My Dream Job: A Counselor For Youths Involved In The Justice System

Human Services Professionals help meet the needs of humans through integrative knowledge base skills, prevention and remediation of conflicts, while maintaining commitment to improving the overall quality of life of service populations. After completing the competence and skills necessary for human service work, I see myself working as a Probation Officer for those involved in the Justice System. I see myself in the field of Probationary work because they are not only helping reintegrate offenders back into the community; their job involves many skills mentioned within the human service department. Probation Officers are members who fall under the human services umbrella when looking into the thirteen roles and functions of human service professional.

Probation Officers are outreach workers who are constantly traveling and going into communities to work with probationers. They also provide community and service networking when helping clients find and use services. Probation Officers will find themselves defending probationers rights and causes when monitoring them on good behavior. One may even consider probation officers consultants as probationers may open up to their probation officer on current issues they face. As a result, probation officers may offer their knowledge to other professionals to meet with clients to discuss and solve issues. Probation officers are caregivers who encourage and offer support with hope to their client. They also provide a system of statistics and facts to help when evaluating these individuals. Probation officers work hand in hand with specialists or trained professionals such as counselors, police officers and the courts.

My dream job after pursuing a job as a Probation Officer is to become a counselor for youths involved in the Justice System. With the law enforcement background and experiences in helping those involved in the Justice System, as well as being able to relate to troubled teens as I once was a troubled adolescent, I hope to contribute my knowledge and experience to communities that lack a positive support system, who are uneducated, inform them of the resources available, and to help them achieve a life where they feel fulfilled and truly happy. The adolescent years help shape how an individual will interact and view the world as an adult. The importance of providing a proper living, social structure, social care, and opportunity for adolescence is to help develop the knowledge and skills to control their relationships and emotions that evolve into adult roles. Adult Offenders have generally faced some form of physical, mental or psychological abuse as a child or teen that has supplemented to their offenses or re-offense.

As a juvenile counselor I hope to empower juveniles in making successful decisions, reform their social skills into adulthood, while holding them accountable for their wrong doings and prevent them from reoffending. Teens often find themselves having trouble in interacting with their environment. As a counselor we are trained to address these issues by observing the situation, stating how the individual feels and their needs and focus on their requests to improve their lives. Self-sufficiency is critical on an individual as it promotes strength towards self-esteem. Encouraging youths to believe in themselves on their ability to make the changes needed aids self-sufficiency.