This chapter provides definitions and concepts related to the field of human services. It discusses how human services aims to help individuals, families, and communities cope with problems and promote well-being. The chapter outlines three basic concepts in human services: intervention, professionalism, and education. It also discusses the generalist roles of human service workers in helping clients and delivering services. Finally, the chapter examines the social ideology of human services and how it relates to ideas about individual rights and responsibilities in society.

1. CHAPTER 1 BASIC CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS OF
HUMAN SERVICES
PAUL F. CIMMINO
This chapter is dedicated to the development of basic
definitions that describe and identify human services. However,
any attempt to define human services in one sentence, or to use
one description, is doomed to fail. According to Schmolling,
Youkeles, and Burger, there is no generally accepted or
“official” definition of human services (, p. 9). Human services
is a multidisciplinary profession that reflects complex human
interactions and a comprehensive social system. To understand
human services, it is important to develop ideas that construct
an organized perspective of the field. In this chapter, three
general questions about human services are incorporated into
the text. First, “What is it, and what isn’t it?” Second, “Who is
helped and why?” Third, “How is help delivered and by whom?”
These fundamental questions tend to exemplify the basic
concepts and definitions in human services. This chapter
proceeds to introduce important terms, definitions, subconcepts,
and concentration areas in human services, which are
expounded upon by a host of authors who have contributed their
expertise to create this book.
The professional field of human services can be reduced to
three basic concepts: intervention (needs and
services); professionalism (applied practice and credentialing);
and education (academic training and research). Each basic
concept comprises important aspects of the human service field
and identifies primary areas of the profession. The supporting
background that nourishes intervention,
professionalism, and education in human services is the history
of the human service movement (Fullerton, ). The formal
development of human services in society is located in the
legislative, training, and service history of the field. This
chapter attempts to offer a collective understanding of these

2. important areas related to the professional development of
human services. In this chapter, basic concepts and definitions
converge to generate a comprehensive and theoretical notion of
human services in forming an overview of the field. To further
assist the reader in developing thoughts about the human service
profession, and to avoid ambiguity in the field, a medley of
contemporary definitions of human services is presented later in
the chapter.
Finally, an important letter written by Dr. Harold McPheeters in
1992, which addresses the basic question of what comprises
human services, is presented to close the chapter. McPheeters’s
letter was sent in response to a manuscript written by me in
1991. The paper proposes an idealistic model that defines
human services in terms of its purpose and professional
responsibility in society. Later in the chapter, the central ideas
are summarized, providing an orientation to the thoughtful
feedback from Harold McPheeters. In my view, his written
response conveys landmark perspectives in development of the
emerging human service field. Thus, the ideas stemming from
my paper and McPheeters’s response invite a
judicious overview of this chapter for the reader’s developing
knowledge of human services.
THE BASIC CONCEPT OF PURPOSE IN HUMAN SERVICES
Human services is a term that reflects the need for society to
help its members live adequate and rewarding lives (Eriksen, ).
The human service field encompasses a variety of functions and
characteristics. Human service activity is the act of people
helping other people meet their needs in an organized social
context. Thus, the human service function is a process of
directed change taking place as the result of interaction between
human service workers, clients, and organizations. Ideally, the
changes human service workers attempt to facilitate are
intended to assist clients in achieving optimum human potential.
In order to help a variety of people in this fashion, the human
service worker trains as a generalist and must be familiar with
various approaches in the helping process (Schmolling,

3. Youkeles, and Burger, , p. 146).
The human service orientation to helping people recognizes that
clients are an intricate part of their environment. Today, the
need for human services in society is obvious. Human services
has emerged in response to the increase of human problems in
our modern world (Mehr, ). The complications of living in a
rapidly changing society causes massive stress on human
beings. Often people are unable to meet their own basic needs
due to harsh social conditions and oppression (Ryan, ).
Socialization for many individuals is deprived or detrimental
relative to basic life needs. The problems people experience can
be rooted in family backgrounds, education, economics, disease,
disability, self-concepts, or legal matters. The human service
model acknowledges these conditions as primary factors in
human dysfunction but not necessarily predictors of a person’s
capacity. The human service ideology of helping people focuses
on the immediate needs and presenting problems of the client.
This approach does not prejudge clients and recognizes that any
person in need of human services is a legitimate consumer of
services. By the same token, human services practice attempts
to relieve human suffering while promoting independence from
the human service system.
The conceptual evolution of human services as a professional
helping process stems from historical movements in the field.
The history of the human service movement is addressed in a
later chapter. However, it is useful to mention the significance
of this history in the development of a functional human service
concept. The predecessors of today’s human service and social
welfare systems were social reforms in England, which were
particularly established in the Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1601.
Prior to this legislation, the church assumed responsibility to
relieve the poor and served in the capacity of a public agency
(Woodside and McClam, , pp. 38–43). Legislation stemming
from the Elizabethan Poor Laws, and the Law of Settlement
added sixty years later, initiated the idea of compulsory taxation
to raise funds to help the needy and established eligibility

