Session: The Changing Landscape of Human Service Organizations: Practice at the Frontlines of Structural Strain (Society for Social Work and Research 30th Annual Conference Anniversary)

The human service sector, from educational organizations to mental health agencies and community centers, has been buffeted in recent years by political, economic, and cultural forces (Burghardt, 2021; Collins-Camargo et al., 2019). The COVID pandemic revealed how decades of austerity and devolution exacerbated the strain experienced by both human service workers and clients (Adams & Detlaff, 2020; Ross et al., 2022). This symposium focuses on how different groups of human service workers understand and navigate this tumultuous landscape.

Three studies convey the experiences of human service workers practicing within resource-deprived and chaotic environments. Each paper underscores the importance of understanding how organizational culture, agency constraints, and environmental dynamics shape interpersonal practice. They emphasize how workers use inter- and intra-organizational collaborations in response to structural challenges, partnering with clients and other practitioners and working across mezzo and macro systems to support individual and family well-being in clinical settings.

The first paper provides context by focusing on the impact of neoliberal policies and protocols on human service workers in three types of nonprofit agencies: medical, counseling, and mental health. Interviews with 60 human service staff members revealed four kinds of precarity experienced by workers and service users: economic, temporal, identity, and place-based. For staff, this instability manifested in low pay, inconsistent work schedules, and role confusion. Respondents also described the volatility in the lives of service users, who presented with more complex issues such as housing, food, and employment scarcity. Implications include attention to strategies that mitigate sector precarity and center practice on collaboration and trust.

The second paper examines the experiences of 21 New York City public school social workers in the high-stakes educational climate resulting from pressure to improve student outcomes through standardized testing. Of particular concern among the study respondents was providing much needed mental health support for students, especially those from low-income families who experienced economic challenges that negatively impacted learning and mental health. Despite system and organizational misalignments, respondents described ways in which they were able to create positive and fulfilling relationships with at-risk students. These social workers valued resilience, care, and collaborative processes as approaches to successful interventions, even when broader systems did not adequately support their work.

The final paper situates inquiry on the experiences of staff in Family Resource Centers: community-based organizations that provide services for low-income families. Respondents described a diverse set of internal supports and external referrals used to address identified needs. The results reveal how workers navigate multiple systems and maintain partnerships to meet family needs that exceed agency scope and capacity. This underscores the importance of localized knowledge and collaborations with other human service organizations to address housing hardship, childcare needs, healthcare demands, and nutritional challenges of families.

Together, these studies offer a picture of a human service sector under considerable strain. This research also highlights the perseverance of human service workers in attempting to assist at-risk families and individuals. Discussion will explore how practitioners, administrators, policymakers, and researchers can bolster these efforts while addressing structural challenges to sustainable practice.