In every course you take at PG, you are a member of a learning community. All members are working to strengthen their professional skills and achieve their academic and career goals. Discussion allows you to see new perspectives and achieve further personal growth. Discussion Boards are an important part of your learning, allowing you to asynchronously interact with your classmates and instructor.

Using the assigned readings and supplemental academic research, you will address the topics presented on the Discussion Board. Be sure to review the Discussion Board rubric to review all expectations.

Access the Unit 3 Discussion Board

Human services professionals who focus on rectifying human rights violations, social problems, mental health, or welfare needs often do so on a national and international level. In the national and international sphere, there is a great need for social change agents, leaders, and advocates on behalf of human rights, as well as for other issues. Attempting to address these issues at the national and international levels presents a unique set of challenges for human services professionals. 

To prepare:

• Select one national and one international challenge related to human and social services professions and/or the roles and responsibilities of human and social services professionals anywhere in the world. These should be challenges you or a professional might face when attempting to address issues at the national and international levels, such as professional recognition, apathy, or cultural barriers.
• Think about why addressing these challenges is important to the profession, as well as what difference its resolution or improvement might make.

Though the philosophy and values surrounding couple and family counseling emphasize prevention and wellness, awareness of diagnosis is important when interacting with other mental health professionals who may view mental health issues through the medical model. The DSM-5, the primary diagnostic system/manual used in the United States by such professionals, identifies and describes individual mental health disorders, not relational issues or disorders.

Those mental health professionals who adopt a systems or relational view of mental health have been able to implement small changes within the DSM in its subsequent editions, and these changes acknowledge the systemic influence on certain individual disorders. Nevertheless, there is not yet an adopted diagnostic structure for relational problems. Therefore, you may sometimes need to negotiate your relational perspective with other professionals and communicate client matters with insurance reimbursement boards (who see mental health problems as individual in nature) in their language.

For this Discussion, you will examine the DSM-5 and how it informs your professional practice. You also explore the advantages and disadvantages of being familiar with the DSM-5.

By Day 4

Post an example of a specific instance in which you may need to consult with another mental health professional who utilizes the DSM-5. Then, explain how your familiarity with the DSM-5 may influence this consultation. Next, explain one advantage and one disadvantage of a couple and family practitioner being familiar with the DSM-5. Be specific.

Supporting Document 1: Memorandum to the CEO

Overview

Using the same scenario from Identifying the Organizational Learning Issue, as the vice president of human resources, you must create a memorandum to the CEO on the issues you discovered from the research. This memorandum serves as your communication to share the discovered problems and request for permission to continue researching future solutions.

Instructions

Write a 1–2 page memorandum in which you:

• Identify the issue(s) you discovered in the organization’s mystification from individual learning to the organizational learning using the examples that you provided in Identifying the Organizational Learning Issues assignment.
• Elaborate on the significant barriers that you discovered impact the process of learning within the organization’s culture. Provide a brief description of the selected OLM (such as, Off-line/Internal, Online/Internal, Off-line/External, or Online/External) that will be most suitable for this transition. Justify the selection.
• Suggest two actions that management can take in order to raise the level of trust as part of their strategy to create psychological safety. Justify your suggestions.
• Use Microsoft Word or other equivalent software to select a memorandum template for this supporting document, or use the template located here.

1. This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
   The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:
   • Prepare a memorandum on issues hindering a transition from individual to organizational learning, including a description of an OLM that will support the transition and actions that can raise the level of trust.
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