4. requirements for recipients (Woodside and McClam, , pp. 42–
43). These early developments in English social reform and
legislation more than 350 years ago are bridges to contemporary
human services in the United States.
The impact of social and legislative changes during the 1950s,
1960s, and 1970s fostered the creation of human services as it
exists today (Woodside and McClam, , p. 41). The response to
deinstitutionalization in the 1960s, coupled with influences of
the civil rights movement along with a series of related
legislation, resulted in the creation of a new “human service
worker.” Examples of important legislation in the development
of contemporary services are the Manpower Development
Training Act of 1962, the Mental Health Study Act of 1955, the
Social Security Amendments of 1962, the Scheuer Sub-
professional Career Act of 1966, and the Community Mental
Health Centers Act of 1963. Such legislation promoted the
human service movement of the 1960s and 1970s, whereby a
process ensued creating opportunities for training programs and
progressive development in human service education.
Consequently, a blend of agency services, social policies,
academic programs, professional practice development, and
people working together for social change formulate the helping
process called human services.
HUMAN SERVICE INTERVENTION
· Human Services Intervention is defined as a broad field of
human endeavor in which the professional acts as an agent to
assist individuals, families, and communities to better cope with
crisis, change and stress; to prevent and alleviate stress; and to
function effectively in all areas of life and living. Human
Services Practice is conducted in the broad spectrum of human
services in a manner that is responsive to both current and
future trends and needs for human resource development, and
committed to humanitarian values (Montana State University–
Billings: Catalog 1991–93, Sexton, R., 1987).
The preceding definition of human service intervention reflects
the functional role of the field in society. The amount of public

5. support for human service programs is determined by the state
of the economy (Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger, , p. 24).
Since sufficient funding for human service programs is
inconsistent, fulfilling the mission of effective intervention in
helping clients often fluctuates. Thus, the delivery capability of
human services to the public is unpredictable and frequently
inadequate in providing resources to sufficiently help clients. In
spite of this condition, human service intervention remains
committed to reflecting the values and priorities of society
(Eriksen, , p. 10).
Human service intervention is the bridge between people and
various subsystems in society (Eriksen, , p. 10). The
intervention philosophy of human services reflects humanitarian
values. Eriksen identified the following philosophical principles
as fundamental to the delivery of human services:
· 1. Human services are the embodiment of our national
commitment to building a just society based on respect for
people’s rights and needs.
· 2. Every individual in our society is entitled to services that
will prevent his/her pain, maintain integrity, enable him/her
with realities, stimulate personal growth, and promote a
satisfying life.
· 3. Prevention of people’s problems and discomforts is as
important a part of human services as restitution and
rehabilitation after the fact.
· 4. The integration of human services is crucial to their
effectiveness.
· 5. Human services are accountable to the consumers.
· 6. Human services tasks and goals:
· The paramount goal of human services is to enable people to
live more satisfying, more autonomous, and more productive
lives, through the utilization of society’s knowledge, resources,
and technological innovations. To that end, society’s systems
will be working for its people, putting people before paper
(Eriksen, , pp. 10, 11, 12).
The three primary models in the helping professions are the

6. medical model, public health (social welfare) model, and human
service model. Of these recognized interventions, the human
service model is unique in its view of people, services, and the
social environment as integrated entities. The medical model
and public health models, on the other hand, have an
individualistic orientation to causation relative to people’s
problems. For instance, the medical model concentrates on the
individual, views clients as needing help because they are sick,
and refers to people as patients. The medical model engendered
the discipline of psychiatry at the end of the eighteenth century,
and its history is closely related to the development of the
human service profession. The public health model contends
that individuals have problems that are also linked to social
conditions and views disease as multicausal (Woodside and
McClam, , p. 89). Hypothetically, both these models are based
on determinism, suggesting that disease and social problems are
an individual’s responsibility, not society’s, and if controlled
they
would have less effect on the human condition. The human
service model expects disease and social problems to always
affect the lives of people and focuses on providing services to
help individuals deal with problems stemming from these
conditions. Similarly, by using these models to describe and
approach the problem-solving process, the human service
worker is able to expand resources and systems for service
delivery and intervention.
THE GENERALIST ROLES OF THE HUMAN SERVICE
WORKER
The basic roles human service professionals play in the helping
process were initially developed by the Southern Regional
Education Board (SREB) as part of an effort to produce
functional comparisons to other established professions. The
project also defined four levels of competence (discussed later
in this chapter) to correlate with role functions. The SREB
identified thirteen roles that human service workers perform
that were derived by evaluating the needs of clients, families,

