What are human services? The definition of human services is taken from 6 perspectives, which are 1. The themes and purposes of human services, 2. The interdisciplinary nature of human services, 3. The helping relationship, 4. Management principles, 5. Professional roles and 6. Professional activities. The three functions of a human services professional are different depending on the individual you are providing care to. The first, social assistance, serves to help people meet their social needs. Social care is specifically designed for those who cannot care for themselves. Examples of this could be the elderly, children, victims, refugees and people with mental or physical disabilities. Social control is different from social assistance in 2 ways: one is who receives the assistance and second is how they receive it. Social control is for people who can take care of themselves but have not done so, or have done so, but in a way that society deems inappropriate. Social control also has the aspect that someone else will decide whether to receive social control. Examples of this are children, young people or adults in the criminal justice system. Rehabilitation is the third function of human services. Rehabilitation is defined as “the task of returning an individual to a previous level of functioning. The need for rehabilitation is created by someone who is unable to fully function and becomes socially, physically, or psychologically impaired. Historical Origins and Development Human services are primarily based on three other disciplines, including sociology, psychology, and anthropology. To understand the client and the culture in which the human services professional will work, it is critical that they have a basic foundation… middle of paper… Hierarchy of Needs. With this perspective, the human services professional asks “whose needs are not being met?” and then develop a plan. Social change is a perspective that includes the changes that are happening around the customer and how this affects the customer. For example, homeless clients may seek help from a helper because the professional can help them understand what is happening in society that keeps them homeless or makes them homeless and how they can move forward as a result. The perspective of environmental influences includes the individual client, the client's family, social institutions, and global influences. The environmental influence perspective looks at how what is happening globally is affecting what happens in social institutions, which impacts what is happening in their family, which directly impacts the client, and vice versa..