Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Use Of Empathy In Human Services: Strategies For Diverse Professional Roles, Hannah B. Bayne, Cassandra Pusateri, Lashauna Dean-Nganga

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

Human service professionals must manage a variety of roles and responsibilities in order to meet individual, group, and community needs. Managing these roles often necessitates the use of empathy in order to correctly understand issues, build trusting relationships, and meet the needs of client populations. This article presents a brief overview of empathy and applies it to the human service roles of direct service worker, advocate, administrator, and evaluator. In each professional role, examples are provided of how empathy can help human service workers achieve optimal outcomes. Implications for human services training and professional development are also provided.