Human services organizations have historically operated independently, without coordination with other organizations, in the provision of services. For example, if a social worker within an organization mandated his or her client receive counseling, the counselor and the social worker would provide their services separately. Little or no collaboration between the two roles may have occurred.

Today’s complex human services environment makes it difficult to operate in this manner. Human services professionals need to be aware of client services in other fields in order to build a network of professionals. This network should complement the client services already provided. The goal of this network is to improve client support.

Collaborating interprofessionally is now the expected standard of practice and requires high levels of interaction between other professionals in the network. This new standard affects all human services professionals and comes with benefits and limitations. For instance, interprofessional collaboration should reduce duplication of services and help ensure that all services needed by a client are available. On the other hand, limitations might exist when there are conflicts of opinions, lack of resources, or professionals have limited knowledge of another organization’s policies or procedures.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 your area of interest within human services. Within this area, describe the other professionals who might interact in a network when serving clients. Provide one instance when interprofessional collaboration might be used (i.e., intake, assessment, interventions, planning). Be specific. Then, explain whether you believe interprofessional collaboration for the Lifelong Initative discussed in the video carousel is beneficial to human services organization in Kalamazoo, MI. Be specific, and provide two examples to support your answer.