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Topic Paper

HHS 497: Health & Human Services Capstone

May 9, 2020

Topic Paper

Major challenges health and human services professionals face in delivering services to homeless people

The topic selected was the major challenges health and human services professionals face in delivering services to homeless people. Housing and homelessness are a persistent topic that must be mitigated by human service professionals. Housing in the US is very expensive, and this contributes to homelessness. The issue affects a lot of people in the US. Homelessness causes behavioral problems, increased violence, substance abuse, and low self-esteem. Homeless people are; therefore, likely to need help in multiple services such as counseling, housing, and financial aid. Human service professionals face various challenges while working with homeless people.

First of all, human service professionals struggle to identify the locations of homeless people. This is because they do not live in a permanent place. They may establish camps in a particular area and move to another place the next day. “Homeless shelters are most often night shelters, where people leave in the morning to do whatever they can manage and return in the evening when the beds in the shelter open up again for sleeping” (Sherraden et al, 2019). Human service professionals only work during the daytime. It is; therefore, difficult to find homeless people because they return to their places in the evening or at night.

An example of a theoretical perspective that explains the topic is the systems theory. This theory applies to the topic of challenges faced by human service professionals because various interactions in the environment cause them. "Systems theory in social work is based on the idea that behavior is influenced by a variety of factors that work together as a system" (Greene, 2017). The factors that work together include economic class, the environment, social settings, family, and friends. These factors may influence how people think and act.

Systems theory provides a complete view of one’s situation in his/her social environment. It applies to situations in which various issues are intricately connected. For example, there are various issues connected to the topic of homelessness and the seeking of healthcare. “The services needed by homeless people such as housing, healthcare, and financial aid are provided by various organizations” (Wirth et al, 2019). Homeless people might also need counseling services, and this adds to the number of people required to help them.

A lack of coordination amongst services by various organizations inhibits service delivery to the homeless people. Healthcare professionals are likely to coordinate poorly while providing services to homeless people. For example, they might not have previous health records of homeless people. This is because it is difficult for them to access healthcare, and they might not have sought healthcare services previously. The insurance providers might not be willing to help homeless people. Lack of healthcare and insurance cover makes it more difficult to help those who are homeless when they face various conditions.

Human service professionals are likely to struggle to work with homeless people due to the potential differences in their language and culture. The professionals can, however, hire people from the same cultures as homeless people to help them in identifying and solving the problems they face. They must establish positive relationships with homeless people to make them comfortable sharing information that will help in diagnosis and treatment. Some homeless people might, however, have criminal records that make it difficult for human service professionals to help them.

This project supports what was learned because it covers various ways in which an issue facing community members would be resolved. The project also analyzes how one would interact with community members especially those who are homeless. It relates to some responsibilities of human service professionals to the clients such as building client strengths and responsibilities to the society such as providing services without discrimination based on one’s culture or race. It also enables the human service provider to normalize respecting cultures and beliefs of various people.

Human service professionals can hire individuals who come from similar cultural backgrounds to homeless people to enhance their level of communication. Since housing is a major problem, human service professionals can push for the establishment of housing programs for homeless people.

References

Greene, R. (2017). Human behavior theory and social work practice. Routledge.

Sherraden, M. S., Birkenmaier, J., & Collins, J. M. (2019). Financial Capability for All: Training Human Service Professionals to Work with Vulnerable Families. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 53(3), 869-876.

Wirth, T., Mette, J., Prill, J., Harth, V., & Nienhaus, A. (2019). Working conditions, mental health, and coping of staff in social work with refugees and homeless individuals: A scoping review. Health & social care in the community, 27(4), e257-e269.