Overwhelmed Mission Statement

Mission Statement and Goals

For my service learning, I volunteered at the Ottawa Country Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS), located at 12185 James St, Holland: [phone]. This is a fairly large agency that is distributed country to country, in the state of Michigan, helping those in need of various forms of financial help for their basic needs. Their mission statement is, “MDHHS provides opportunities, services, and programs that promote a healthy, safe, and stable environment for residents to be self-sufficient. To develop and encourage measurable health, safety and self-sufficiency outcomes that reduce and prevent risks, promote equity, foster healthy habits, and transform the health and human services system to improve

Clients are overwhelmed by the strenuous and extensive circumstances of their asking for assistance, along with the process itself. Case workers appear to have an overabundance of clients and are spreading themselves thin. For the main case worker that works in the lobby, there is minimal tolerance for clients when showing the least bit of negativity. Occasionally, there are times when clients were speaking in a normal tone, voicing their issues, still this worker just seems overwhelmed and stressed. Case workers sometimes forget about meetings with clients, or vice versa, resulting in further complications. Despite this, the case workers overall try their best to give clients the most they can. They tend to be very understanding about turning in paper work late for certain circumstances. Another important aspect of the service learning experience is the realization of client confidentiality. I was amazed at what clients would tell me just because I appeared to be a professional working at the agency. Often, clients will divulge their whole circumstance in a matter of a few minutes simply because you are the face behind the desk. Therefore, it is essential that these stories are kept behind closed doors. In turn, these connections help create a trust between client and case worker. With this trust then case workers can better implement the treatment

When choosing this agency, I had the intent of doing something that was something I had never pictured myself in before. Though it was not a negative experience, it confirmed that it is not an area that I find interesting. Yet, the work that this agency does is highly important. It is imperative when working with this client base that you come across as empathetic, not sympathetic. These individuals often feel ashamed coming for help financially and in this field it is important to appear caring as to looking down upon them. Emotional Intelligence then is key for the success of helping these clients I learned that it is critical to be aware of the client’s emotions as well as your own. Furthermore, I gained the professional skills needed to perform at optimal levels at any social work agency. Nevertheless, I also came to the realization that it is a necessity that these individuals have case workers that can advocate for them in their time of distress. Overall, I gained perspective in this field that I would have otherwise be ignorant to. The tools gained from this experience will help shape my role as a social worker in future