Indirect Services
“Indirect service involves supporting an organization in fulfilling its obligations to those it serves… Someone working in indirect services may rarely work directly with clients, but will be integrally involved in making sure that the organization runs smoothly” (Baker Sennett, 2013). Some of the tasks included in indirect service include management, budgeting, fundraising, and program planning and evaluation. I have learned a lot in the Human Services program regarding indirect services both through internship experience and course learning.
In my first internship with the Opportunity Council, I did two days a week of direct service, working with the kids in a preschool classroom. I also did one day a week in the office at the Opportunity Council which was indirect service. In the office I did things such as filing, organizing, going through client applications, and helping put together a staff outreach project. For the Head Start program, the teachers are the ones providing direct service to the preschool children, and the office staff provides the indirect service. While being in the classroom with the kids was fun, I learned the importance of the office work as well. If there was no office staff, who would go through the children’s applications? And how would you be able to provide services to those children?
The staff outreach project was another form of how I practiced indirect service delivery during my internship. I helped my office supervisor organize materials for the Head Start staff to go on an outreach delivering material about their organization around the community. This included making copies and printing fliers, applications, and other supplies. I help fold, staple, and sort the materials into boxes for the staff to be ready for the outreach. Then after the outreach, I took the information the staff had collected and typed it up so the agency would have record of what they accomplished, and as a tool for them to use on future outreaches. This was an example of me providing indirect services that will be able to directly help serve clients in the future. I set up a Word document, created a chart and typed in information such as the name of where they left material, the address, and what kinds of materials they left. The staff went to nine different areas in the community, and I have included an example of what one of these documents looked like. Being a part of this outreach process was indirect service because in the end, I was helping the staff better serve the children, which is the purpose of the Head Start program.
My second internship at Bethany Christian Services was primarily indirect service work. I was working in the office of an adoption agency and did many things that can be classified as indirect service. I did many little, yet important tasks including putting together, organizing, and reviewing files of counseling clients, birth moms, and adoptive families. I made copies, stapled, and hole punched many documents. At times these weren’t the most fun tasks, but I remembered that they had to be done in order for the agency to run efficiently. My big project for the quarter was helping organize the annual silent auction dinner. This was one of my learning objectives for the quarter, to get the experience of doing some event planning and be involved in fundraising.
For this event my role was putting together auction item displays, and assisting with check-in and check-out at the event. My duties were also outlined in this job-details document. There was a program for the banquet, and it was cool to see my name listed under the staff section as the intern. All of the work that I put into this fundraiser was indirect service work, but all the money raised went towards the mission of Bethany Christian Services. Fundraising events like this one are important and they serve the organization by raising funds that support the services they provide. Through this internship I got to be involved in the indirect service experience of event planning. I never realized how much work went into organizing, and pulling off an event.
In addition to helping with a fundraiser at my internship, I also learned about many other fundraising strategies in HSP435: Human Services and Management. Fundraising is an aspect of indirect services because it raises money to support a cause and it goes towards helping those you serve. One kind of fundraising strategy I learned about was direct mail appeals, and for an assignment we had to put together an appeal for a made up agency. We had to use different strategies in writing it that we had learned from our textbook.
At the end of the quarter we got to choose a topic we had learned about in class and write a final integration paper on it. I chose fundraising strategies as my topic. One thing that I mentioned in my paper was that “I learned that fundraising should be one of the main focuses and goals of a board of directors” (Jenson, 2013, p. 3). My concluding thought was that “I feel like I have a great working model for successful fundraising strategies to use in the future” (Jenson, 2013, p. 5). This learning about fundraising strategies also contributed to my learning about aspects of indirect services.
Another assignment in HSP435: Human Services and Management that helped teach me about indirect services was the board meeting write-up. The assignment was to attend a board meeting of a non-profit organization, and then reflect and write about it. Boards are involved with indirect services for an organization. I attended a board meeting at St. Francis, and at the board meeting they talked about things such as budgets, volunteer coordination, and fundraising ideas. These are all necessary things in order for the agency to fulfill their obligations to those they serve. Without going over finances, the budget, and these other aspects, the agency wouldn’t be organized or able to provide all the services that they do.
In HSP435: Human Services and Management I also learned about the role of a board, and their duties in relation to other staff members who are all involved in indirect service work. I was in a group and it was our job to give a presentation to the class describing non-profit job descriptions. This PowerPoint presentation includes information about the duties and skills of an executive director, secretary, treasurer, and board president. These are all positions that include indirect service work.