7. and communities (SREB, 1969). These roles include the
following:
· 1.Outreach worker—reaches out to detect people with
problems and can make appropriate referrals for needed
services.
· 2.Broker—helps people get to existing services and provides
follow-up to ensure continued care.
· 3.Advocate—pleads and fights for services, policy, rules,
regulations, and laws for client’s behalf.
· 4.Evaluator—assesses client or community needs and
problems, whether medical, psychiatric, social, or educational.
· 5.Teacher-educator—performs a range of instructional
activities from simple coaching to teaching highly technical
content directed to individuals and groups.
· 6.Behavior changer—carries out a range of activities planned
primarily to change behavior, ranging from coaching and
counseling to casework, psychotherapy, and behavior therapy.
· 7.Mobilizer—helps to get new resources for clients or
communities.
· 8.Consultant—works with other professions and agencies
regarding their handling of problems, needs, and programs.
· 9.Community planner—works with community boards,
committees, and so on to ensure that community developments
enhance self-actualization and minimize emotional stress on
people.
· 10.Caregiver—provides services for persons who need
ongoing support of some kind (i.e., financial assistance, day
care, social support, twenty-four-hour care).
· 11.Data manager—performs all aspects of data handling,
gathering, tabulating, analyzing, synthesizing, program
evaluation, and planning.
· 12.Administrator—carries out activities that are primarily
agency or institution oriented (e.g., budgeting, purchasing, and
personnel activities).
· 13.Assistant to specialist—acts as assistant to specialist (e.g.,
psychiatrist, psychologist, or nurse), relieving them of

8. burdensome tasks.
The framework of the helping process in human services is
characterized by the role functions and structures listed above
and not restricted to frontline workers who provide direct
services; administrators and supervisors also facilitate service
delivery.
THE SOCIAL IDEOLOGY OF HUMAN SERVICES
Eriksen’s principles represent a social ideology about human
services that parallels the needs of an individual living in
society. Social policy advocates who hold humanitarian
perspectives contend the previously mentioned conditions are
individual rights that should be afforded to all people. Many of
these scholars argue that an adequate standard of living is a
constitutional right. However, the U.S. Constitution does not
specify living standards for citizens. To a large extent, the life
standards developed by humanitarian scholars are actually
postulations drawn from language in the U.S. Constitution, the
Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and a variety of
subsequent federal and state civil rights legislation. For
instance, the opening remarks (second paragraph) of the
Declaration of Independence include this statement: “We hold
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.” Similarly, the U.S. Constitution, Amendment XV,
Section 1, states, “The right of citizens of the United States to
vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by
any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.”
One can see how expanding the meaning of this language from
both documents can imply the right to be afforded a certain
quality of life in American society. The degree of social
obligation held by the government in promoting social equity or
empowering people to become self-sufficient has been a
controversial topic among social policy makers and scholars. To
a large extent, the present model of social welfare and human

9. service delivery systems is not functionally consistent with the
idea of society taking responsibility for the problems of its
members. However, the notion of society taking partial
responsibility for its members’ hardships parallels the
professional ideologies promoted in this chapter (Schmolling,
Youkeles, and Burger, , p. 18). To date, social policy relative to
human services remains guided by an ideology of individualism
and community derived from traditional perspectives.
Conservative American values continue to place emphasis on
hard work, perseverance, and self-reliance. Thus emerges the
concept of Americans as rugged individuals who can pull
themselves up by their bootstraps, a concept that remains deeply
embedded in our society. This attitude translates into a
community model of social services that supports programs
dealing only with immediate situations (human problems) and
generally opposes programs that go beyond meeting basic
survival needs (Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger, , pp. 18, 19).
Proactive Human Services
The concept of human services supports the empowerment of
people to become self-sufficient and capable of meeting their
own needs without assistance from human services. Therefore,
human services aims to provide clients the kind of direct
support that facilitates eventual emancipation and prevents a
state of dependency on the system. This kind of assistance is
referred to as the proactive approach to human services. This
form of intervention utilizes strategies that invest in the
prevention of problems and stabilization of client systems into
the future. Ideally, planning beyond the problem to help the
client become socially self-sufficient is the heart of the
professional human service model. However, a crisis-oriented,
pluralistic society that has recently come to recognize the
concept of multicausality and the impact of psychosocial stress
cannot be expected to change from traditional (reactive)
perspectives on human problems to a prevention model or
proactive perspective in a short period of time.
Human service intervention is based in theory on fundamental

