Systems
An important part of understanding Human Services work is to understand the systems of the world and also our interpersonal systems. According to standard 12, “the curriculum shall include knowledge and theory of the interaction of human systems including: individual, interpersonal, group, family, organizational, community, and societal.” This standard, as one of the first classwork foundations, introduced me to seeing people and the world as a system, and how to critically analyze this framework. The systems theory, a way of showing complex systems that encompasses the person-in-environment to serve as a conceptual framework for understanding individuals within Human Services work (Friedman & Allen, Meyer, 1983).
Although our smaller systems and environment greatly contribute to our psyche, personal beliefs, values, and personality traits, there is a larger overarching social system that indirectly contributes to what humans experience in small systems. The larger systems that we do not have control over directly contribute to our experiences within our environment and the identities we carry within modern, post-colonial society.
I learned how to use this framework through the ecological systems theory, which was introduced in HSP 301 Human Services Professionals and Personal Systems. Through this process, I learned more specifically about my microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem, how I fit in within my immediate environment and all of society. However the largest factor of how I interact within all of these systems and the world is because of my personal identity and close family and friends. According to the Friedman & Allen Systems Theory, “…serves as an organizing conceptual framework or metatheory for understanding” (Friedman & Allen, Meyer, 1983). Having an understanding of this theory to understand people and their environments will be essential as an effective Human Services professional or Social Worker.
To understand human systems, it is also important to understand human development, the psychology of our brains, and how we develop through our environment. In HSP 315 Human Development, I explored the differences between people within their stages of life and also the environment they grew up in. I wrote an analysis of the movie Babies, which observed the development of babies in different environments, such as different geographical locations in the world, with a variety of cultural upbringings. This led to other stages of life, to better understand different age groups in different locations. As we studied the psychology of humans living in different systems, there were many different ways of learning through the same stages of life. This course introduced how humans functioned as individuals within their environment, which led to study and understand how individuals contributed in interpersonal relationships.
In HSP 303 Human Services Professionals and Interpersonal Systems, I got to explore the interpersonal approach of working with one other individual for a dyad project. In class, we learned about social identities, communication patterns, and relationship building. I was paired up with one classmate throughout the quarter as we conducted a project together, and continually learned through the process of working one on one. As a human service professional, it is beneficial to have good communication skills when working with others. Through our partner project, as it was autonomous and flexible, I had to learn how to communicate regularly and take equal responsibility within the project and learn how to cater to the needs of my project partner.
In the process of learning of human development and interpersonal systems, I also learned about group processes in HSP 305 Human Services Professionals and Group Systems. To understand how I interact with communities and society, it is important to know how to work within group systems. In this class, I got the opportunity to work with a group and learn about group processes, dynamics, interaction patterns, and ability to establish roles. As we faced challenges with balancing time and productivity, we learned how to help each other through the process of working together. The group systems theory introduced group behavior, cognitive processes, and influences of group decisions from a theoretical framework. To understand this theory we spent lots of time exploring these processes through group work and activities. After presenting a group project based on ceremonies and reflecting on our experience as a group, we proceeded to learn about larger organizational systems through a historical and critical lens.
In HSP 402 Human Services Professionals Organizational Systems, we were able to analyze the historical influence on our current systems and learn specifically about the systems in this country. As we analyzed the work of Freire, Foucault, and read some of the New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, I developed a better understanding of how these systems and structures have come into place, and where I fit in them today. In this class I conducted research on the Treatment of Prostitutes within Law Enforcement as an organizational context paper, to learn about how our criminal justice system interacts and enforces unjust laws against women, especially poor minorities. I came to a better understanding of specifically the larger legal system, and the smaller systems that this population generally interacts with and what kind of environment they are exposed to. As we analyze these specific systems, we can get a better understanding of our own community systems and in the larger spectrum, global systems.
Outside of our own systems, there are larger global systems that have influenced local and community systems in the United States. It is essential to study our global systems to understand the background of the systems in this country, our history, and present day policies, economics, and the post-colonial cross cultural world we live in. HSP 406 Human Services Professionals and Global Systems introduced me to a new understanding of the world through deconstructing colonization and post-colonial minds. Through this research and learning from Beyond Borders: Thinking Critically About Global Issues, by Paula S. Rothenberg, I was introduced to the indigenous ways of the world before these systems and structures were created, including the bringing of the economy (Rothenberg, 2006). This put this entire educational experience into perspective within the Human Services field of understanding people and our society.
One crucial part of understanding our own systems are to know how our community systems have formed, function, and what makes a community. In HSP 404 Human Services Professionals and Community Systems, we explored the idea of a community and how our local communities are part of the larger systems, and also how they form because of a common interest, whether that’s rebellion, faith based, geographical location etc. Lots of this community organizing had to do with solving present day problems through movements and the history of organizing people in geographical locations, specifically neighborhood communities (Rubin & Rubin, 2001).
In my Human Services courses I have met standard 11 “the curriculum shall include the historical development of human services,” standard 12 “the curriculum shall include knowledge and theory of the interaction of human systems including: individual, interpersonal, group, family, organizational, community, and societal,” and standard 13 “the curriculum shall address the scope of conditions that promote or inhibit human functioning.”
