The selected human service organisation is the CARE Australia. CARE Australia is a non-profit organisation that is set as a secular humanitarian agency that offers help in the form of disaster relief and tries to mitigate issues associated with global poverty, especially in developing countries. CARE Australia is one among the 12 members of CARE International which is among the world's largest international agencies that provide emergency aid, and take part in development programs across the world (CARE Australia, n.d.). The organisation was founded in 1987, and the community donation mainly funds it, in addition to the support that it receives from the government, World Health Organisation and European Union (CARE Australia, n.d.). Though the institution was founded with the aim of mainly offering aid to the communities in Australia, a significant percentage of its total revenues go to overseas projects in developing countries.
The main aim of CARE Australia is to serve people and communities in the underdeveloped regions around the world. They achieve this by strengthening the communities’ aptitude for self-help so that they do not solely rely on the government for help. The organisation also offers economic opportunities to individuals so that they can become self-reliant. Additionally, CARE Australia delivers relief typically in times of emergencies, take part to part to influence policy decisions, and addresses issues regarding discrimination of any sort that hinders the development of an individual, a group of people or community (CARE Australia, n.d.). Most of their development projects include agriculture and food security, education, health, economic development, nutrition and environmental health.
The Role of the Human Service Professional and the Knowledge and Skills Required
The primary role of a human service professional in the field of environmental and disaster work is to promote enhanced service delivery systems through addressing the quality of both direct and indirect services as well as seek to improve the accountability, accessibility and coordination among the agency and the professionals. The other role of the human service professional in the selected field of practice s to help people and communities to function well in their various domains of living by enhancing their living conditions or creating opportunities that would improve their living conditions.
The knowledge and skills required in environmental and disaster work broadly fall within the framework of the requirement in the other fields of practice. Nonetheless, to be specific, the following six statements highlight the essential competencies required for the human service professional to serve in the selected category.
1. The person must have a precise understanding nature of the human systems and how people majorly interact. The professional must, therefore, go through a preparation that will help them in understanding human development, social dynamics, and appreciating social differences.
2. The person must have background knowledge regarding how to promote or limit optimal functioning and deviation that happen from the desired functioning of vital human systems.
3. The person must possess skills necessary for identifying and selecting the right interventions that help in promoting growth and achievement of goals. This will enable the individual to carry out a competent problem assessment and select strategies that can help the concerned group.
4. The individual should also have the planning, implementing and evaluation skills as this will be important when designing a plan of action.
5. The human service professional should have the aptitude to process skills that are necessary for planning and implementing services in areas such as oral and verbal communication, and interpersonal relationships.
Knowledge, Values and Skills That Support Working with Culturally Diverse Clientele
Working with people from different backgrounds can be a challenge as it demands that a person maintain a professional attitude to avoid creating chances of prejudice or bias of any form. It is thus essential that the person possesses some knowledge, values and skills that will support working with the culturally diverse group. First, the person needs to have adequate interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Interpersonal skill is necessary for understanding how to create an ambience that fosters a positive relationship between the professional and the targeted group (Longhofer " Floersch, 2013). However, at the same time, it is essential to understand oneself better as this will help the individual recognise his or her strengths when dealing with culturally diverse clientele. Besides these, the person needs to be culturally competent. Cultural competence helps people to value diversity by accepting and respecting the existing differences in the cultures (Bernal " Adames, 2017). Therefore, this brings together cultural knowledge and cultural sensitivity. The person needs to have the capacity to adhere to the clientele’s community values to enable him or her work with the targeted group of people. Additionally, the human service professional must have social work values such as service, social justice, integrity and human relationships (Bernal " Adames, 2017). These help in establishing moral foundations and summarise the ethical principles.
Potential Ethical Dilemmas
When working with a culturally diverse group, it is essential to understand that there are often ethical dilemmas that a professional might encounter and these, in turn, might affect their relationship with the group of communities that he or she is interacting with for a period (Cherniss, 1991). Among the potential ethical dilemmas is confidentiality. The human service professional is always obligated to protect the confidentiality of the clients to avoid creating conflicts (Bernal " Adames, 2017). However, in a case where the client takes an action that threatens his safety or that of others, the health service professional will be caught up in a dilemma. The other ethical dilemma is the moral beliefs. Many times people share different ideas regarding various principles of life such as perspective towards abortion. Conflict with the client to make their decisions and that might not align with the principles of the human service professional can affect the relationship between the two parties. Lastly, the other ethical dilemma relates to dual relationships (Cherniss, 1991). Social works are often required to maintain a professional relationship with the clients. However, in certain circumstances, the client might motivate the worker to expand their relationship into personal areas thus affecting the ethical principles of working.
Professional Code of Ethics in Practice
The professional code of ethics in practice guides the human service professional on how to work with the given group of individuals. The main significant code of ethics states that the person must always maintain the best interest of the clients as the primary obligation (Cherniss, 1991). Secondly, the professional should always respect the intrinsic worth of an individual that he or she is serving and have a professional relationship with them (Cherniss, 1991). Additionally, the work should by no means exploit the relationship with the clients for personal gain or gratification (Cherniss, 1991). Lastly, the human service professional should never offer work services in a manner that discredits his or her professional work and diminishes the public’s interests (Cherniss, 1991). All these ensure that the clients are protected from wrong practices.
References
Bernal, G., " Adames, C. (2017). Cultural Adaptations: Conceptual, Ethical, Contextual, and Methodological Issues for Working with Ethnocultural and Majority-World Populations. Prevention Science, 18(6), 681-688. doi: 10.1007/s11121-017-0806-0
CARE Australia. Who We Are - CARE Australia. Retrieved from https://www.care.org.au/who-we-are/
Cherniss, C. (1991). Career Commitment in Human Service Professionals: A Biographical Study. Human Relations, 44(5), 419-437. doi: 10.1177/001872679104400501
Cooper, D., " Wisbey, M. (2003). "Real World" Ethics: Frameworks for Educators and Human Service Professionals. Journal Of College Student Development, 44(6), 864-865. doi: 10.1353/csd.2003.0064
Longhofer, J., " Floersch, J. (2013). Values in a Science of Social Work. Research On Social Work Practice, 24(5), 527-534. doi: 10.1177/1049731513511119
