My name is Brian Fleurantin and I live in Brooklyn, New York. I am 23 years old and work for HeartShare Human Services of New York, a non-profit agency that works with the developmentally disabled. I attend New York City College of Technology and I am currently in the Human Services major. I have been in this major since September of 2011. I hope to obtain my Associate’s Degree within the next year.

I decided to join the HUS field in 2011. I decided to join because I wanted to learn about the field and what it had to offer. Before I joined the major, I thought Human Service workers were only social workers. When I tell my friends and family that I’m in the Human Services major, they automatically assume social work. I wanted to learn about what the field had to offer and what I could do in it. After my first semester, I felt the program was right for me because it helped me build on my personal and professional strengths.

I view my ability to work well within others as a personal and professional strength. I see it as a personal and professional strength because I have been able to work with a variety of people at work, in school, and in my personal life to great success. As an example, I was able to lead and coordinate a group of ten people for my Adolescent and Adult Psychology class in 2011. Our topic was “Adolescents and the Various Issues that Effect their Lives.” In the group, I arranged group meetings, kept my teammates informed as to the progress of the group, as well as designing and organizing our powerpoint presentation. We did great and received the highest grade in the class. Even though I only had class with my group members for one semester, I became friends with all of them and stay in occasional contact with them.

I think my work ethic is a personal and professional strength that will aid my Human Services work. I always try to stay busy and active by reading various news articles, reports and books. At work, I try to complete as many things as I can and ask for new tasks from my supervisors in order to become a better worker. I also assist my friends with the projects they are working on if they ask for my help. This work ethic comes from my parents. Even though my parents don’t always feel well, they always go to work and do the best that they can. I feel that I got my work ethic from them because

At this point, I think I would want to work with the developmentally disabled. I want to work with this group because I already have some experience with this community. For the past 19 months, I have worked as a direct support professional for HeartShare. I work with ten developmentally disabled adults and assist them with activities of daily living among other things. I believe that my experience, along with strengths, will help me while working with this group. I also want to work with this population because it provides me an opportunity to build on my strengths as well as challenge me to develop new skills.

A skill I have begun to develop is patience. Sometimes, I become very agitated and upset with myself whenever a project I am working on doesn’t go the way that I want it to. I would become angry to the point where I would want to quit what I was working on. Human Services has helped me develop this skill because I understand that I have to be able to control and manage my emotions when working in the field. The projects I have worked on and my experience at work has taught me that if I stay focused, I will be able to reach my goals. Developing a sense of patience will help when working with the developmentally disabled because although they may not be able to complete tasks at the same speed of others, they are able to do things like others. I have to be able to recognize that there may be some limitations and be able to work at their pace. Patience is also important because when advocating for an issue, I won’t get the desired result immediately and have to be able to work through any difficulties that may arise.

One human services need of the developmentally disabled is access to suitable care. Earlier this year, Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed cutting $120 million funding for agencies that work with the developmentally disabled. By cutting $120 million, agencies will be forced into providing fewer services for the developmentally disabled. These cuts represent a Human Services need because it is a call for direct advocacy. Human Service professionals have to be able to advocate for their clients and express how troublesome the proposed cuts would be for the community. Professionals have been doing this, as there were protests in Albany against the cuts as well as an editorial in the New York Daily News by Charles Houston, the Executive Director of the Queens Center for Progress, opposing the cuts.

I expect to see myself working in a management position in ten years. During this time, I hope to have obtained my Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services. I hope to focus my education on learning how to create and craft proposals that will help the communities that I’m working with. I’ll try to improve on my skills by working with and learning about different cultures. I can do this through studying cultures as well as spending time in those communities getting to know people.  This will help me because I will be exposed to new cultures and have the chance to learn new skills from a new group of people.

The human services field has been a great challenge for me. I’ve grown to like it because it is a great opportunity for me to develop my skills as well as learn some new ones. Although everyone in the field and those who aspire to join the field want to help others, I’ve taken to this major because helping others succeed is something that I have always liked doing. I get to work with people who may not receive the attention and assistance that they and the issues they face need. As I continue in human services, I hope that I am able to learn more skills and be able to make a difference in the lives of the people that I work with.