1.1 Chapter Overview and Learning Objectives
Land and Labor Acknowledgement
It is essential to recognize that Portland, Oregon today is a community of diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. As such, we must acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, and future. Their ongoing and vibrant presence is not something to be taken lightly.
It is also vital to acknowledge the systemic policies of genocide, relocation, and assimilation that have impacted many Indigenous families to this day. As settlers and guests on these lands, we must respect the work of Indigenous leaders and families and pledge to make ongoing efforts to recognize their knowledge, creativity, and resilience and the complexity of what this word means.
We must approach this with a sense of urgency and a commitment to change. We cannot simply pay lip service to these issues; we must take action to ensure that Indigenous communities are given the respect and recognition they deserve.
We respectfully acknowledge and take ownership of the traumatic history of forced labor of Black Americans who have advanced our country. We would like to recognize the remarkable contributions of Black Americans who have played a critical role in advancing our country despite facing tremendous adversity. We will be forever indebted to the enslaved and exploited African Americans who were established in our U.S. infrastructure and economy, advanced civil rights, and continue to influence popular culture. It is our solemn responsibility to continuously recognize the historical horror of the transatlantic trafficking of their people, chattel slavery, Jim Crow, and current systemic oppression and injustices placed on Black Americans and to work towards a better future for all actively. We are grateful for the sacrifices made by their ancestors, who have paved the way for us to be where we are today.
We must consider how the education system as a whole has not been a place of safety, support, and reformation for all students and educators especially in higher education. For many BIPOC and other marginalized educators they have had to carve and push into spaces that were not created for them or the students in the classroom or communities. Their histories are still being told are not real or appropriate to share with all students. When in reality their history is our history and has been whitewashed to make some people in power comfortable.
Our knowledge has been stolen and renamed under a more digestible image or told that it does not come from “credible sources” however the people who are choosing the criteria of those sources come from one perspective not allowing intersectionality to come into play which allows bias to be the only lens to be used. Challenge and debate is central to education and that is what you will be asked to do everyday over the week not only over the time of this course but over your life. Challenge the notion of what is established as how we have always done things.
I invite you to visit the following websites to learn more, explore or get involved.
The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people.
LANDBACK is a movement that has existed for generations with the purpose to get Indigenous Lands back into Indigenous hands.
The Native Land Digital Map allows you to go beyond learning about the indigenous land where you are now, but all over the world.
Beyond Land Acknowledgement asks organizations to move past words of land acknowledgments into concrete steps, including a call to action for those audience members who are reading the land acknowledgment and not just asking for free labor from Indigenous people with no tangible steps for action.
Ethical Standards for Human Services Professionals
Standard 1: Human service professionals recognize and build on client and community strengths (National Organization for Human Services [NOHS], 2024).
This chapter provides a broad overview of the human services field, including a definition of the profession, the multiple disciplines that are related, and the ways a human services degree may be used. Next, the generalist aspect of being a human services professional is outlined, including the core theories and approaches used. One of those, the strengths-based approach, is reflected in the ethical standard quoted above: human services professionals recognize and build on client and community strengths.
The last part of the chapter describes the characteristics, skills, and knowledge needed to be a human services worker. As a potential professional, examine yourself in relation to these questions: How am I already strong? Where can I grow? Am I invested in characterizing the needed qualities? Overall, this chapter will give you an introduction for deciding whether this profession is one you want to explore more deeply.
Learning Objectives
- Define the field of human services, including its core principles.
- Describe the relationship between human services and related fields.
- Describe the important intersection of theory and practice in human services.
- Analyze the needed characteristics, skills, and knowledge of helping professionals, then assess your areas for professional growth.
Key Terms
This list includes important vocabulary for understanding the ideas introduced in this chapter. Look for the words in bold along with their definitions in the text.
- BIPOC: This term refers to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
- Collaboration: The act of working with others.
- Congruence: Being “real”; actions in line with values and beliefs.
- Client: The term refers to the individual, family, groups, and communities who are the recipient of support services—in other words, whose goals, needs, and strengths constitute the primary focus of the provider in the human services field.
- Ecological systems theory: Emphasizes the complexity of the environments that each individual interacts with.
- Empathy: Being able to feel and relate to another’s feelings.
- Equity: Equity involves acknowledging and addressing imbalances caused by bias or systemic structures, as we don’t all start from the same place.
- Equality: This is one of the central principles of democracy. It is based on the belief that all people should have the same opportunities to be successful and have a productive, enjoyable life. Equality is rooted in fairness, since it is linked to the notion that everyone will be able to achieve based on their efforts and contributions to society instead of their status or position.
- Generalist approach: Using multiple disciplines and methods.
- Human services: A professional field focused on helping people solve their problems.
- Interdisciplinary approach: Using multiple disciplines, or knowledge branches, working together to solve problems.
- Service model: Focuses on prevention, intervention, and remediation to help people solve problems.
- Social justice: Viewpoints and efforts toward every person receiving and obtaining equal economic and social opportunities; removal of systemic barriers.
- Unconditional positive regard: The belief that everyone has worth and deserves our consideration.
- Intersectionality: A perspective that recognizes that individuals are impacted differently based on characteristics such as social class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, and age, and that it is important to look at the intersections of these identities.
- Inclusion: The active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity. Inclusion is seen as a universal human right. The aim of inclusion is to embrace all people regardless of race, gender, or disability, or a medical or other need. It is about giving equal access and opportunities and getting rid of discrimination and intolerance. It affects all aspects of public life.
Licenses and Attributions
“Chapter Overview” by Elizabeth B. Pearce and Yvonne M. Smith LCSW is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Revised by Martha Ochoa-Leyva.
shared meanings and shared experiences by members in a group, that are passed down over time with each generation
race, class, gender, sexuality, age, ability, and other aspects of identity are experienced simultaneously and the meanings of each identity overlaps with and influences the others leading to overlapping inequalities
a professional field focused on helping people solve their problems.
a paid career that involves education, formal training and/or a formal qualification.
an academic rank conferred by a college or university after completion of a specific course of study.
the practice of using the strengths of individuals, families, and communities to solve problems.