professional standards and competencies, it is important that psychologists have the capability of applying practical and theoretical psychological knowledge. Additionally, because this is a part of the medical field, it is imperative that the experts are equipped with research skills to be familiar with current interventions and therapies. Psychologists also need to have exceptional communication skills which include sensitive listening considering they handle issues that are often confidential. Finally, most people who visit psychologists are always in distress and therefore the professionals need to empathize with their clients.
Typical Work Settings, Income and Outlook
Majority of social and human service assistants work all-day and some of them even work at night and during weekends. It is also worth noting that the professionals or not attached to a specific setting. They can be found in offices, shelters, hospitals, clinics, and group homes because the nature of their job demands that they move around visiting communities in search of clients. Very few of them can be found in workrooms because they are in charge of various social-based programs. The approximated annual wage for social and human service assistants is $36,060 with highest earners receiving at least $54,230. The rate of employment in the industry is predicted to grow 17 percent by 2029 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). This is due to the increased number of treatment programs for drug offenders and addicts.
Like social and human service assistants, social workers operate in various environments. They can be found in schools, hospitals and clinics, community development agencies, settlement houses, and child welfare. In most cases, this group of professionals work full time and may work for extra hours during holidays and weekends. The average annual pay for social workers is $50,470 with the lowest earner getting $31,790 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). Generally, the projected employment growth among professionals in the industry by 2029 is 13 percent. The rate is faster compared to other occupations because it is a broad field in need of more competent experts.
Psychologists work in various settings with some of them focusing on independent researches and counseling of patients. Others prefer operating under healthcare teams and collaborating with other professionals to develop elaborate treatment plans. Experts in private practice are flexible and often work on a part time basis setting their own office hours. Other the other hand, those in public institutions work with full-time schedules and can have weekend shifts as well. Psychologists are among top income earners with an average annual wage of $80,370 with less than 10 percent of the professionals below $45,380. Moreover, the employment rate in the industry is expected to grow by 3 percent by 2029 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). There is a growing demand for psychological experts in hospitals, schools, and social service agencies.
Conclusion
There are significant similarities and differences in the three professions based on the various characteristics of the individual fields. For instance, all the experts have a responsibility of identifying the challenges facing the clients before making the necessary recommendations. However, since social workers and human service assistants interact more with members of communities, they often make referrals while psychologists conduct evaluations and suggest interventions. The other similarity is in duties is that they all need to work collaboratively with other professionals to identify the specific needs of clients and allocate the best resources. The main differences between the three fields is in the educational requirements and the wages. The minimum qualifications for a social and human service assistant is high school diploma while that of a social worker is a bachelor’s degree and a psychologist, master’s degree or a doctorate. Although, there are contrasting features among the professionals, all have them have the main duty of working together to meet the needs of clients and communities at large.
References
Clinical and Counseling Psychologists. O-Net Online. Web.
The National Organization for Human Services. What is Human Services? National Human Services. Web.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook. Web.