WEL101A: Introduction to Community Service Essay - Overview

This essay provides an introduction to community service, defining it as non-paying work benefiting the community and exploring its differences from volunteering. It examines the four domains of human services: individual, families, group, and communities, highlighting the person-centered approach and the importance of family therapy. The essay delves into social justice, professional and personal values, and cultural competence within community service. It identifies social barriers like unemployment and lack of education that hinder social inclusion, particularly for disabled people. Finally, the essay discusses theoretical frameworks, specifically intersectionality, to understand the complexities of oppression and the need for a holistic approach in community service.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Four domains of human services.....................................................................................................2
Individual domain........................................................................................................................2
Families’ domain-........................................................................................................................3
Group domain-.............................................................................................................................3
Communities’ domain-................................................................................................................4
Social justice and community sector...............................................................................................4
Social barriers hindering social inclusion........................................................................................6
Theoretical frameworks...................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9

2INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
Introduction
Community service is defined as a job that is non-paying which is performed by a group
of people or by a single person in order to benefit their own institution and their community
(Henderson, Revell & Escobar, 2018). Community service is different from volunteering the
work is always not done on a voluntary basis. The people who perform community service are
often rewarded with food, t-shirts or small gifts as token of appreciation for their noble work.
Community service lends their hand for help mainly to people in need like senior citizens,
disabled people, children, new language learners and many more. The work is not only limited to
people but help is also provided to animals like injured animals or animals who need shelter.
Community services are also used in order to improve places like historic buildings and local
park. These services are mostly organized through local groups like non-profit organizations,
places of worship and schools. This paper aims on exploring the professional values in
community service work.
Four domains of human services
There are four domains to human services that are individual domain, families’ domain,
communities’ domain and group domain.
Individual domain- Individual domain mostly has a person centered approach and people
working in the human services care about the people they support genuinely and always want to
help people so that can live a positive and a healthy life (Paciello, Ghezzi, Tramontano,
Barbaranelli & Fida, 2016). They try to support the people in need n the best way and help them
achieve their desired goals. This person centeredness is related to the person receiving the

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support as the help provided by the people in human services has a huge impact on the lives of
the people who are receiving the support and it often helps them to acquire a better life in the
long run which eventually benefits them and makes the person working in human services
satisfied.
Families’ domain- Family therapy approaches are considered to be necessary and important
for the therapeutic progress of people (Gelin, Fuso, Hendrick, Cook‐Darzens & Simon, 2015). It
has been seen that there are children and adolescent that has been facing psychosocial problems
that have a close link with the family. According to several researches, the functioning of the
youth can improve with positive family relations. Adolescents facing problems in the families
usually have a high drop put rate in comparison to adolescents belonging from a healthy family.
Family collaboration strategies like multidimensional family therapy and functional family
therapy have helped in engaging families to take treatments and has also helped the youths from
overcoming the behavioral issues and other issues they face that often act as a hindrance in their
overall development (Gelin et al, 2016).
Group domain- There is many people who belong to groups that are diverse culturally as well
as linguistically. This often creates a problem as they are unable to communicate and often feel
alienated in social groups and even in the workforce. . These barriers often make people feel
lonely as they are unable to participate in many activities and initiate conversation. In order to
help these people, community services try to include them in general activities and try and
initiate conversations with them to give them a sense of belonging and make them feel wanted
which makes them feel happy and keeps them motivated. They also help them in learning the
necessary language in order to curb the issue of language barrier.

4INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
Communities’ domain- The aim of community services is to mainly help others for their
benefits. To carry out the work in the community services there are some core values that the
people carrying out the work should follow. One of the core values is to have respect for
diversity. People need to acknowledge the different values and beliefs of other people and
respect them. The other is equality, every individual should be treated the same and there should
be no kind of discrimination among the people that need help. Assessment of the problem and
working towards curbing the issue is another value that community services possess. These core
values pave way for honest and fruitful community service.
Social justice and community sector
Social justice is defined as a concept of just relations and fairness between the society
and the people or an individual. It means the equal access to privileges, opportunities and wealth
within the society. Social justice is considered to be one of the core values of community
services and has a link with human rights. Community services work to help people with their
rights and with the difficulties they face which makes social justice and community services
related in some ways.
There are some domains of human services that are often linked with social justice that
helps in delivering quality community services to people to help them and ensure the well being
of the people.
Professional values- There are certain professional values that an individual needs to consider
and have in an organization. These values are mainly honesty, communication, respect towards
one and another and also equality. These are also core values of social justice and it is important
for people to attain these values in order to maintain a positive workforce, help subordinates and

5INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
others who face difficulties in the workplace. Equality is one of the most important factors and
there should be no discrimination in the workplace on the basis of caste, gender and everyone is
entitled to have same pay, equal attention and get rewards and recognition on the basis of their
merit. Openness and proper communication helps maintain transparency and also help in
building positive relationships which is important and also paves way for social justice.
Personal values- Every individual has personal values and beliefs which influences their
behaviour and their decision making process. Every individual needs to have some values that
are ethical that not only look at their own benefits but also ensure they do no harm to others
(Sagiv, Roccas, Cieciuch & Schwartz, 2017). If an individual believes in equality then they
should behave or make decisions that ensure equality is maintained in the society. This is one of
the values of social justice and it ensures that every individual enjoys the equal rights in the
society and nobody is deprived of any rights and opportunities due to biased decisions in the
society.
Cultural competence- Cultural competence is defined as the ability to communicate and
understand and interact with people belonging from different cultures (Garneau & Pepin, 2015).
It is important for people to follow their own beliefs and culture and at the same time respect
other cultures and their beliefs to maintain harmony and peace in the society which ensures
equality in the society. This ensures people live happily and in harmony which is what social
justice means as it aims on people enjoying their own rights and also maintains equality in the
society as it is one of the important factors of a healthy society and environment which paves
way for quality of life.

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Capacity to self-reflect and self-apprise- It is important for every individual to self-reflect and
self-apprise. Self-reflection is important as it helps an individual to assess their own behaviour,
their own values and understand the reason behind their actions. It also important to tell oneself
what is right and what is wrong. This personal analysis of an individual is important to make
ethical decisions and make sure individuals do the right that will be beneficial for them as well as
others. This will help in facilitating social justice as it focuses on doing right and making positive
decisions without harming others.
Social barriers hindering social inclusion
Social inclusion is important in order to maintain a peaceful and harmonious society and
most community services work in order to achieve this for the betterment of the people as well as
the society. However there are certain social barriers that hinder social inclusion in the society.
Disabled people are often excluded from the society due to some social barriers which are the
following:
Unemployment- People who are disabled are often not employed and not considered by
organizations due to the perception of the people. Disabled people despite of their qualifications
and skills are often not hired for jobs as people think that their disability may come in the way of
their jobs which may lead to poor performance which may have a negative impact on the
organization. This has become one of the most noted social barrier for the disabled and has
impacted them negatively as they are often deprived of their rights which often leads them to
suffer from poverty due to lack of jobs and proper income (Barr et al, 2016). This hinders the
social inclusion of disabled people in the workplace as well as in the society.

7INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
Lack of education- According to reports, most disable people drop out of school and colleges
because of the lack of facilities in schools and colleges and the attitude of other students and
teachers towards the disabled people (Evans, Brown, Rees & Smith, 2017). They are often not
given any preference in co-curricular activities; they have very few friends because of their
disability which makes them feel lonely due to the lack of participation and make them quit
schools and colleges to overcome this problem that they face. This is a big issue as it has been
seen that disabled people and children are not well qualified which becomes a problem later in
the future as well and becomes a huge social barrier that hinders social inclusion.
It is not always the people who are in need face social barriers but even workers of the
community sector face various social barriers which hinders their job.
Accessibility issues- People working in the community sector aim on providing people with
their rights and also help to attain a good life. However there are many cases where people suffer
in the family and often face domestic violence but do not come out in the open about facing these
issues in public due to image they have in the society. This becomes a huge barrier for social
workers to carry out their job and help the person in need as these people do not speak up
because of their values and reputation in the public.
Traditional issues- There are many people who still believe in the traditional values which are
highly unethical and violate several laws. It becomes difficult for workers of the community
sector fight a battle against a big community (Kataeva et al, 2015). Revolting and questioning
traditional values of certain cultures often hurts the sentiments of the people which make them
become a huge a barrier for the workers of the community sector as they do not approve of their
views and practices which makes their jobs difficult and often unsuccessful. There have been

8INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
many traditional values like child marriage which are wrong in the eyes of the law however a
traditional value and practice for many.
Theoretical frameworks
Intersectionality
Intersectionality is often said to be the view in which the women experience and face
oppression in various degrees of intensity and varying configurations. The cultural patterns of
oppression are bound together and interrelated and are mostly influenced by the intersectional
systems of the society like gender, class, ethnicity, race and ability (Collins & Bilge, 2016).
It has been seen that there are various issues that are faced by women all over the world
and women who belong from different societies however the issues are always looked from the
perspective of one society and the others are somehow neglected. This is where the professional
work that is undertaken by the community sector becomes relevant as they see to the needs of
every woman without any discrimination paving way for equality. Thus people working in
community sector takes Intersectionality seriously and tries to work differently with different
individuals in order to ensure their benefits and happiness in the society. There have been many
intersecting oppressions in the world which shows discrimination among the genders as well. For
example, in the United States Latina immigrant women are viewed differently than immigrant
women belonging from other castes.
Biopsychosocial model
The Biopsychosocial model was first introduced by George Engel in the year 1977. The
Biopsychosocial model states that in order to understand the medical condition of a person, it is

9INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
important to consider social and psychological factors with biological factors. This model
suggests that the main root cause of certain medical issues or conditions of a person have
something to do with the social or psychological factors (Lehman, David & Gruber, 2017). One
may be suffering from depression because of psychological problems like lack of social skills or
because of social problems like issues in the family or school or in some other place. This model
is usually used during chronic pain. The chronic pain is considered to be a psychophysiological
behaviour which cannot be further classified into social, psychological and biological factors
alone. There are propositions that physiotherapy should assimilate psychological treatment in
order to address the components that comprise the experiences of the chronic pain.
These often pave for issues that hinder the happiness and the quality of life of the people
thus community services perform work on these aspects in order to ensure the overall well being
of the people that help them grow and develop as individuals in order to cope up in the society
Various community services work on people with adverse medical condition and many work on
people who go through psychological issues. In order to stay fit, it is important for people to stay
fit physically as well as mentally thus community services working in order to curb their issues is
relevant and important.
Conclusion
Community services are noble works that are carried out and performed by people for the
benefits of the other community. It is often considered to be an act of selflessness and kindness.
Community services has become a profession where the main aim is to ensure the well being of
the society and to ensure everyone in the society is living a normal and a good life. Community
services have helped many people who have been in distress and have been violated of their

10INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
rights. This work has helped in promoting equality in the society and has been fighting for social
justice that is required in the society for a healthy and positive society. Community services have
been beneficial for many people and have helped people to figure out or channel out their goals
and has helped them achieve their desired goals and has helped in carving a better life and future
for the individuals in need.

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Whitehead, M. (2016). Fit-for-work or fit-for-unemployment? Does the reassessment of
disability benefit claimants using a tougher work capability assessment help people into
work?. J Epidemiol Community Health, 70(5), 452-458.
Collins, P. H., & Bilge, S. (2016). Intersectionality. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from
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