Glossary
Human Services Assistant Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential human services assistant terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key human services assistant vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in human services assistant training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- 211
- A hotline for community resources.
- Barrier
- Something blocking progress.
- Case note
- A record of client contact.
- Confidentiality
- Protecting client information.
- Eligibility
- Qualifying for a program.
- Housing First
- An approach prioritizing housing.
- Intake
- First meeting with a client.
- Medicaid
- Health coverage for low-income people.
- Referral
- Sending a client to another service.
- Resource guide
- A list of local services.
- Section 8
- Housing voucher program.
- SNAP
- Food assistance program.
- TANF
- Cash assistance for families.
- Warm handoff
- Personally connecting a client to a service.
- WIC
- Nutrition program for mothers and young children.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Human Services Assistant practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Human Services Assistant training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.