References
CSHSE - Council for Standards in Human Service Education. (2010). Retrieved May 16, 2016, from http://www.cshse.org/standards.html
Rothenberg, P. S. (2006). Beyond borders: Thinking critically about global issues. New York: Worth.
Although our smaller systems and environment greatly contribute to our psyche, personal beliefs, values, and personality traits, there is a larger overarching social system that indirectly contributes to what humans experience in small systems. The larger systems that we do not have control over directly contribute to our experiences within our environment and the identities we carry within modern, post-colonial society.
I learned how to use this framework through the ecological systems theory, which was introduced in HSP 301 Human Services Professionals and Personal Systems. Through this process, I learned more specifically about my microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem, how I fit in within my immediate environment and all of society. However the largest factor of how I interact within all of these systems and the world is because of my personal identity and close family and friends. According to the Friedman & Allen Systems Theory, “…serves as an organizing conceptual framework or metatheory for understanding” (Friedman & Allen, Meyer, 1983). Having an understanding of this theory to understand people and their environments will be essential as an effective Human Services professional or Social Worker.
To understand human systems, it is also important to understand human development, the psychology of our brains, and how we develop through our environment. In HSP 315 Human Development, I explored the differences between people within their stages of life and also the environment they grew up in. I wrote an analysis of the movie Babies, which observed the development of babies in different environments, such as different geographical locations in the world, with a variety of cultural upbringings. This led to other stages of life, to better understand different age groups in different locations. As we studied the psychology of humans living in different systems, there were many different ways of learning through the same stages of life. This course introduced how humans functioned as individuals within their environment, which led to study and understand how individuals contributed in interpersonal relationships.
In HSP 303 Human Services Professionals and Interpersonal Systems, I got to explore the interpersonal approach of working with one other individual for a dyad project. In class, we learned about social identities, communication patterns, and relationship building. I was paired up with one classmate throughout the quarter as we conducted a project together, and continually learned through the process of working one on one. As a human service professional, it is beneficial to have good communication skills when working with others. Through our partner project, as it was autonomous and flexible, I had to learn how to communicate regularly and take equal responsibility within the project and learn how to cater to the needs of my project partner.
In the process of learning of human development and interpersonal systems, I also learned about group processes in HSP 305 Human Services Professionals and Group Systems. To understand how I interact with communities and society, it is important to know how to work within group systems. In this class, I got the opportunity to work with a group and learn about group processes, dynamics, interaction patterns, and ability to establish roles. As we faced challenges with balancing time and productivity, we learned how to help each other through the process of working together. The group systems theory introduced group behavior, cognitive processes, and influences of group decisions from a theoretical framework. To understand this theory we spent lots of time exploring these processes through group work and activities. After presenting a group project based on ceremonies and reflecting on our experience as a group, we proceeded to learn about larger organizational systems through a historical and critical lens.
In HSP 402 Human Services Professionals Organizational Systems, we were able to analyze the historical influence on our current systems and learn specifically about the systems in this country. As we analyzed the work of Freire, Foucault, and read some of the New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, I developed a better understanding of how these systems and structures have come into place, and where I fit in them today. In this class I conducted research on the Treatment of Prostitutes within Law Enforcement as an organizational context paper, to learn about how our criminal justice system interacts and enforces unjust laws against women, especially poor minorities. I came to a better understanding of specifically the larger legal system, and the smaller systems that this population generally interacts with and what kind of environment they are exposed to. As we analyze these specific systems, we can get a better understanding of our own community systems and in the larger spectrum, global systems.
Outside of our own systems, there are larger global systems that have influenced local and community systems in the United States. It is essential to study our global systems to understand the background of the systems in this country, our history, and present day policies, economics, and the post-colonial cross cultural world we live in. HSP 406 Human Services Professionals and Global Systems introduced me to a new understanding of the world through deconstructing colonization and post-colonial minds. Through this research and learning from Beyond Borders: Thinking Critically About Global Issues, by Paula S. Rothenberg, I was introduced to the indigenous ways of the world before these systems and structures were created, including the bringing of the economy (Rothenberg, 2006). This put this entire educational experience into perspective within the Human Services field of understanding people and our society.
One crucial part of understanding our own systems are to know how our community systems have formed, function, and what makes a community. In HSP 404 Human Services Professionals and Community Systems, we explored the idea of a community and how our local communities are part of the larger systems, and also how they form because of a common interest, whether that’s rebellion, faith based, geographical location etc. Lots of this community organizing had to do with solving present day problems through movements and the history of organizing people in geographical locations, specifically neighborhood communities (Rubin & Rubin, 2001).
In my Human Services courses I have met standard 11 “the curriculum shall include the historical development of human services,” standard 12 “the curriculum shall include knowledge and theory of the interaction of human systems including: individual, interpersonal, group, family, organizational, community, and societal,” and standard 13 “the curriculum shall address the scope of conditions that promote or inhibit human functioning.”
References
CSHSE - Council for Standards in Human Service Education. (2010). Retrieved May 16, 2016, from http://www.cshse.org/standards.html
Rothenberg, P. S. (2006). Beyond borders: Thinking critically about global issues. New York: Worth.