Another aspect of indirect service is program planning and evaluation. In HSP485: Program Planning and Evaluation, we got the chance to do both a program plan and a program evaluation. For my program plan, I designed a teenage pregnancy prevention program to go into high schools. The process of creating this program began by doing a needs assessment, doing research and finding that teenage pregnancy was a relevant issue. Next I put together a logic model that outlined the inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes of the program. Then I wrote my program plan, which included a description and design for the program, how it would be implemented, and how it would be evaluated for effectiveness. I was also involved in a group project evaluating the curriculum of a Cascade Vocational Services interviewing skills class. Program plans and evaluations are both indirect service work that are important in providing the best possible direct service to clients. If program weren’t created and evaluated for effectiveness, clients’ needs wouldn’t be met.
The knowledge that I’ve gained regarding indirect services helps me to understand the functioning of human service organizations. I learned that there are jobs where you can be directly working with clients, or you can offer indirect services, and still make a big impact on someone’s life. Without the behind the scenes work of the human services profession, organizations would not be organized and run efficiently. I will use my knowledge and experience of indirect services to influence my professional work by knowing that even if I am not working directly with the people who my organization serves, I will be part of making the organization run smoothly so that those clients can get the services they need. I will remember that I am making an impact on people’s lives no matter what position I have in the agency.
I received very encouraging feedback at the end of the quarter at my internship involving indirect service work. The following words from my field supervisor’s performance evaluation affirmed that I have developed strong indirect service delivery skills:
Please comment on any areas identified above where the student exceeded professional performance standards:
Alison was able to begin her internship early to help us out with our yearly fundraising banquet. She was a huge help in
organizing our silent auction items and paperwork for check-in/check-out + dessert dash.
Additional comments:
Alison was a valuable asset to our staff this past fall.
-Connie Schmotzer, Office Manager
Alison carries herself in an extremely professional manner and completes all tasks with full competence. We have
been blessed to have her as part of our team this term.
-Natasha McGowan, Marriage and Family Therapist
CSHSE Standards:
Standard 14: The curriculum shall provide knowledge and skills in information management.
Standard 15: The curriculum shall provide knowledge and skill development in systematic analysis of services needs; planning appropriate strategies, services, and implementation; and evaluation of outcomes.
Standard 18: The curriculum shall provide knowledge, theory, and skills in the administrative aspects of the services delivery system.
Standard 21: The program shall provide field experience that is integrated with the curriculum.
Baker Sennett, J. (2013). Week 7: Indirect services. In Senior internship: HSP 440 @ WWU. Retrieved from http://hsp440.weebly.com/index.html
Jenson, A. (2013). Integration paper: Fundraising strategies. Unpublished manuscript, Western Washington University.
In my first internship with the Opportunity Council, I did two days a week of direct service, working with the kids in a preschool classroom. I also did one day a week in the office at the Opportunity Council which was indirect service. In the office I did things such as filing, organizing, going through client applications, and helping put together a staff outreach project. For the Head Start program, the teachers are the ones providing direct service to the preschool children, and the office staff provides the indirect service. While being in the classroom with the kids was fun, I learned the importance of the office work as well. If there was no office staff, who would go through the children’s applications? And how would you be able to provide services to those children?
The staff outreach project was another form of how I practiced indirect service delivery during my internship. I helped my office supervisor organize materials for the Head Start staff to go on an outreach delivering material about their organization around the community. This included making copies and printing fliers, applications, and other supplies. I help fold, staple, and sort the materials into boxes for the staff to be ready for the outreach. Then after the outreach, I took the information the staff had collected and typed it up so the agency would have record of what they accomplished, and as a tool for them to use on future outreaches. This was an example of me providing indirect services that will be able to directly help serve clients in the future. I set up a Word document, created a chart and typed in information such as the name of where they left material, the address, and what kinds of materials they left. The staff went to nine different areas in the community, and I have included an example of what one of these documents looked like. Being a part of this outreach process was indirect service because in the end, I was helping the staff better serve the children, which is the purpose of the Head Start program.
My second internship at Bethany Christian Services was primarily indirect service work. I was working in the office of an adoption agency and did many things that can be classified as indirect service. I did many little, yet important tasks including putting together, organizing, and reviewing files of counseling clients, birth moms, and adoptive families. I made copies, stapled, and hole punched many documents. At times these weren’t the most fun tasks, but I remembered that they had to be done in order for the agency to run efficiently. My big project for the quarter was helping organize the annual silent auction dinner. This was one of my learning objectives for the quarter, to get the experience of doing some event planning and be involved in fundraising.
For this event my role was putting together auction item displays, and assisting with check-in and check-out at the event. My duties were also outlined in this job-details document. There was a program for the banquet, and it was cool to see my name listed under the staff section as the intern. All of the work that I put into this fundraiser was indirect service work, but all the money raised went towards the mission of Bethany Christian Services. Fundraising events like this one are important and they serve the organization by raising funds that support the services they provide. Through this internship I got to be involved in the indirect service experience of event planning. I never realized how much work went into organizing, and pulling off an event.
