My_Beliefs

My Beliefs, Values, and Clinical Gestalt Kris Halverson BSHS/322 Shawn Miller June 25, 2011 Responses This paper will discuss my responses to my text exercises and journal entries for week one and two. It will discuss what type of client I find hard to accept, my clinical repose, and what type of human service staff I may have trouble working with Human Services The field of Human Services is a broadly defined one, uniquely approaching the objective of meeting human needs through an interdisciplinary knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of service populations. The Human Services profession is one which promotes improved service delivery systems by addressing not only the quality of direct services, but by also seeking to improve accessibility, accountability, and coordination among professionals and agencies in service delivery, according to Edgecombe( Human service workers job, para. 1 ). For me, human services means helping people obtain the resources they need to live a productive life. Beliefs and Values I have many beliefs and values that I learned as a child and have learned some new ones as an adult. I believe in being fair and never judging others by race, gender, or economics. This does not mean that I do not fail when it comes to stereotypes. I have changed many of my beliefs since becoming a substance abuse counselor. I believe that people with addictions need our help and should not be thrown aside. Growing up I believed that drug addicts were useless and a waste of economic resources. My other beliefs that have changed are with the homeless, elderly, and mentally challenged individuals. Growing up I was raised to believe that we are all equals and should help others in need. My mother, who was an alcoholic, would bring strangers in need home with her. There was always someone new in the house and they would never stay long enough for me to get to know them. At Christmas, she would ask us if we would be willing to give up our presents for a child that needed them more. My parents had trouble putting food on the table at times but would find a way to help others. This upbringing convinced me that I needed to help others. I truly believed for a long time that I was born for that duty. When I went off to college, I learned a valuable lesson in life. I learned I couldn’t save the whole world like most 18 yr olds think they can. I realized I couldn’t save someone if they didn’t want to be saved and then I realized I needed to save myself. When I put myself back into school many years later I learned I could help guide a person to save them, and I only needed to help one person and my job was done. I had forgotten that once again I needed to save myself before I could help others. In my education we started working on our self awareness, and I did everything I could to avoid looking at myself. In the end, with a lot of help, I learned who I was and I was ready to help others. Clinical Gestalt In exercise 2.3, I looked at what needed to be done more than who the person is. I didn’t worry about gender, age, or heritage. I believe this is because I was generalizing them. In exercise 2.4, more information was given about their back grounds. After reading this I felt foolish because I did not consider that someone might be lesbian or mentally challenged. I automatically prioritized what should be done to help them instead of waiting until I received more information. Immediate and Larger Systems Context Large context is something that includes economics, social, political, and religious forces and institutions and even globally. In exercise 3.11 I used poor economy, poor job market and the legal system as my larger system context. Recently what has been holding me back from obtaining my goals is that I can not seem to get a job in this state because of these issues. Immediate context is something that refers to the personal circumstances. As the immediate I used living arrangements, and unemployed. These two items are what frustrates me the most. Immediate context is always intertwined with the larger systems context. Clients In exercise 4.3 I ordered the type of client that would affect me the most. A person who is a religious zealot seems to give me the most trouble. I have found that I am not strong on religion and they frustrate me to the point of wanting to give my opinion. I know that this is my hardest client and the client seems to sense that from me. Because religion is so hard for me, clergymen are the next hardest for me. I feel beneath them and have a hard time helping them. What I feel is the easiest is clients who hate professionals, transsexuals, and gay adolescents. I believe that these are easy for me because I have many friends that deal with these issues. I also have an open mind when it comes to sexual orientation. People who hate professionals usually are just afraid or suffer from low self esteem. This usually can be taken care of in a few minutes when they realize that the counselor or human service worker is human just like they are. Addicted mothers are what make me the saddest. I have had many clients that are addicted mothers and they are worried about their babies and their drugs. A person can see the turmoil on a persons face when they are facing this issue. Some sobering statistics about women according Working Mother magazine are: the number of women ages 30–44 who abuse alcohol has doubled over the past decade, women are 55% more likely than men to be prescribed anti-anxiety medication, 5.3 million women in the United States drink in a way that threatens their safety, health and well-being and prescription drug abuse has risen over the past decade by 400 percent, and 4.6 million women in the US are alcoholics (Addicted Moms Chilling Stats). I have been told that my clinical repose is calm and relaxing. Because I have so much experience working with many different types of people, I usually am not bothered by anything. People say that I am very comforting and make them feel relaxed. This of course was not always the case and I have had to work on my repose and presence. References Edge Combe.  Human service workers. Retrieved from http://www.edgecombe.edu/academics/sevice/hmnserv/humanities/human%20ser vices%20workers.htm Murphey, B., & Dillon, C. (2003). Interviewing in Action:Relationship, process, and change. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix ebook Collection. Working Mothers. Retrieved from http://www.workingmothers.com