Cultural Competency in Human Services

Service towards humankind is not something most human beings are born with. People working in human services have special skills because they have to interact with people from equally different walks of life. One must have the cultural competency to communicate and connect effectively with people from different cultures. Despite having a background in social and human services, a person who is not culturally competent will not be able to relate and empathize with others efficiently, even with the best intention in mind.

A career in human services revolves around helping people meet human needs by improving their living standards. It also ensures efficient service delivery by making the professionals and agencies involved in providing services accountable and accessible to everyone(Stinchcomb, 2022). Human service professionals mostly work in social services, with some working in group homes, community centers that cater to people suffering from physical, mental, and drug abuse and alcoholism, and homes for the aged and youth centers (Stinchcomb, 2022). Human service workers should be respected because they  dedicate their lives to serving the community by helping people living in different domains of life.

The desire to help people is something one must possess to work in human services. In addition, individuals in this industry must possess good communication skills, be patient, responsible, understanding, caring, and time conscious (Stinchcomb, 2022). Employers also look into their academic and personal qualifications when hiring human service professionals. Human service work requires employees to work in various settings or conduct fieldwork, so they put in a lot of hours (Stinchcomb, 2022). Therefore human service professionals are known to be diligent and meticulous in their work due to their high skill set.

Aside from having strong interpersonal skills and academic knowledge, one must be culturally competent to work in the human services industry. Cultural competence is described as possessing skills and principles that lead to effective interactions among people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Wilson, 2021). A culturally competent individual can relate to people well and develop meaningful relationships without judgment (Wilson, 2021). People in the human service industry understand that cultural competency is a process (Wilson, 2021). Culture is always evolving as people of different cultures interact and exchange ideas and habits. So, one cannot claim to be culturally competent overnight. It is a learning process because even human service workers have their own cultural values but learn to accept other values that may differ from theirs. Professionals in social services, psychology, and counseling have adopted a system where they dig into their client's cultural backgrounds to understand their situations better and develop ways to help them by using this knowledge. Therefore, the importance of cultural competency should not be overlooked because it has been recognized as one of the core competencies for professionals in human services.

In the future, I hope to be a culturally competent professional. I wish to create an environment where my clients can be comfortable with their cultural values and ideologies. Therefore, they can communicate easily with me about the issues or situations afflicting them without fear of judgment or imposition. I will try to be unbiased when giving feedback and not impose my ideas on them but try to come up with solutions based on their perspective. If conflicts arise due to miscommunications or preconceived notions, I hope to be patient with them and understand it will take some time to build trust between us. This will help form a healthy bond with them and allow us to have a good working relationship.

To communicate efficiently and empathize with your clients, a human services professional must be culturally competent. Depending on which field you work in, whether in social services, psychology or counseling, it is important to understand your client's cultural background and how it has influenced and shaped them into their person. Therefore as a human service professional, one must strive to learn how they can be more culturally competent.

References

Stinchcomb, J., 2022. What is Human Services? Nationalhumanservices.org. <https://www.nationalhumanservices.org/what-is-human-services>

Wilson, S., 2021. Cultural Competency | Human Services Education - Human Services Edu. Human Services Edu. <https://www.humanservicesedu.org/cultural-competency/>