10. values about human life that are woven into the fabric of
American heritage and more specifically identified in civil
rights legislation. Professional perspectives of service delivery
to clients recognize a standard of living for all people that
promotes self-reliance, social perseverance, and a sense of
personal gratification in social life. Linked to these values or
life conditions are social values emphasizing certain essential
human needs. Since the human service worker is an agent of
society who advocates for the psychosocial advancement of the
individual, it follows that the human service model is closely
associated with civil rights legislation aimed at helping
deprived population groups. Consequently, the identification of
essential human needs is important for definitions of human
service intervention and the development of basic problem-
solving processes.
THE HUMAN SERVICE IDEOLOGY OF THE INDIVIDUAL
The general notion that problem behaviors are often the result
of an individual’s failure to satisfy basic human needs is a
fundamental principle underlying human service practice. The
human service model places a portion of responsibility on
society for perpetuating social problems that reduce
opportunities for people to be successful. The human service
worker seeks to assist clients to adequately function in the same
system that impairs them. A client may be in need of shelter,
medical attention, transportation, education, food, emotional
support, or legal services. Therefore, as an agent of a larger
system (macrosocial system), the primary focus of the human
service worker is fulfilling the needs of the individual client
(microsocial system). In this sense, the human service worker
becomes an agent of change in the client system, placing the
person first in the value system of the helping
profession (Cimmino, ).
The focus of human service intervention on human needs is an
essential aspect of service delivery. There are numerous
concepts in the literature that propose definitions of human
needs. One concept, developed by Abraham Maslow (), is a self-

11. actualization theory that outlines a hierarchy of human needs
and is applicable to the human service model.
The hierarchy Maslow conceptualized consists of five levels. At
the base are physiological needs for food, shelter, oxygen,
water, and general survival. These conditions are fundamental
to life. When people satisfy these basic survival needs, they are
able to focus on safety needs, which involve the need for a
secure and predictable environment. This may mean living in
decent housing in a safe neighborhood. After safety needs have
been fulfilled, the need for belongingness and love emerges.
This includes intimacy and acceptance from others. When these
three lower-level needs are partly satisfied, esteem
needs develop in the context of the person’s social environment.
This level involves recognition by others that a person is
competent or respected. Most people desire appreciation and
positive reinforcement from others. At the top of the hierarchy
exists the need for self-actualization, having to do with the
fulfillment of a person’s innate potential as a human being.
Maslow perceived self-actualized people as possessing
attributes that are consistent with highly competent and
successful individuals.
Although Maslow is considered a primary figure in humanistic
psychology, there has been subsequent research to test the
validity of his concepts. Follow-up research studies have
produced mixed results; some results demonstrate support
(Neher, ), while others refute the hypotheses (Schmolling,
Youkeles, and Burger, ). Nevertheless, most people do live in a
network of social relationships in which they seek external
gratification in attending to their needs.
Another perspective on human needs is defined by Hansell’s
motivation theory (Schmolling, Youkeles, and Burger, ). This
theory contends that people must achieve seven basic
attachments in order to meet their needs. If a person is
unsuccessful in achieving each attachment, ultimately a state of
crisis and stress will result. Listed below are the seven basic
attachments, accompanied with signs of failure of each one:

