Introduction to Community Service

This article provides an introduction to community service, its benefits, objectives, and the skills required for human service workers. It also offers insights into the regulatory framework and the history of community service in Australia.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
Introduction to community service
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INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
The job which is usually non-paid and performed by a group of people or an
individual for the benefit of any community can be termed as community service.
Community service is quite different from volunteering in a way that it is not performed on
the basis of voluntary. Community service may be performed for variety of reasons like it
may be mandatory for the schools to meet the requirements for some class. Community
service may be required by the government for the requirement of citizenship. When people
engage themselves in community service, they will have a positive impact on the society
(Downes & Marchant, 2016). It as helps students acquire life skills and knowledge. There are
presence of psychological benefits, social benefits and cognitive benefits. Community service
also helps in personal development. Community service aims to support families in fulfilling
their roles, provide support and care when the families are not able to, when the need of the
people are not met without intervention. This kind of service includes activities such as
providing support for social and personal functioning in daily life which may help in
promoting the development of personal skills. Community service also includes activities
which will provide support the welfare of children and family, providing financial assistance
or residential care.
The Australian State and Territory governments plays a significant role in the
provision of community services. The government of Australia ensures that acceptable
standard of living is maintained and the vulnerable people in the society are protected. Local
governments of Australia are also the providers of the community services (O'Grady, 2014).
There are also presence of some community services which are only funded by the local
governments. The participation of government in the community services consists of offering
services to the clients, funding the community services which are non-governmental. The

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
government of Australia also monitors and evaluates community service programs. It also
takes the responsibility of planning strategically and policy.
Some of the man objectives of community services include:
 Aged care service which works in promoting the wellbeing of the older people by
funding and by delivering care services
The professional practices framework is the conceptual framework that organizes
authoritative guidance promulgated by the IIA.
History: Human services are a kind of profession that has been introduced in response
to the direction of human needs in the year 1960s. Human services provides assistance for the
clients within their communities (Hall & Christian, 2017) The professionals of human
services encourag3e different unique values and various characteristics of human services.
The fundamental values in this kind of profession consists of respecting the dignity and the
welfare of people. It also includes advocating of social justice with genuineness and honesty.
Historical knowledge plays a significant role for the development of social work identity.
However, there is a very little analysis on the historical literature on both social work and
workers in Australia. It can be said that history holds a special position in both Australian
social work and social policy. Social work has its roots in the attempts of society at a large in
order to deal with the problem of inequality and poverty. It is also some way or the other
linked to the charity work (Downes & Marchant, 2016). Even before there was a rise of new
European states, the church used to provide social service. Back in the 580 AD, the church
had a system of circulating consumables to the poor. Also, during the middle ages, the
Christian church had a huge influence on the European society.

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
There is presence of many non-government as well as governmental organization that
provides social service in Australia. Some of the examples of NGOs in Australia includes
Action for poverty, CARE Australia, CBM Australia, Anglican Overseas Aid, Cufa and
Australian Red Cross. Department of social service in Australia is one of the governmental
organizations that provide social service (Sheffield, 2015). CARE Australia is an
international humanitarian aid which fights global poverty along with empowering women
and girls. CBM is also an international Christian development organization in Australia
which is devoted in the improvement in the lives of people with disabilities. The Australian
Red Cross is one of the leading humanitarian aid and community services charity which is
guided by the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross.
Professional practise framework.: All the workers who are in the community service
regardless of any kind of experience and qualification should meet ethical standards in order
to protect the client along with the community and the practitioner. The practise framework
which relates to human service includes guidelines which are related to ethical practice,
workplace, diversity and professional development. The usage of someone’s knowledge in
case of a particular profession is termed as professional practise. The professionals of human
service usually promotes the characteristics of human services. Like all other professions in
the society, workers in human services also have to follow various guidelines. The
practitioner should base his professional practise based on the theory of community work
(Bandy, 2016). The community workers are also expected to work by maintaining the code
of ethics and also by agreeing the principles of the worth of individuals. The workers should
also understand and act according to the legislation and guidelines that provides
confidentiality and privacy.
The workers of the community service also works in the communities which is diverse.
He should also demonstrate his professional practice.

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
 The professionals of the human service seeks training, education and experience
which are significant for ensuring the effectiveness in working with people who are
culturally diverse. They also know the scope of their professional knowledge which
offer services within their skills.
 The human service professionals also performs research that maintains all ethical
principles, scientific rigidity and institutional standards.
 The community workers are the representatives of the community work profession.
 The practitioner is needed to implement the principles of social justice, equity and
self-determination in everyday professional practice.
 The workers should also behave in ethical way in all the situation according to the
Australian Community Workers Code of Ethics.
 They should also use the skills for the benefits of the service user and the employing
organization.
 A community work practitioner are also needed to protect the privacy of user’s by
securing the records.
The regulatory framework: The human service workers works within organisational
structures which are complex in nature are mostly governed by the legislation. In order to
comply with the above guidelines the workers should observe the legislation which
impacts the professional practice. They should also work within the legal limitations
which revolves around the right to confidentiality.
Skills required by the human service workers.: People who are social workers usually
requires a large range client in client e of emotional, cognitive and professional skills
(Sheffield, 2015). It is also important for the workers to become a life long learner as it an
ethical requirement of professional social worker. Some of the skills that are essential to
become a social worker includes

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
 Listening actively: active listening to what the clients say and also staying engaged in
conversation with them in order to understand them well. When the workers pay
attention to what the clients wants to speak, it makes the clients the comfortable and
they start trusting them. Sometimes active listening also builds therapeutic alliance.
 Thinking critically: Most of the clients tries to seek help for the problems they face in
many domains of their lives. Therefore, the social workers are needed to think
critically and creatively which will make them effectively help their clients.
 Organization: sometimes the social workers also provides management services
which includes billing, making phone calls, networking and also continuing collateral
relationships.
 The social workers are also needed to essentially to understand the psychology of the
people as it is quite difficult to understand the psychology of the humans.
 Empathy: it is very important to understand the clients emotionally, culturally and
intellectually in the social work. It is very difficult to help the client without knowing
their background and without understanding them. The ability to imagine oneself in a
situation of some one else along with feeling what the client can experience is termed
as empathy. Naturally empathic are those people who choose to be social workers
already.
 Setting up boundaries: it has been found out that many social workers often feel
stressed about their works and they are not mentally satisfied in doing their work.
Therefore, it is important for them to leave work at the office will definitely make
them a happier person (O'Grady, 2014). The workers should set boundaries between
them and the clients in order to protect time for self-care and seek support through the
family, friends and professional community.

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
 Inner strength: study shows that the work of the social workers is emotionally
challenging. It is very important that the workers take care of their health and also
take care of themselves.
It can be said that the community workers association of Australia has done a lot of
community service in Australia in the recent decades. However, there is a lot of benefits
of the community service which includes psychological benefits, social benefits and
cognitive benefits. Therefor, it can be concluded by saying that participating in the
community service makes a huge difference to the organization and to the people being
served.

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
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INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
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