Question:
Discuss about the Community Service.
Community service can be defined as a type of work done by an individual or a team of individuals for the well-being of other people. Community service can offer help and assistance to any person or group including the physically or mentally handicapped people, adolescents and retired people (Jenson & Fraser, 2011). In addition to this, community service organizations also help the distressed animals and birds. In some cases, community service organizations also perform civic duties, such as renovating buildings of historic importance or cleaning up local recreation grounds and others. Though, the concept of Community service organizations originated in the west, at present, it can be found in most of the countries in the world (Vinson, 2009). This essay outlines the fact to elaborate on the conception of the community service organizations in Australia and the various factors related to the ethos, professional values, social justice, social barriers and theoretical approaches of the community service organizations in Australia.
The community service sector in Australia does not have a proper historical set up like the French or the Canadian community service sector. This is because it had originated at the time of the beginning of the social revolutionary movements in the late nineteenth century. Later, community service sector in Australia evolved around the social rehabilitation of the people belonging to the Aboriginal community in Australia (Purdie, Dudgeon & Walker, 2010). Community service sector in Australia encompasses a broad group of organizations. The types of community service organizations in Australia are:
In Australia, there are both non-governmental community service organizations as well as governmental community service organizations. The governmental community service organizations are the community service organizations, which have been established by an act or the charter of the government. The government oversees and supervises the operations of the organization through their appointed people. These community service organizations are also financially funded by the government (Flatau, 2013). They provide services which such as providing accommodation and financial assistance and others. Examples are Aboriginal Hostels Limited and National Disability Insurance Scheme. The non-governmental organizations are the community service organizations that have been established by the initiative of an individual or a group of individuals with the goal of social welfare in mind. These community service organizations receive funding from the contributions of the public, business magnates, corporate houses and others. They provide services such as rehabilitation, social protection and counseling. Examples are Homelessness NSW and Foster Parent’s Support Network.
There are certain ethos and practices for workers in the Australian human service professions. They are providing good service and social justice to the clients. Clients are people who are in deep need of communal service assistance. The human service workers must respect the self-esteem and honor of the clients. The workers must understand and value the harmony of human kinship. The workers themselves must be person of respectful integrity and nature. The workers must be proficient enough to deliver competent work. The generic knowledge and skills required by most human service workers in Australia are empathy, emotional intelligence, good communication, setting boundaries between personal and professional sphere, mental strength and determination and last, but not the least, the art of tolerance (Lawrence, 2016). Empathy and emotional intelligence are required by a human service worker to understand the grievances of the clients in a profound manner. Good communication skills are required by a human service worker to understand the exact context of the problem and to provide assuring support verbally. A human service worker must know to separate the professional life from personal life and should not involve oneself too personally with the situation of the client. Mental strength and determination are required by a human service worker to effectively handle the case of a client without stressing oneself. In order to become a good human service worker, an individual must be tolerant of all racial, economical and social class, because human service workers are supposed to serve clients of all color, background and religion (Ife, 2008). Overall, human service workers must possess the required generic knowledge of listening to the client, empathizing with the client and then delivering situation-specific productive solutions and assistances. There are some instances where the specialist skill and knowledge of human service workers are needed. The sectors of mental health, counseling, child welfare and substance abuse require the human service workers, working there, to have the specialist skills.
There are certain professional values, which are essential in the community service and human service practice in Australia. They are accountability, rectitude, responsibility, continuous development, learning, and having the ability to work in teams (Dubois & Mile, 2013). The human service and community service workers must hold the accountability and responsibility of any work performed by them. They must have the rectitude to think morally. They must always have the thirst for acquiring further knowledge and learning so that they could enhance their understanding of the work. Finally, the community and human service workers must have the ability to deliver exceptional performance by working harmoniously in teams because community service work is a team-based work. Social justice is the concept of having unbiased and equitable associations between the people and the social community. In the field of community service work, social justice is an important notion (Sue, Rushed & Rushed, 2015). Provision of social justice is the primary function and motive in a community service organization. The social worker must work to provide social justice to the battered and oppressed clients. Social barriers are unavoidable in the Australian community service sector. Both the clients and the community service workers face certain social barriers in their line of work. For example, people hold certain negative perceptions against mental illness. Community service workers face social opposition when they come to offer professional aid or a helping hand to a mentally ill person. Similarly, when a mentally ill person seeks professional community service treatment, he or she is vehemently dissuaded against doing so by the family members, friends or the society, at large (Swan et al., 2013). In addition to this, certain people in the society have the false understanding that community service work is not a constructive line of work. It is thought to be a waste of time and useless. It offers nothing, but hollow affirmation. Above are some of the social barriers faced by the community service sector and the clients in Australia. These social barriers exist due to people’s ignorance, incomprehension and a lack of knowledge for the community service work.
There are certain theoretical approaches that exist in professional community service work. They are:-
The aforementioned theoretical approaches to professional community work helps to make the work of the community service workers well ordered and effortless (Payne, 2015).
In the conclusion, it can be said that the community service sector in Australia is ever evolving and dynamic. The government in Australia has further taken the initiative to make the community service sector accessible to all the communities in Australia. The sector of community service must be adopted by every country in the world for the social well-being and welfare of the residents of the country. Community service sector performs the crucial work of providing helpful assistance to the aggrieved people of a country. Doing this, the community service sector saves the life of millions and helps to prevent the occurrence of unfortunate incidents, such as suicides. Community service sector helps to increase the social mobility of a country, directly and the life standard of its people. indirectly. Community service sector helps to erase all sorts of discrimination, prevalent in a society and helps all the citizens in a country to lead a beautiful and content life.
References
DuBois, B. L., & Miley, K. K. (2013). Social work: An empowering profession. Pearson Higher Ed.
Flatau, P., Conroy, E., Spooner, C., Edwards, R., Eardley, T., & Forbes, C. (2013). Lifetime and intergenerational experiences of homelessness in Australia.
Ife, J. (2008). Human rights and social work: Towards rights-based practice. Cambridge University Press.
Jenson, J. M., & Fraser, M. W. (Eds.). (2011). Social policy for children and families: A risk and resilience perspective. Sage.
Lawrence, R. J. (2016). Professional social work in Australia. ANU Press.
Payne, M. (2015). Modern social work theory. Oxford University Press.
Purdie, N., Dudgeon, P., & Walker, R. (2010). Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice.
Sue, D. W., Rasheed, M. N., & Rasheed, J. M. (2015). Multicultural social work practice: A competency-based approach to diversity and social justice. John Wiley & Sons.
Swain, J., French, S., Barnes, C., & Thomas, C. (Eds.). (2013). Disabling barriers-enabling environments. Sage.
Vinson, T. (2009). Markedly socially disadvantaged localities in Australia: Their nature and possible remediation. Australian government publication accessed at https://www. socialinclusion. gov. au/resources/aust-govt-publications.
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