12. · 1. Food, water, and oxygen, along with informational supplies.
Signs of failure: boredom, apathy, and physical disorder.
· 2. Intimacy, sex, closeness, and opportunity to exchange deep
feelings. Signs of failure: loneliness, isolation, and lack of
sexual satisfaction.
· 3. Belonging to a social peer group. Signs of failure: not
feeling part of anything.
· 4. A clear, definite self-identity. Signs of failure: feeling
doubtful and indecisive.
· 5. A social role that carries with it a sense of being a
competent member of society. Signs of failure: depression and a
sense of failure.
· 6. The need to be linked to a cash economy through a job, a
spouse with income, social security benefits, or other ways.
Sign of failure: lack of purchasing power, possibly an inability
to purchase essentials.
· 7. A comprehensive system of meaning with clear priorities in
life. Signs of failure: sense of drifting through life, detachment,
and alienation.
Both Maslow’s and Hansell’s ideas about human needs provide
a practical purpose for
human service intervention. Essentially, human service workers
attempt to find ways to help the client satisfy his or her unmet
needs. The definition of the client situation or presenting
problem generally involves evidence of failures indicated
above. Similarly, the identification of problems such as poor
housing, lack of food, fear of neighborhood, detrimental
relationships, and low self-esteem suggests a physical, social,
or psychological crisis that blocks the development of a person
and the ability to function, as implied by Maslow’s and
Hansell’s theories of self-actualization and motivation.
CRISIS INTERVENTION
When human service intervention is required as the result of a
sudden disruption in the life of a client precipitated by a
situational crisis or catastrophic event, crisis intervention is the
consequence. Often, in these circumstances, even those people

13. who do not expect to become consumers of the human service
system suddenly find themselves clients. The practice of
delivering crisis intervention services is supported by crisis
intervention theory. Studies and research in crisis intervention
theory and practice are primarily the domain of sociology,
psychology, social psychology, social work, community
psychiatry, and social welfare policy. The practice of crisis
intervention in human services was developed by a variety of
clinical practitioners in areas such as nursing, psychology,
medicine, psychiatry, and clinical social work (Slaikeu, ). The
application of crisis intervention methods is a recent
development based on various human behavior theories,
including those from Freud, Hartmann, Rado, Erickson,
Lindemann, and Caplan (Aguilera and Messick, ; Slaikeu, ).
Slaikeu () cites the Coconut Grove fire on November 28, 1942,
where 493 people perished when flames devoured the crowded
nightclub. According to Slaikeu:
· Lindemann and others from the Massachusetts General
Hospital played an active role in helping survivors and those
who had lost loved ones in the disaster. His clinical report
(Lindemann, ) on the psychological symptoms of the survivors
became the cornerstone for subsequent theorizing on the grief
process, a series of stages through which a mourner progresses
on the way toward accepting and resolving loss (p. 6).
The evolution of community psychiatry and the suicide
prevention movement of the 1960s marks an important historical
development in crisis-intervention human services. An
important figure in crisis theory and the associated approaches
in service delivery was Gerald Caplan, a public health
psychiatrist. Some of his contributions are discussed by Slaikeu
():
· Building on the start given by Lindemann, Gerald Caplan,
associated with Harvard School of Public Health, first
formulated the significance of life crisis in an adult’s
psychopathology. Caplan’s crisis theory was cast in the
framework of Erik-sen’s developmental psychology. Caplan’s

14. interest was on how people negotiated the various transitions
from one stage to another. He identified the importance of both
personal and social resources in determining whether
developmental crises (and situational or unexpected crises)
would be worked out for better or for worse. Caplan’s
preventative psychiatry, with its focus on early intervention to
promote positive growth and minimize the chance of
psychological impairment, led to an emphasis on mental health
consultation. Since many early crises could be identified and
even predicted, it became important to train a wide range of
community practitioners. The role of the mental health
professional became one of assisting teachers, nurses, clergy,
guidance counselors, and others in learning how to detect and
deal with life crises in community settings (pp. 6–7).
The formal emergence of community mental health programs in
the United States became a way to implement recommendations
from the U.S. Congress Joint Commission on Mental Illness and
Health (1961). With strong support from the Kennedy
Administration to provide mental health services in a
community setting (not restricting them only to hospitals),
crisis intervention programs and the outreach emergency
services were established as an integral part of every
comprehensive community mental health system and a
prerequisite for federal funding.
A person who is experiencing a crisis faces a problem that
cannot be resolved by using the coping mechanisms that have
worked in the past (Aguilera and Messick, p. 1). According to
Wood-side and McClam ():
· An individual’s equilibrium is disrupted by pressures or
upsets, which result in stress so severe that he or she is unable
to find relief using coping skills that worked before. The crisis
is the individual’s emotional response to the threatening or
hazardous situation, not the situation itself. Crises can be
divided into two types: developmental and situational. A
developmental crisis is an individual’s response to a situation
that is reasonably predictable in the life cycle. Situational or

15. accidental crises do not occur with any regularity. The sudden
and unpredictable nature of this type of crisis makes any
preparation or individual control impossible. Examples are fire
or other natural disasters, fatal illness, relocation, unplanned
pregnancy, and rape. The skills and strategies that helpers use
to provide immediate help for a person in crisis constitute crisis
…