Emotional need –
How do we feel about ourselves and others? How we feel is linked to our emotions. Sometimes we feel happy because we have achieved a goal, such as being successful in an examination or at sport. Sometimes we feel sad because a pet dies or we have to move away from our friends. Being accepted by our families, our friends and others is very important to us. We all need to be love and wanted and when this happens our emotional needs are being met. Being treated with respect, dignity and having privacy and independence helps us to meet our emotional needs.
Social need –
How often do you meet up with your friends to share interests and talk about the things you have done? Being able to join in activities and to communicate with other people is a way of meeting out social needs. Usually we get together with the people who share the same interests. Social needs include being valued as an individual having friends, feeling a sense of belonging and enjoying being with other people.
Who needs care services and why?
We all need help at sometime in our life. Some of this help is provided by care services. Think about health or social care or early years services that you have already used. Maybe you have had toothache and have visited a dentist. Maybe you have been ill and visited the GP. Perhaps he gave you a prescription to help you get better.
At any age we can have different or varied care needs. The health, social care and early year’s service were developed to help us as individuals.
Our needs include:
- Physical needs
- Intellectual needs
- Emotional needs
- Social needs
Maslows pyramid of needs
Abraham Maslow suggested that our basic needs could be arranged in level of importance. Maslow included five levels of need and arranges them in the form of pyramid. He put the levels that he thought were most important at the base of the pyramid, supporting all the rest. Only when the basic needs have been met at level one can the other levels be met.
Services supporting our needs
Different services provide for your needs in a variety of ways. For example, a nurse provides for physical needs when cleaning a wound and putting on a protective dressing.
A day nursery provides for a Childs intellectual, emotional and social needs. Encouraging children to take part in activities such as finger painting, making jigsaws and playing with sand will stimulate them and after a challenge in this way their intellectual needs are met. Helping them feel secure by providing a happy and safe environment in the nursery where they can play with other children meet their emotional and social needs.
Their physical needs can be met by providing snacks and drinks. A day care centre for older people meets their physical needs, for example, by providing lunch for them. Their intellectual needs can be met through various such as bingo and community singing. Emotional and social supports are met by making sure older people can talk to friends and professional care workers about their interests and problems.
People who work in care services consider clients as ‘whole people’ they try to work out the client’s individual needs and then provide a service that will meet those needs.