Evolving Dynamics of Australia's Community Service Sector

The Australian community service sector has significantly evolved since post-World War II, expanding beyond social security to include diverse services like domestic violence support and disability care. The government actively supports this growth through funding and programs aimed at improving access for all communities. Despite misconceptions about its value, the sector plays a crucial role in preventing tragedies such as suicides and increasing societal mobility. Social barriers persist due to ignorance, but theoretical frameworks like psychological, psychodynamic, transpersonal, social cognitive, and systems theories guide community service professionals in their work. The sector's continuous evolution highlights its essential role in fostering a society free from discrimination, promoting overall well-being.

Running head: COMMUNITY SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA
COMMUNITY SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA
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Community service can be defined as a type of work done by an individual or a team
of individuals for the well-being of other people. Community service can offer help and
assistance to any person or group including the physically or mentally handicapped people,
adolescents and retired people (Jenson & Fraser, 2011). In addition to this, community
service organizations also help the distressed animals and birds. In some cases, community
service organizations also perform civic duties, such as renovating buildings of historic
importance or cleaning up local recreation grounds and others. Though, the concept of
Community service organizations originated in the west, at present, it can be found in most of
the countries in the world (Vinson, 2009). This essay outlines the fact to elaborate on the
conception of the community service organizations in Australia and the various factors
related to the ethos, professional values, social justice, social barriers and theoretical
approaches of the community service organizations in Australia.
The community service sector in Australia does not have a proper historical set up
like the French or the Canadian community service sector. This is because it had originated at
the time of the beginning of the social revolutionary movements in the late nineteenth
century. Later, community service sector in Australia evolved around the social rehabilitation
of the people belonging to the Aboriginal community in Australia (Purdie, Dudgeon &
Walker, 2010). Community service sector in Australia encompasses a broad group of
organizations. The types of community service organizations in Australia are:
 Community service organizations, that serves the people, residing in the local
community. Examples are sporting organizations, cooperatives society and
others.
 Community service organizations, which are funded financially, to carry out
certain activities. Examples are the domestic violence organizations, childcare
organizations and the drug rehabilitation organizations.

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 Community service organizations that perform communal activities such as
religious groups, labor unions and environmental watch groups.
In Australia, there are both non-governmental community service organizations as
well as governmental community service organizations. The governmental community
service organizations are the community service organizations, which have been established
by an act or the charter of the government. The government oversees and supervises the
operations of the organization through their appointed people. These community service
organizations are also financially funded by the government (Flatau, 2013). They provide
services which such as providing accommodation and financial assistance and others.
Examples are Aboriginal Hostels Limited and National Disability Insurance Scheme. The
non-governmental organizations are the community service organizations that have been
established by the initiative of an individual or a group of individuals with the goal of social
welfare in mind. These community service organizations receive funding from the
contributions of the public, business magnates, corporate houses and others. They provide
services such as rehabilitation, social protection and counseling. Examples are Homelessness
NSW and Foster Parent’s Support Network.
There are certain ethos and practices for workers in the Australian human service
professions. They are providing good service and social justice to the clients. Clients are
people who are in deep need of communal service assistance. The human service workers
must respect the self-esteem and honor of the clients. The workers must understand and value
the harmony of human kinship. The workers themselves must be person of respectful
integrity and nature. The workers must be proficient enough to deliver competent work. The
generic knowledge and skills required by most human service workers in Australia are
empathy, emotional intelligence, good communication, setting boundaries between personal
and professional sphere, mental strength and determination and last, but not the least, the art

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of tolerance (Lawrence, 2016). Empathy and emotional intelligence are required by a human
service worker to understand the grievances of the clients in a profound manner. Good
communication skills are required by a human service worker to understand the exact context
of the problem and to provide assuring support verbally. A human service worker must know
to separate the professional life from personal life and should not involve oneself too
personally with the situation of the client. Mental strength and determination are required by
a human service worker to effectively handle the case of a client without stressing oneself. In
order to become a good human service worker, an individual must be tolerant of all racial,
economical and social class, because human service workers are supposed to serve clients of
all color, background and religion (Ife, 2008). Overall, human service workers must possess
the required generic knowledge of listening to the client, empathizing with the client and then
delivering situation-specific productive solutions and assistances. There are some instances
where the specialist skill and knowledge of human service workers are needed. The sectors of
mental health, counseling, child welfare and substance abuse require the human service
workers, working there, to have the specialist skills.
There are certain professional values, which are essential in the community service
and human service practice in Australia. They are accountability, rectitude, responsibility,
continuous development, learning, and having the ability to work in teams (Dubois & Mile,
2013). The human service and community service workers must hold the accountability and
responsibility of any work performed by them. They must have the rectitude to think morally.
They must always have the thirst for acquiring further knowledge and learning so that they
could enhance their understanding of the work. Finally, the community and human service
workers must have the ability to deliver exceptional performance by working harmoniously
in teams because community service work is a team-based work. Social justice is the concept
of having unbiased and equitable associations between the people and the social community.

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In the field of community service work, social justice is an important notion (Sue, Rushed &
Rushed, 2015). Provision of social justice is the primary function and motive in a community
service organization. The social worker must work to provide social justice to the battered
and oppressed clients. Social barriers are unavoidable in the Australian community service
sector. Both the clients and the community service workers face certain social barriers in their
line of work. For example, people hold certain negative perceptions against mental illness.
Community service workers face social opposition when they come to offer professional aid
or a helping hand to a mentally ill person. Similarly, when a mentally ill person seeks
professional community service treatment, he or she is vehemently dissuaded against doing
so by the family members, friends or the society, at large (Swan et al., 2013). In addition to
this, certain people in the society have the false understanding that community service work
is not a constructive line of work. It is thought to be a waste of time and useless. It offers
nothing, but hollow affirmation. Above are some of the social barriers faced by the
community service sector and the clients in Australia. These social barriers exist due to
people’s ignorance, incomprehension and a lack of knowledge for the community service
work.
There are certain theoretical approaches that exist in professional community service
work. They are:-
 Psychological theory- Psychological theory specifies on approaching
the problem of a client by having the notion that clients are molded by
and retaliate to their social set up.
 Psychodynamic theory- Psychodynamic theory specifies on reflecting
the causes of the behavior of the clients. It makes the community
service worker to emphasize on the inner world of psychology of the
client.

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 Transpersonal theory- Transpersonal theory deals on encouraging the
client to overcome hardships and inculcate appreciative manners.
 Social cognitive theory- Social cognitive theory centers on the fact of
the influence of the habitat in the client’s temperament and thereby the
accompanying positive changes adopted by the client.
 Systems theory- System theory states that the conduct of the client
depends upon various factors, which resembles as a system. The
factors may be school, peer groups, guardians and others.
The aforementioned theoretical approaches to professional community work helps to
make the work of the community service workers well ordered and effortless (Payne, 2015).
In the conclusion, it can be said that the community service sector in Australia is ever
evolving and dynamic. The government in Australia has further taken the initiative to make
the community service sector accessible to all the communities in Australia. The sector of
community service must be adopted by every country in the world for the social well-being
and welfare of the residents of the country. Community service sector performs the crucial
work of providing helpful assistance to the aggrieved people of a country. Doing this, the
community service sector saves the life of millions and helps to prevent the occurrence of
unfortunate incidents, such as suicides. Community service sector helps to increase the social
mobility of a country, directly and the life standard of its people. indirectly. Community
service sector helps to erase all sorts of discrimination, prevalent in a society and helps all the
citizens in a country to lead a beautiful and content life.

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