Challenges of Human and Social Services Professionals in National and International Contexts

Importance of addressing national and international challenges

Discussion: National and International Challenges Human services professionals who focus on rectifying human rights violations, social problems, mental health, or welfare needs often do so on a national and international level. In the national and international sphere, there is a great need for social change agents, leaders, and advocates on behalf of human rights, as well as for other issues. Attempting to address these issues at the national and international levels presents a unique set of challenges for human services professionals.

Select one national and one international challenge related to human and social services professions and/or the roles and responsibilities of human and social services professionals anywhere in the world. These should be challenges you or a professional might face when attempting to address issues at the national and international levels, such as professional recognition, apathy, or cultural barriers. Think about why addressing these challenges is important to the profession, as well as what difference its resolution or improvement might make. With these thoughts in mind: By Day 4 Post a brief description of the national and international challenges you selected.

Explain why addressing these challenges is important to the profession and what difference their resolution or improvement might make. Be specific and provide examples to illustrate your points. Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

Planning as a waste of time Definition and description of a plan The process of planning Logic models Reasons for planning Degree of planning necessary Planning foundations: vision, mission, and values  Four levels of planning Range of elements in an ideal plan Critical planning factors Values-driven planning Images of potentiality  Brainstorming Criteria for good goals ↪ Relationship of systems theory to planning ↪ Force field analysis Asset identification and use ↪ Stakeholders Indicators of success and trouble Monitoring and evaluation Evaluation steps 20/20 hindsigh Obstacles to effective planning and ways to deal with them Planning is a waste of time. You put in hours of endless discussion. You argue over subtle nuances of five-letter words buried in the middle of the third paragraph on the second page. And then, when you are finally done, the plan sits on the shelf, never to be looked at again. Planning is a waste of time. Don't you agree?

Well, if this is what planning is, then yes, it is a waste of time. Then again, lack of planning will almost certainly be a waste of time. Talking about what you want to do is not enough. You need to make decisions looks like, and you must take actions to get you there. You know that you need to hear the voices of the people who have a stake in the outcome, particularly the voices of those whom the change is intended to benefit. So what do you do?

Examples of challenges faced by human and social services professionals

Let's start by recognizing that planning is necessary but that it also can be a colossal waste of time. To understand planning as a useful activity and to use it to increase the effectiveness of your change effort, you need the answers to a few questions. First of all, just what is a plan, and what, for that matter, is planning?

Next, why should you plan at all? What benefit does it provide? Assuming you have gotten sufficiently good answers to encourage your further inquiry, you will probably want to know how much planning you need or don't need to do. Now down to brass tacks. How do you plan?

What are some useful planning models? What else do you need to know or at least think about when you are getting ready to plan? And, finally, what are some basic obstacles to planning, and how do you confront them? Let's take a look at each of these.

The community is the context of your action, and power gives strength and purpose to your concerns. Planning puts that concentrated power to use by providing the approach and direction for your actions. The approach to planning described in this chapter refers to the steps you take to initiate and implement a community change. The procedures used in planning for the continued development of an existing social service agency or to generate a broad community plan may need to address other factors beyond the scope of this text, although certain perspectives offered here may be of some benefit in those situations as well.

A plan is a set of decisions made on actions to be taken to reach a goal. It is the product of the process of planning, an active process that is the opposite of simply allowing events to unfold. A plan can be said to exist when a point in the process has been reached where a coherent set of operations designed to meet a given goal has been determined with sufficient clarity that they may be acted on (Mayer, 1985; Perlman & Gunn, 1972; Weinbach, 1990). Let's take that apart. Determining a coherent set of operations to reach a given goal means that you have made decisions on a number of things to do (and not to do) and that these actions are related to one another and are directed to whatever it is you want to accomplish.

These actions need to be sufficiently clear so that you know just what to do. Therefore, you have a plan when you have proceeded far enough in your consideration of possible courses of action that you know what it is you need to do to accomplish your purpose and you are ready to act. A plan can be a very formal document, or it can simply be the clear understanding of the actions you are to undertake. If it is at all possible, it is helpful to write down your plans. Berkowitz (1982) pointed out that the very act of getting something down in black and white can clarify your thoughts. Seeing your ideas on paper or your computer screen also makes them seem more real, thus strengthening your own motivation. Planning is the process, the series of steps you take to gather information and make decisions to determine your plan.

Here are the steps in this process: Decide what you want to achieve. Gather information that has a bearing on your situation. Identify what you have that you can use and what might be getting in your way. Select actions to be taken within a given period of time to use what you have to overcome obstacles and move you in the desired direction. Determine specific tasks. Establish responsibility. Analyze the outcome of your intentions and actions. Modify your plan. I should probably clear up an important point about planning right now you never stop planning. Of course, you are not going to spend all your time planning. Aside from the fact that such a prospect is dreadfully dreary, it isn't very productive. You are, however, going to continue to spend part of your time in planning. Planning is an ongoing process.

The only way to get a plan is to get all the information about your situation and then keep the world from changing at all. Of course, this is impossible. You have a plan as soon as you have decided what to do about the situation you are facing. You will always be tinkering with your plan, modifying it to meet changing conditions and to take account of additional information. Your plan is a living document. You can't plan for everything, so don't try to, and don't pretend to try to.