Introduction
Among the most significant and extensive in the country, New York City’s shelter system serves homeless people and their families by offering them support services and transitional housing. Thousands of people use their services daily due to the many challenges they face in life, forcing them out of their homes. However, it is important to reflect on the features and challenges of the City’s shelter system and practitioners’ daily struggles to see if they have impacted my desire to pursue a career in this field. Thus, it is important to briefly describe the shelter system of NYC and underline why shelter workers are essential.
Understanding the NYC Shelter System and the Role of Shelter Workers
New York City grants people and families a legal right to shelter. Consequently, the City has more people living in shelters than any other significant city in the nation, yet comparatively fewer people live on the streets. Over $2 billion was allocated by the City for homeless programs in 2020, including housing aid, preventative services, and rental assistance (Johnson 2020). Hence, due to the high number of people in the shelter system, shelter workers are extremely important to the City’s community.
Daily Struggles: High Demand and Limited Resources
However, practitioners need to navigate the challenges of the City’s shelter system to find fulfillment in their work. For instance, no long-term, reasonably priced housing options are available to homeless individuals due to the State’s low funding (Johnson 2020). Moreover, practitioners should remember that developing relationships with clients and engaging in active listening while considering their educational level is highly effective in helping clients. Furthermore, they should remember to separate their reality from others, clearly identify client needs, and remember they are only responsible for the process, not the outcome. Thus, knowledge of these issues and techniques will help new workers navigate challenges and find fulfillment while working in the NYC shelter system.
Community Engagement: Building Relationships to Meet Basic Needs
Moreover, human service workers can build relationships within the community to meet clients’ basic needs and gain sponsorship to hold events for the clients. Smooth interactions with other organizations are essential for the operation of most organizations, and the human services sector is no exception (Sweitzer and King, 2018). For instance, the Beacon Youth Shelter refers to and pays for residents in partnership with a food bank, which donates food to them, and a regional clinic for psychiatric treatments. Moreover, to hold events for clients, organizations can host fundraising campaigns and attend networking events to raise support and awareness (Sweitzer and King, 2018). Hence, human service organizations can raise funds for events and essential services for their clients through various means.
Complex Client Cases: Addressing Mental Health, Addiction, and Trauma
However, complex cases, such as mental health problems, addiction, and trauma, may create additional challenges for human service workers. With these problems, the creation of a nurturing social network is key. For example, by accompanying patients to social events outside of the therapy context, professionals can establish social networks with their clients that serve as a bridge to other social networks (Von Greiff, Skogens, and Topor 2019).
Taking Care of the Caregivers: Managing Burnout and Compassion Fatigue
Peer support can help people with mental health issues find, use, and actively participate in recovery support and treatment programs at all levels of care (Gagne et al., 2018). Moreover, this solution effectively deals with burnout and compassion fatigue among social workers (Sweitzer and King, 2018). Therefore, social workers may assist in creating a supportive social network that will help clients and themselves cope with addiction, trauma, and mental health issues.
Conclusion
Hence, the field of human services is a highly complex sphere. Despite caring for more people than in other states, the shelter system in New York City faces challenges such as inadequate funding and a shortage of housing options. However, social workers can overcome these issues by using networking and fundraising campaigns to fulfill their clients’ basic needs and host public events. With that, even the most marginalized groups, like drug addicts and people with mental health problems, can be helped. Hence, the presented problems did not affect my desire to pursue a career in this field, as I know effective ways to overcome them.
References
Gagne, Cheryl, Wanda Finch, Keris Myrick, and Livia Davis. 2018. “Peer Workers in the Behavioral and Integrated Health Workforce: Opportunities and Future Directions.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 54 (6): S258-S266. Web.
Johnson, Corey. 2020. “Our Homelessness Crisis: The Case for Change.” New York City Council. Web.
Sweitzer, Frederick, and Mary King. 2018. The Successful Internship. 5th ed. Belmont: Cengage Learning.
Von Greiff, Ninive, Lisa Skogens, and Alain Topor. 2019. “Supporting Recovery in Social Work with Persons Having Co-Occurring Problems – Clients’ and Professionals’ Perceptions.” Nordic Social Work Research 10 (2): 173-185. Web.