4 peer responses – due in 6 hours

LaShendra’s Post:

 
My initial reaction to the author’s analogy was “wow.” I think it is way too judgemental.  Much of what we do in life and society is ultimately our own decision  but not everything has to be punishable. Some things are unavoidable and out of control. For someone who has contracted HIV and then later passes it along to their partner, in a heterosexual relationship how is that the fault of the other party? As far as the groups labeled as disposable, just because they have contracted a disease or illness does not mean that they can not heal from it or live productive lives with it so I think the word disposable is harsh. If that is the case, then we are all disposable because there will be something that causes harm or sickness to us whether we violate society’s norms or conform to them.  
As a human service professional, first thing is to show empathy and understanding of other people’s situations. Blaming the victim is something that should never be done because that just makes it harder for them to cope with it. HSPs must make people knowledgeable of things that they don’t understand so that they aren’t spreading false information around. It is easy to combat or correct one or two people who share this same attitude, but once people start to speak false findings or thoughts and it sparks more people to believing the same things and it will make it harder the human service workers to control and get people to understand the actual facts.  

Britteny’s Post:

 
As of reading this, I do believe people or responsible for their actions. Regardless of people’s actions, sometimes we understand what we are getting ourselves into. I mean, everyone has their own opinion and way of thinking. But I think it is a little cruel to judge someone regardless of how they contracted HIV. Blaming the victim is no form way to go about things, and especially punishment. When people are using drugs, they know they are putting themselves at risk—the people who or bisexual know that as well. I mean, there is no secret in today’s society HIV/AIDS is talk about a topic.
As a human service worker, when must understand the facts about HIV/AIDS. I will remain proficient and understand how this will affect this person’s life. I mean every faces obstacles, and blaming the victim is not it. You have to look at yourself and put yourself in their shoes and not judge. You never know what issues they are dealing with. As a human service worker, I would strive to be a safe zone and no judgment zone. That how would combat this situation by helping and knowing the knowledge and respecting my client’s rights.
Harris, H.,Maloney.,& Rother, F.( 2004). Human services: Contemporary issues and trends (3rd Ed.) Boston: Pearson. Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com

Joy’s post:

 
Good evening everyone,
            In our textbook, chapter 15, “Failure to identify the contributing and resulting connections between substance abuse and the client’s presenting problems with health, the law, money, work, school, society, family, and self will spell a decisive failure in care, however well packaged the plan and well intentioned the delivery. This is some of the main areas to look at when helping the client. There are many people that do turn to the substance because of problems in their life. Even though substance abuse is not the answer. For example, with health, there are clients that does believe marijuana help them with pain in their joints.
            I believe Human Service professionals should be required to have an additional certification in the treatment of this population because there will always be changes in people’s lives. Yes, the client will be getting treatment, but things could change, like with substance use. They may need a higher level of care. As a professional by knowing what to do after the changes would be great but not knowing what to do at that time would create a problem.
According to, “Martin et al. (2016) it is difficult to find a cultural group (e.g., ethnic, religious, geographical) in our country that does not have a practice or norm related to substance, even if that norm is abstinence (VakaLahi, 2001). This does show that as a human service profession, you’ll be in contact with people that are different so getting additional certification is important. It could help in many ways such as knowing about the population you are helping and knowing how to go about it.
Reference
Martin, J.L., Burrow-Sanchez, J.J., Iwamoto, D.K., Glidden-Tracey, C.E., & Vaughn, E.L. (2016). Counseling Psychology and Substance Use: Implications for Training, Practice, and Research. The Counseling Psychologies, 1-26. Retrieved from https://Doi.org/10.1177/0011000016667536.

Pouang’s Post:

 
I whole heartedly believe that Human Health Service workers need to have further licensing than they currently have when dealing with substance abuse. Most of the time substance abuse is brought on by some sort of underlying mental illness or problems in life. This would make sense to have a certification in at least counseling, this would allow you to counsel the person with substance abuse, and further recognize that a long term mental health plan could be put in place along with rehabilitation. Often people attend rehab and do not follow through with counseling to get to the bottom of the issue, this leads into a vicious cycle of being clean and relapsing. This has become clear to the Human Resource and Service Administration, HRSA is awarding more than $200 million to 1,208 health centers across the nation to increase access to high quality, integrated behavioral health services, including the prevention or treatment of mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders, including opioid use disorder through the Integrated Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) program (HHS Press Office, 2019). This means funds are being given to human health service providers, this is intended to train or integrate behavioral health services within human health services. 
HHS Press Office. (2019, August 8). HHS awards nearly $400 million to combat the opioid crisis. HHS.gov. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2019/08/08/hhs-awards-nearly-400-million-to-combat-opioid-crisis.html

Example peer response:

 
Hello Jennifer,
                 Your response is very organized and very in-depth with details. I am specifically in favor of starting off your response with a quote and going into detail of accreditation and its involvement with human service workers. Not only would this successfully help you hook your audience, but also introduce a background on the importance of the human service worker having a certificate. I also agree with one of the points you made of “The worker is there to encourage, assist, and enhance the recovery process with specific skills, knowledge, humanity, and caring to promote a life that enpowers the recovering individual.” I agree with this quote because a certificate has a lot of  components put into it than just your name on it. More specifically, a human service worker should always apply knowledge and a great deal of their assistance to the public and those suffering in it.