Human services, which are also known as the helping professions, can be characterized as an interdisciplinary field. Interdisciplinary means that something involves two or more subjects or specialties. Such a field of work or study draws knowledge from multiple academic or artistic disciplines. The helping professions rely on specialties such as psychology, psychotherapy, sociology, and counseling. Becoming a helper means acquiring knowledge from different areas to help meet the need of clients. Human services are an interdisciplinary field because they involve the holistic application of theories and skills from various domains.
One reason why human services are regarded as an interdisciplinary field is because they rely on theories from numerous spheres. This line of work is not founded on knowledge from a single area of study. Instead, human services are the amalgamation of counseling, casework, social policy and planning, and psychotherapy, among other specialties (Corey & Corey, 2021). For instance, for a psychotherapist working with an at-risk child, knowledge of psychotherapy theories may not be sufficient to meet the needs of the child. They could help the child through a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and family systems theory, which are theories in psychology and human behavior, respectively. Provision of human services entails the application of theories from different disciplines.
Besides drawing theories from several fields, human services are interdisciplinary because they require distinct skills. Corey and Corey (2021) explain that human services professionals should work in a variety of settings to become multidimensional professionals. The helping professions require numerous proficiencies, including counseling, consulting, communication, crisis intervention, networking, and organizational skills. No one field can sufficiently train a student to be a human services professional. Students must be flexible enough to acquire competencies and practical experiences from different disciplines. The authors give an example of students who are initially interested in practicing counseling exclusively but later prefer administrative, managerial, or supervisory roles (Corey & Corey, 2021). Such students need to acquire managerial know-how in addition to the counseling skills they originally possessed. From this, it is evident that when studying or practicing human services work, it is vital to equip oneself with skills from assorted fields.
Lastly, human services are described as an interdisciplinary field because they often involve interprofessional collaboration. The true mark of an interdisciplinary field of study is when different professionals work together in pursuit of a shared goal. Helping a person can be a complex task that a single professional cannot manage singlehandedly, no matter how skilled they are. In some cases, cooperation between various human services professionals is necessary (Corey & Corey, 2021). For instance, after leaving prison, a person may find themselves homeless and turn to drugs to find solace. Such a case may necessitate collaboration between a parole officer, a substance abuse counselor, and a mental health aide to develop a plan of care for the client. Each professional brings meaningful insights from their own field of practice. Together, they are more equipped to help the client than if they acted individually. Thus, human services are an interdisciplinary field because different professionals often collaborate to achieve a common goal.
In summary, an interdisciplinary field is one that draws on knowledge from various academic areas. Provision of human services takes an integrative approach to helping people. Human services work is a holistic practice that relies on counseling, sociology, casework, and administration and management, among other disciplines. Human beings are complex, and it would be erroneous to assume that a single field can provide all the answers to the challenges that people encounter in their lives.
Reference
Corey, M. S., & Corey, G. (2021). Becoming a helper (8th ed.). Cengage Learning, Inc.