Human Services?. That Must Be So Rewarding: A Practical Guide for Professional Development

The second edition of this ultra-practical resource helps both students and professionals in the human services fields be more focused and fulfilled in the work they do. By working through self-analysis exercises on issues such as work-related values and conflicts, personal goals and limits, respect for consumers, collaboration among colleagues, and stress management, readers can learn to avoid burnout and approach their work more realistically and optimistically.

The author offers practical examples and essential survival tips to help professionals keep up with changes in the human services field. The book is illuminated by candid, insightful comments from a variety of experienced professionals, including those who work with people with disabilities, children who have been abused, people with substance addictions, people with chronic mental illnesses, and people at risk for HIV/AIDS.

An essential preservice and in-service training text, as well as an excellent self-help resource for professionals in direct services, social work, counseling, physical and occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, special education, rehabilitation, elder care, and any other human services profession.

Gail S. Bernstein, Ph.D., has been working in human services, health care, and education for more than 30 years. Her work with adults of all ages and with adolescents has taken her to group homes, high schools, supported living environments, long-term care facilities, private residential institutions, vocational habilitation programs, inpatient psychiatric hospitals, and outpatient psychotherapy offices. Dr. Bernstein earned her doctorate in 1978 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Department of Studies in Behavioral Disabilities, and is a licensed psychologist in Colorado. Her work includes her psychotherapy practice in Denver, training and consultation for helping professionals, and writing for both general and professional audiences in print and electronic media. She has clinical faculty appointments at the University of Denver School of Professional Psychology and the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry.