Social and Human Services Assistant
Social and Human Services Assistants play a vital role in helping individuals access essential social services and navigate various challenges in their lives. This profession encompasses a range of job titles, including home healthcare assistants, caseworkers, and mental health workers, all focused on assisting at-risk populations, such as those facing unemployment, homelessness, or domestic issues. The job involves direct client interaction in diverse environments, from schools and hospitals to shelters and prisons, and often requires flexible hours to accommodate client needs.
Individuals attracted to this field typically possess strong interpersonal skills and a commitment to social betterment. Their responsibilities may include helping clients with applications for assistance, teaching life skills, and conducting workshops on relevant topics. Importantly, these professionals must be comfortable interacting with a broad spectrum of clients, including children, the elderly, and those dealing with mental health or substance abuse issues. While a high school diploma is the minimum requirement for entry, those with postsecondary education in social work or related fields generally have better job prospects and responsibilities. Social and Human Services Assistants thus serve as crucial links between individuals and the resources necessary for improving their circumstances.
Social and Human Services Assistant
Snapshot
Career Cluster(s): Human Services
Interests: Sociology, counseling, psychology, assessment, communication
Earnings (Yearly Median): $41,410 per year $19.91 per hour
Employment & Outlook: 9% (Much faster than average)
Entry-Level Education High school diploma or equivalent
Related Work Experience None
On-the-job Training Short-term on-the-job training
Overview
Sphere of Work. Social and human services assistants work with social workers to provide clients with much-needed social services. Social and human services assistant is a general job category that includes many job titles and duties, such as home healthcare assistant, family or patient advocate, caseworker, outreach worker, adult daycare worker, and mental health worker. Social and human services assistants often help at-risk individuals find resources, develop new coping strategies, resolve problems and conflicts, and secure opportunities. They work with individual clients to lessen the impact of, and sometimes resolve, unemployment, poverty, drug and alcohol dependency, homelessness, relationship problems, and domestic abuse. Social and human services assistants may work with individuals, families, or targeted populations such as incarcerated individuals or older adults.
Work Environment. Social and human services assistants spend their workdays seeing clients in a wide variety of settings, including offices, residential facilities, homeless shelters, adult daycare facilities, schools, prisons, hospitals, and substance abuse clinics. Social and human services assistants may have a fixed office where they receive clients or may travel to see clients. Given the diverse demands of the social and human services profession, social and human services assistants may need to work days, evenings, weekends, and on-call hours to meet client or caseload needs.
Occupation Interest. Individuals drawn to the social and human services profession tend to be intelligent and socially conscious people who have the ability to quickly assess situations, find resources, demonstrate caring, and help solve social problems. Successful social and human services assistants display traits such as leadership, understanding, patience, responsibility, time management, knowledge of human behavior, initiative, and concern for individuals and society. Social and human services assistants should find satisfaction in spending time with a wide range of people, including those considered at-risk and those from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
A Day in the Life—Duties and Responsibilities. The daily occupational duties and responsibilities of social and human services assistants will be determined by the individual’s area of job specialization, education level, and work environment. The possible duties and responsibilities include assisting clients with welfare, childcare, and food stamp applications, teaching clients practical life skills, including cooking, cleaning, and shopping, overseeing client job search efforts, and helping clients arrange transportation and housing. Social and human services assistants may remind patients to take and renew medications as needed, participate in client team meetings, provide client updates to supervisors and client families, complete client in-take interviews for drug rehab or residential facilities, or refer clients to community services or agencies.
They sometimes conduct workshops for clients in residential facilities, visit housebound clients, conduct home visits for foster care, adoption, and abuse allegation cases, and provide students’ workshops on topics such as conflict resolution, sexual education, school attendance, and drug addiction. In addition to these many and varied responsibilities, social and human services assistants serve as a connection between students, teachers, and families, offer workshops to families on topics such as adoption, foster care, domestic violence, sibling rivalry, and homelessness, and work as court-ordered facilitators between families and social service agencies.
Social and human services assistants are also responsible for completing patient charts and required documentation daily.
Case Aides (195.367-010). Case aides handle simpler services in less complex cases under close tutelage and supervision.
Management Aides (195.367-014). Management aides provide tenants of housing projects and apartments with information on rules and services.
Recreation Leaders (195.227-014). Recreation leaders run recreation activities in voluntary agencies under the close supervision of recreation supervisors.
Community Workers (195.367-018). Community workers assist professionals in promoting awareness of social services to those who do not seek them.
Recreation Center Directors (195.167-026). Recreation center directors plan and direct recreation programs and oversee staff under a recreation supervisor.
Work Environment
Immediate Physical Environment. The immediate physical environment of social and human services assistants varies based on the caseload and specialization of the individual. Social and human services assistants spend their workdays seeing clients in a wide variety of settings, including offices, outpatient facilities, nursing homes, residential facilities, homeless shelters, schools, prisons, hospitals, and substance abuse clinics.
Human Environment. Social and human services assistants work with a wide variety of people and should be comfortable meeting with children, people with mental illness, incarcerated individuals, older adults, people with physical illnesses, displaced people, abusers and the abused, and distressed families.
Technological Environment. Social and human services assistants must be comfortable using computers and applicable software to access client records, write reports, and file paperwork. Because they are often on the road, driving to and from client homes and different facilities, social and human services assistants should also be comfortable spending a large chunk of the work day on the road, if needed. Phones and other telecommunications tools are also essential to ensure availability during on-call hours.
Education, Training, and Advancement
High School/Secondary. High school students interested in pursuing a career in the social and human services sector should prepare themselves by developing good study habits. High school-level study of foreign languages, public safety, sociology, psychology, and education will provide a strong foundation for work as a social and services assistant or for college-level work in the field. Due to the diversity of social and human services specialties, high school students interested in this career path will benefit from seeking internships or part-time work that exposes the students to diverse groups of people and social needs. High school students can secure employment as social and human services assistants directly out of high school, although candidates with college degrees generally earn more and have more interesting job duties.
Postsecondary. Postsecondary students interested in becoming social and human services assistants should work towards an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in social work or a related field, such as psychology, counseling, or gerontology. Coursework in education, public safety, psychology, and foreign languages may also prove useful in future work. Postsecondary students can gain work experience and potential advantage in future job searches by obtaining internships or part-time employment in social service agencies or with at-risk populations such as older adults or displaced individuals.
Related Occupations
− Marriage and Family Therapist
− Religious Activities and Education Director
Bibliography
“Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023: 21-1093 Social and Human Service Assistants.” Occupational Employment Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor, 3 Apr. 2024, www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes211093.htm. Accessed 26 Aug. 2024.
“Social and Human Service Assistants.” Occupational Outlook Handbook. Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor, 17 Apr. 2024, www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/social-and-human-service-assistants.htm. Accessed 26 Aug. 2024.