The document discusses five key human services values: acceptance, tolerance, individuality, self-determination, and confidentiality. It provides four examples from students discussing situations where they may have difficulty practicing one of the values, such as tolerance when working with an abusive client. The students propose solutions like providing resources to empower clients while also maintaining safety and the client relationship.

1. HSM Discussion Board and examples
Briefly summarize the five human services values presented in
this week’s readings. Then describe a situation in which you
would have difficulty using one of those values as a guiding
principle for your actions. Why is the human services value you
selected difficult to practice? Propose solutions that address
these difficulties.
Example 1:
Class,
In our textbook Woodside and McClam (2019) describe the 5
values important to the practice of human services. They are:
1. Acceptance: the ability of the helper to be receptive
regardless of behavior or dress.
2. Tolerance: ability of the helper to be fair and patient toward
each client, and not to judge, blame, or punish for prior
behaviors.
3. Individuality: Recognizing and treating each person
individually and not based off of stereotypes such as lifestyle,
problems, assets, and previous life experiences.
4. Self-determination: Allows the client to make up their own
mind when it comes to decision-making and actions to be taken.
5. Confidentiality: Helper will not discuss client’s cases with
others, nor will they use what they discuss with clients as
conversation fodder with friends and family.
I would have a hard time exercising tolerance if my client was a
repeat offender for domestic and/ or child abuse. It would be
very difficult not to judge that behavior or to want to help that
client. I would feel torn between wanting to get them the help
they needed in order to hopefully stop the cycle of violence, but
in my heart I would want to be helping ensure the child or
domestic partner was out of that situation and never had to see
my client again, unless they chose to. On the flip side, if my
client was the abuse victim and continuously kept an abuser in
their life, and those of their children, it would be equally

2. difficult to be tolerant of that behavior. I would definitely feel
the urge to throw the value of self-determination out the
window as well and make decisions for my client...which I
know is not an option.
Tolerance can be hard to practice when other's actions go
against your own moral and ethical values. You pretty much
need to shut your own emotions up in a box and try and connect
people to services no matter what. I think with proper training
and confidence in the services you are providing, one can
practice the 5 values. If I come to believe in a program that I
think may help an abuser learn to reverse their behavior in
future, maybe I would have more tolerance when working with
them.
Woodside, M., & McClam, T. (2019). An introduction to human
services (9th ed.). Boston, MA:
Cengage.
Example 2:
Hi everyone,
The follow are the top five human service values discussed in
our book, Introduction to Human Services (Woodside &
McClam, 2019)
1. Acceptance is the ability of the helper to be receptive to
another person regardless of dress or behavior
2. Tolerance is the helper’s ability to be patient and fair toward
each client rather than judging, blaming, or punishing the client
for prior behavior.
3. Individuality is expressed in the qualities or characteristics
that make each person unique, distinctive from all other people.
4. Self-determination is allowing the client to decide for
themselves on a course of action or resolution to a problem.
5. Confidentiality is the helper’s assurance to clients that helper
will not discuss their case with another person and that what
they discuss between them will not be subject of conversation

3. with helper’s friends, family, or other clients.
Personally, I find self-determination to be an area where I feel
that I would struggle the most. Just by looking introspectively
at my role as a mom, I always want to help solve my children’s
issues. When dealing with my teenager, there are times I find
myself solving issues for her, when in reality it is my job to
help guide her to solve her issues. I have even found myself
doing the same with my toddler – his concerns are much less
complex of course, but nonetheless; I find myself not allowing
him to figure things our for himself. The book best summarized
my dilemma when it comes to helping “human service
professionals must remember that clients are responsible for
themselves and make their own decisions. Giving advice or
telling someone what do does not encourage responsibility or
promote self-help…” (Woodside & McClam, 2019)
Solution
? I need to learn to step back. Promoting self help is an
opportunity to allow people to grow and see what they capable
of doing. By taking over other peoples problems (my children
in this case) I am stunting their growth and ability to learn.
References
Woodside, M., & McClam, T. (2019). Introduction To Human
Services. Boston MA: Cenagage Learning.
Example 3:
Hi Class,
According to the text, Woodside & McClam (2019),
confidentiality, acceptance, individualism, self-determination

