Many careers and academic fields are dedicated to improving society by helping others.
People that take up these fields get the opportunity to study the various problems of society and help individuals that need support in the social sphere of society.
Both Social Work and Human Services are fields dedicated to achieving this goal.
Key Takeaways
- Social workers focus on helping individuals and families navigate complex social issues and access necessary resources.
- Human services professionals work in a broader context, providing support and services to various needy populations.
- Both fields require strong interpersonal skills and a dedication to improving the well-being of others.
Social Worker vs Human Services
The difference between Social Worker and Human Services is that Social Worker is an individual who helps people affected by the inequities of society in terms of different discriminations and so on. Human services, on the other hand, work towards enriching the quality of life by solving the problems related to human discomfort.
Social Worker is a licensed profession that requires training in different fields of the domain.
A social worker works towards solving the problems caused by the inequities of society that plague the well-being of the people discriminated by such factors.
These may include domestic abuse, racial discrimination, and other factors that lead to psychological trauma.
Human Services is a field dedicated to solving the problems of human discomfort.
Several reasons lead to discomfort; thus, Human services professionals must be able to manage such situations and factors and work towards improving the situation.
The main motive of Human Services is to fulfil basic human needs.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Social Worker | Human Services |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Social Worker is a professional who solves the problems caused by the inequities of the society | Human Services individual works towards achieving basic human needs |
| Work | Social workers work directly with their clients, much like psychologists and therapists | Human services workers work with individual clients as well as managerial departments |
| Approach | Social workers try to find out the reason for personal trauma that is troubling their clients and try to solve the issue | Human workers work towards the betterment of society by bringing the issues causing human discomfort to the administrative or managerial department |
| Problems faced | Most of the time, the problems faced by Social Workers involve personal issues of trauma | Most of the time the problems faced by Human services individuals involve the collective discomfort of people |
| Services | Some of the services provided are individual counseling, crisis intervention, providing treatment plans, and so on | The services provided are community management, providing managerial departments with community trends, managing social events for community health, and so on |
What is Social Worker?
Social Worker is a licensed professional who works towards solving personal problems of trauma caused by the inequities of society.
This academic field studies the various factors affecting mental well-being and tries to find solutions to such problems.
As most issues that social workers come across are related to personal well-being, Social Workers work directly with their clients in a similar manner to psychologists and therapists.
Their approach also consists of counselling sessions with their clients to get an in-depth idea of the issues that need to be solved.
Social workers may also prescribe their clients to professional psychologists for further psychological help.
Social workers also provide other services to their clients, such as crisis management solutions, guidance for different individual issues, etc.
As different individuals have different issues bothering them, social work professionals must be prepared with knowledge about the different human problems that affect people.
Hence, their studies and training involve the concepts of addiction and substance abuse, family planning, social discrimination problems, and the different ways of countering these problems.
As social work is a licensed profession, individuals involved in this field undergo training before they can provide their professional service.
What is Human Services?
Human services as a field of profession involve solving the issues causing social and human discomfort in a living space or any place of human interaction.
The main motive of Human Services is to provide solutions to social problems and contribute towards the betterment of society.
Thus, human services individuals may provide personal services to clients and community services to large groups of people. Thus their work is not restricted to individual help.
They mostly operate as liaisons between people and the managerial or administrative departments. They provide the various community trends to the managerial position for solving any community issues.
These issues may be related to community health, individual health, crisis management, or any number of other social issues that plague the well-being of individuals.
Apart from providing community and individual help, Human services individuals also plan and organize social events and seminars to educate and inform individuals of different social and personal issues and the ways to solve such problems.
Volunteering services, event organization, and youth work services are some major services such individuals provide.
Human Services individuals may work under the government to provide consultation services or in companies and private organizations to guide the management.
Main Differences Between Social Worker and Human Services
- Social Workers solve the issues caused by societal inequities. Human services work towards achieving basic human needs.
- Social workers work directly with their clients. Human services work with individual clients as well as managerial departments.
- Social workers try to find out the reason for personal trauma. Human services work by bringing societal issues to the managerial departments to help them counter the problems.
- Most problems faced by social workers involve personal problems of trauma. Human services mostly face problems of discomfort in place of human interaction.
- Individual counselling and crisis interventions are some of the services provided by social workers. Community management services and event organization are some other services provided by Human Services.
- http://archive.hshsl.umaryland.edu/handle/10713/4031
- https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/anas11890/html
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Chara Yadav holds MBA in Finance. Her goal is to simplify finance-related topics. She has worked in finance for about 25 years. She has held multiple finance and banking classes for business schools and communities. Read more at her bio page.
The distinction in the types of problems faced by social workers and human services professionals helps in understanding the scope and focus of their work.
Both fields play an important role in improving society, but it’s clear that social workers focus more on individual psychological well-being while human services professionals are more concerned with broader societal issues.
The training and expertise of social workers in addressing personal trauma is crucial to providing effective support to individuals dealing with such issues.
The comprehensive nature of services provided by human services professionals, from consultation to event organization, showcases the multifaceted role they play in addressing social issues.
It’s interesting to see the distinction in services provided by social workers and human services professionals, catering to different aspects of societal well-being.
It seems that social workers are more hands-on with clients, while human services professionals take a more administrative role in managing social issues.
The depth and breadth of knowledge required in both fields, from personal trauma to community management, are a testament to their importance in addressing social issues.
Social workers and human services professionals both require a great deal of empathy and interpersonal skills to be effective in their roles.