New England Region
New England Organization of Human Service Education
NEOHSE is the professional organization of faculty, students, alumni and practitioners which promotes a collaborative response to shared concerns.
Read the NOEHSE Winter 2005 Newsletter (Word Document)
Purposes | Faculty Support and Alumni Resource | Why You Should Join NEOHSE | History | Membership
Purposes
- To promote a medium for communication among New England human service faculty, practitioners and students;
- To foster research on teaching awareness, knowledge, and skill for human services professionals
- To provide career development opportunities for members
- To enhance human services through greater involvement of clients, professionals, and communities
- To work in collaboration with the National Organization for Human Services (NOHS) and Council for Standards in Human Service Education (CSHSE)
- To promote the goals of human services education throughout New England
- To foster development of student and graduate organizations at the local, state and regional levels
Faculty Support and Alumni Resource
- Annual conferences;
- Subscription to NEOHSE's newsletter, The Human Services Educator;
- Archives and Resources at Northern Essex Community college, MA;
- Research grants and Educational grants;
- Endorsement of Human Service fairs;
- Regional Speakers Directory;
- Networking, consultation and literature exchange;
- Opportunities for research and publication;
- Focussed Interest Groups.
Why You Should Join NEOHSE
The field of human services education, now about 30 years old, continues to expand rapidly as the human service needs of Americans proliferate. Contemporary social problems demand well-trained professionals and evolving responses. Colleges and universities develop new academic programs; government works to reform health, mental health and welfare services; and, professionals continue to enhance their skills.
The New England Organization of Human Service Education (NEOHSE), a regional affiliate of the National Organization for Human Services (NOHS), has as its primary goal the professional growth of human service faculty, practitioners, and students through New England. It achieves this goal with annual conferences, a newsletter, a subscription to Human Service Educator (the journal of the National Organization, and a variety of other means, such as sponsoring research projects add conducting state-wide seminars and training meetings. Other goals include public discussion of human service issues and employment of human service professionals. These goals are-reached through the work of NEOHSE members and through connections with NOHS.
Membership in a professional organization offers the satisfaction of knowing that as issues develop, members are informed. It is the vehicle for voicing opinions as public policy issues are shaped. Membership also provides the avenue for enhancing standards by strengthening codes of ethics and setting criteria for employment skills. In addition, membership in NEOHSE ensures frequent professional contact with a network of human service professionals, including students, practitioners, and faculty and administrators in this region.
Only through strong professional associations can a field develop in thriving ways. Such professional associations develop only as dedicated and committed members join and work to achieve the shared goals. The New England Organization of Human Service Education needs you. And, you need the New England Organization of Human Service Education.
Wm. Lynn McKinney, Ph.D., University of R. I.
Past President NEOHSE, Past Vice President NOHS
History
The decade of 1960-70 heralded significant changes in the field of human services. President Kennedy challenged us to consider new and more effective approaches in delivering mental health services; George Albee, Ph.D. questioned the utilization of people power (Mental Health Manpower studies) and identified the need for a "new occupation," a profession of generalists who could perform a variety of functions as middle level workers which were related to the care and treatment of clients with emotional/mental disabilities; and, the New Careers Movement (1964) showed how indigenous workers favorably affected patient care. Higher education responded to the National Institute of Mental Health's needs to train mental health workers, with Purdue University creating the first associate degree program in 1965. Within a decade, there were 174 associate and baccalaureate programs in existence across the country; by 1991, them were 614 human service programs listed in a directory published by the Council for Standards in Human services Education (C.S.H.S.E.).
The nomenclature "human services" recognizes the broader field of workers and attempts to form coalitions at the certificate, associate, baccalaureate and graduate degree levels; and, identify training and educational needs. The need in higher education to respond to the "new occupation" was met regionally by faculty who began meeting in the fall of 1972 with the support of the New England Board of Higher Education and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). SREB, with funding from NIMH, provided national leadership in the areas of faculty development, worker credentialing and academic program approval. The regional meetings resulted in the establishment of NEOHSE in the spring of 1975; in August of the same year, the National Organization of Human Service Educators (NOHS) was organized in St. Louis. Both organizations continue to thrive and provide regional and national leadership in human service education.
Membership
Categories of Membership
Membership is comprised of individuals who are committed to the goals of quality human service education.
- Faculty:
- Human service faculty are eligible for membership if they hold full or part-time teaching appointments, administrative posts or professional positions with post-secondary educational institutions that offer, at minimum associate degrees in human service disciplines.
- Students:
- Students enrolled in full or part-time academic programs, graduate or under graduate, in human service, and actively pursuing a degree at an institution in the New England region are eligible for membership.
- Practitioners:
- Human service program alumni field supervisors, and professionals who maintain full or part-time employee status with human service organizations according to bylaws are eligible for membership.
- Associate:
- Any person with an interest in supporting human services education and advancing the goals of the organization.