4. and tolerance are the five human services values.
Confidentiality refers to maintaining respect with our clients
and their privacy. Acceptance refers to accepting them for
human beings, without judgement or discrimination.
Individualism, along the same lines, allows the human services
professional to view each client as an individual with individual
scenarios, without being compared to another. Self-
determination offers the guidance to help the client help
themselves and work toward a client who can self-maintain
eventually. And tolerance is the ability to remain patient and
allow the client to progress in their own way in their own
time.
For me, tolerance would be the most difficult thing. I have no
problem accepting people for who they are, what they've done,
each individuals scenario or how they perceived what happened
to them and how it's affecting them. What has been hard in my
life is allowing others to find their own path in their own time.
I want everyone to listen to the way I did it, or what I learned
from my experience. And, while this may offer some guidance,
it will not help most people because it was how I helped myself
with my own particular situation. Even I won't listen to
anyone's advice, I always have to find things out on my own so
I should know better. For example, I was 4 years old and there
was a hot iron on the table and my mom told me not to touch it,
but I didn't want to take her word, I had to touch it and find out

5. for myself. Tolerance might be the most difficult because once
we find out what helps someone, we want that solution to help
everyone and with human services this can't always be true.
Woodside, M.R., and McClam, T. (2019). An introduction to
human services. (9th ed). Boston MA: Cengage Learning.
Example 4:
Hi everyone,
Five widely recognized human services values include
acceptance, tolerance, individuality, self-determination, and
confidentiality.
Acceptance is the ability of the helper to be receptive of clients
regardless of behavior, dress, or characteristics and appreciating
their culture and family background.
Tolerance is the helpers ability to be fair towards clients, taking
a non-judgmental stance, and not blaming or punishing the
client for prior behavior.
Individuality is the helpers ability to recognize differences
between everyone and honor the fact that everyone experiences
life differently and comes from different circumstances, it is
treating clients personally and not generalizing treatment or
opinions.
Self-determination is allowing clients to make their own
decisions about their treatment, goals, and overall life direction,
even if it differs from what the helper would choose.

6. Confidentiality is not sharing personal information about a
client without permission. This includes family and friends.
The only exceptions would be to discuss the case with a
supervisor in circumstances of absolute necessity for the best
interest of the client, or if the client reports plan to hurt
themselves or others, or in circumstances of child abuse.
(Woodside & McClam, 2019)
Most of these values are also core values for me personally,
though in certain circumstances a few of the values would be
difficult to uphold. For example, in the case of domestic abuse
if the client is reluctant to leave abuse, it would make the
values of self-determination and confidentiality challenging. I
would not want to see the client continue to be hurt or see them
return to dangerous situations. However, I do understand that
everyone facing abuse also faces immense obstacles that must
be overcome to escape safely. I also understand if a client does
not fully comprehend or accept that abuse is taking place
themselves, even if they leave, they are likely to return; so, it
would not be in the clients best interest to break confidentiality
and/or self-determination values to attempt to force the client
away from the abuser. This could also cause the client to lose
trust in the helper and prevent the ability to offer further
support. A dissertation by Jennifer F. Wiech of Smith College
completed a study on social worker's feelings when faced with
the challenge of domestic violence, the study found " the social

7. work value of upholding a client’s right to self-determination
can be challenged in a variety of ways while working with
women and families experiencing domestic violence" (Wiech,
2009, p. 53).
Potential solutions to address these difficulties include
providing resources and information about abuse and services
available to the client then simply asking them to consider what
is presented. Also, creating a safety plan with the client that
fits their emotional and physical needs will give the client
control while also stimulating insight and safety. The
dissertation by Jennifer Wiech concluded with multiple social
services groups arguing for social workers to encourage their
clients to make the call to authorities with the support of the
clinician, and mentioned research that noted how this process of
intervening is paramount to empowering clients and addressing
the tensions between honoring self-determination and adhering
to ethics and laws (Wiech, 2009). Including the client in plans
regarding domestic abuse is necessary not only to maintain an
active relationship with the client, but also for the overall safety
of the client.
References
Wiech, J.F. (2009). How social workers resolve the ethical
dilemmas that arise when working with women experiencing
domestic violence. Retrieved
from https://scholarworks.smith.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article

8. =2236&context=theses (Links to an external site.)
Woodside, M.R., and McClam, T. (2019). An introduction to
human services. (9th ed). Boston MA: Cengage Learning.