Welcome to Unit 9: Professional Development Robin C. Cooper, LCSW

Announcements Your made it!! Final seminar tonight! Final project due Tuesday by midnight! Remember there is a unit 10 DB to participate in!! Questions?

Unit 9 To-do-list Discussion about early, mid and late career goals Final Project Seminar Questions?

Unit 9 Final Project For your final project, you will write a reflection paper from the point of view of a human service professional in his or her last job in the field. You can choose to be a Chief Executive Officer, or supervisor, or any other job that interests you. The purpose of your paper is to provide advice for others in your agency who are just beginning their careers in human services.

Unit 9 Final Project You will include specific information from your Unit 3 project about using effective coordination between agencies in the community for service delivery. You will also describe some of the best methods for providing direct service to clients using the information from your Unit 6 project.

Unit 9 Final Project You will describe the importance of advocating for the needs of the people in your local community (and for the agencies that serve them). In the last part of the paper, describe at least two of the most important lessons that you learned in working with people in all of your human service jobs.

Unit 9 Final Project Your project should be between 1800 and 2400 words in length. Make sure that sure that you follow APA format, use Standard American English, and cite references within the text of your paper as well as in the reference section. While the text is your main source for this project, please use the Kaplan Library Academic Search Premier database to find at least two articles from peer- reviewed journals. You should also use a minimum of two reliable websites. A good starting point for reliable Internet sources is our government website at

Unit 9 Outcomes Create professional goals in accordance with ethical and legal principles Apply knowledge of culture, gender, diversity, and global perspectives in the delivery of human services

Key concepts Each human service professional must participate in annual, bi-annual, and one-time trainings in order to satisfy legal requirements to earn or maintain certifications (individual or agency). There are trainings that individual human service professionals will want to attend to increase job knowledge and skill. There will also be trainings that human service professionals must attend as an obligation to their agency—to continue to receive public money of any kind, agencies must adhere to strict training standards.

Cont.. Because agency resources are usually limited, human service professionals are expected to track and plan their own training activities (though agencies will pay for legally mandated training).

Cont.. Additionally, most agencies use some form of annual evaluation that is used to gauge employee growth and performance. At some point during the year, professionals write and submit professional goals and plans for meeting/evaluating them.

Cont… Professional activities include taking college classes, attending agency trainings, attending conferences or workshops designed to help human service professionals to strengthen skills, or participating in community coalitions or other advocacy activities.

Professional Development Career Planning Agency requirements Professional Associations (NASW, National HS Association, HS Club…)

DB- Professional Development Professional activities range from formal trainings and classes to informal opportunities to increase skills and knowledge. To ensure that your career is satisfying and successful, it is important to set goals that can be used to guide your path through each stage of your career as a human services professional. In this unit, we will discuss strategies for creating effective professional development plans while employing all of the knowledge and understanding of human service concepts that you have studied during your associates’ program.

DB- Professional Development Follow these steps to create some specific professional development goals. Post your results on the discussion board and then review your classmates’ goals. Offer suggestions for additional training ideas and ask questions.

DB- Professional Development EXAMPLE: Early Career and Duties: Line cook Line cooks are responsible for food preparations, cooking one or two foods on a grill as food is ordered. Goal #1- Attend culinary school to learn more advanced cooking methods. Goal #2- Take a wine class offered at the local wine shop to learn about the best foods to serve with different wines.

DB- Professional Development Mid Career and Duties: Caterer Plan, prepare, serve, and clean up for catering events for clients in their homes or at other locations. Business skills are necessary to plan for ingredients and to keep track of expenses, payments, and taxes. Goal #1- Take a bookkeeping class at the local community college. Goal #2- Read professional catering journals to stay current with advances in the field.

DB- Professional Development Late Career and Duties: Executive chef Oversee all aspects of a restaurant’s operation during lunch and dinner service, including facilitating service between the kitchen and the dining room. Goal #1- Volunteer to apprentice with an executive chef at a locally successful restaurant a few nights a week to learn job skills. Goal #2- Practice cooking difficult dishes to strengthen cooking skills.

DB- Professional Development When you have finished researching and creating your plan, post it and respond to the following questions: What obstacles might you face while working towards your career goals? How will you prevent or reduce the impact of those obstacles when they surface? What have you learned from this exercise? Were you surprised about anything that you learned during your research?

The End!! Final thoughts?? Questions?? me, call me with questions!! Thanks everyone for a great term!!