In addition to helping with a fundraiser at my internship, I also learned about many other fundraising strategies in HSP435: Human Services and Management. Fundraising is an aspect of indirect services because it raises money to support a cause and it goes towards helping those you serve. One kind of fundraising strategy I learned about was direct mail appeals, and for an assignment we had to put together an appeal for a made up agency. We had to use different strategies in writing it that we had learned from our textbook.
At the end of the quarter we got to choose a topic we had learned about in class and write a final integration paper on it. I chose fundraising strategies as my topic. One thing that I mentioned in my paper was that “I learned that fundraising should be one of the main focuses and goals of a board of directors” (Jenson, 2013, p. 3). My concluding thought was that “I feel like I have a great working model for successful fundraising strategies to use in the future” (Jenson, 2013, p. 5). This learning about fundraising strategies also contributed to my learning about aspects of indirect services.
Another assignment in HSP435: Human Services and Management that helped teach me about indirect services was the board meeting write-up. The assignment was to attend a board meeting of a non-profit organization, and then reflect and write about it. Boards are involved with indirect services for an organization. I attended a board meeting at St. Francis, and at the board meeting they talked about things such as budgets, volunteer coordination, and fundraising ideas. These are all necessary things in order for the agency to fulfill their obligations to those they serve. Without going over finances, the budget, and these other aspects, the agency wouldn’t be organized or able to provide all the services that they do.
In HSP435: Human Services and Management I also learned about the role of a board, and their duties in relation to other staff members who are all involved in indirect service work. I was in a group and it was our job to give a presentation to the class describing non-profit job descriptions. This PowerPoint presentation includes information about the duties and skills of an executive director, secretary, treasurer, and board president. These are all positions that include indirect service work.
Another aspect of indirect service is program planning and evaluation. In HSP485: Program Planning and Evaluation, we got the chance to do both a program plan and a program evaluation. For my program plan, I designed a teenage pregnancy prevention program to go into high schools. The process of creating this program began by doing a needs assessment, doing research and finding that teenage pregnancy was a relevant issue. Next I put together a logic model that outlined the inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes of the program. Then I wrote my program plan, which included a description and design for the program, how it would be implemented, and how it would be evaluated for effectiveness. I was also involved in a group project evaluating the curriculum of a Cascade Vocational Services interviewing skills class. Program plans and evaluations are both indirect service work that are important in providing the best possible direct service to clients. If program weren’t created and evaluated for effectiveness, clients’ needs wouldn’t be met.
The knowledge that I’ve gained regarding indirect services helps me to understand the functioning of human service organizations. I learned that there are jobs where you can be directly working with clients, or you can offer indirect services, and still make a big impact on someone’s life. Without the behind the scenes work of the human services profession, organizations would not be organized and run efficiently. I will use my knowledge and experience of indirect services to influence my professional work by knowing that even if I am not working directly with the people who my organization serves, I will be part of making the organization run smoothly so that those clients can get the services they need. I will remember that I am making an impact on people’s lives no matter what position I have in the agency.
I received very encouraging feedback at the end of the quarter at my internship involving indirect service work. The following words from my field supervisor’s performance evaluation affirmed that I have developed strong indirect service delivery skills:
Please comment on any areas identified above where the student exceeded professional performance standards:
Alison was able to begin her internship early to help us out with our yearly fundraising banquet. She was a huge help in
organizing our silent auction items and paperwork for check-in/check-out + dessert dash.
Additional comments:
Alison was a valuable asset to our staff this past fall.
-Connie Schmotzer, Office Manager
Alison carries herself in an extremely professional manner and completes all tasks with full competence. We have
been blessed to have her as part of our team this term.
-Natasha McGowan, Marriage and Family Therapist
CSHSE Standards:
Standard 14: The curriculum shall provide knowledge and skills in information management.
Standard 15: The curriculum shall provide knowledge and skill development in systematic analysis of services needs; planning appropriate strategies, services, and implementation; and evaluation of outcomes.
Standard 18: The curriculum shall provide knowledge, theory, and skills in the administrative aspects of the services delivery system.
Standard 21: The program shall provide field experience that is integrated with the curriculum.
Baker Sennett, J. (2013). Week 7: Indirect services. In Senior internship: HSP 440 @ WWU. Retrieved from http://hsp440.weebly.com/index.html
Jenson, A. (2013). Integration paper: Fundraising strategies. Unpublished manuscript, Western Washington University.