Human and social service work necessarily involves sensitive client issues

Human and social service work necessarily involves sensitive client issues such as poverty, discrimination, lack of access, and medical and mental health needs. Last week you explored some of the particular challenges that may arise during group work, such as greater risks for confidentiality breaches or the skill base needed to work with multiple people at once. Working with communities can present some of the same challenges—and poses some unique ones too.

Conducting work within communities often requires a holistic, preventative, and social justice outlook on community support and success. It also requires coordination of many different stakeholders, both in and out of the community (e.g., policymakers). When successfully implemented, community work allows human and social services professionals to go beyond treatment of individuals to look at the improvements that can be made within the system to treat, solve, and ultimately prevent issues.

For this Discussion, you examine a community scenario for particular ethical considerations that would be most important to consider for the case.

To Prepare:

• Review Chapter 13 in your course text Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions and the NOHS ethical standards, specifically the“Responsibilities to Community and Society” section.
• Consider the New Harbor Community Center scenario in the Interactive Learning Community with Robert Johnson, located in the Weekly Resources.