Social services work is often a very rewarding career. It provides you with an opportunity to make a positive impact on someone’s life every day. However, it can seem very daunting and extremely overwhelming especially when you first begin. There are program policies to learn, interviewing skills to master, countless phone calls to return, and multitudes of questions to answer. This can create a great deal of apprehension and anxiety before you have even attempted your first assignment.

Have no fear, Quest is here!!

Quest is an online tool available to any DHS employee. It provides training modules, tutorial videos, instructional guides, and reference materials. These are designed so an individual can quickly access the information they need. Quest is easy to use and supplies as much or as little detail on the subject matter as you desire. When you need an answer fast, Quest is the place to go!

Quest is arranged in the following manner.

The initial page of Quest allows you to Choose a Subject of interest:

Applications & Tools

This section provides explanations and tutorials of the computer programs and reports that are used on a daily basis.

Key Concepts

Case work is more than just determining benefit eligibility for clients. This section covers professional ethics, behavior and expectations for social service specialists and customer assistance representatives.

Programs

This section focuses on each benefit area in Adult and Family Services. It supplies in depth information and topics on areas such as the SNAP, Child Care, Health Benefits, and TANF programs. After you choose your subject of interest, it will open up to another menu of options.

Supporting Activities

This portion of Quest includes instructional materials designed to help you master daily job tasks.

Once you have selected a subject you will find articles that define concepts, detail processes, explain policy, and provide helpful hints and resources. These articles are grouped in categories to help you find what you need.

Overview

This is a short summary of the subject which points out a few key points to consider. This is a good resource for those with limited time who want a quick synopsis of the subject.

Best Practices

These are a set of key ideas to guide the individual in learning the most important components of that subject and adopting the practices into their daily activities.

Why is it important?

This provides an explanation of how a specific topic fits into the entire AFS framework. It answers how each benefit, procedure, or task plays a part in fulfilling the DHS mission.

Help & How To’s

This section is full of detailed instructions and graphics to obtain quick solutions in processing cases.

Training Articles

These are documents which delve deeper into specific subject areas. These articles contain more detailed policy explanations as well as unusual or complex policy interpretations.

Documents and Resources

This area provides various tools such as forms and links to web sites related to the specific topic.

Videos

Brief video segments which supplement the other subject area material. Video segments are also used as training demos for some computer applications.

Quizzes

This section provides quizzes as a feedback tool to check your learning progress.

Creating a Shortcut to Quest

For easy access to Quest, create a desktop shortcut to the website.

• From the main page of Quest, right click to obtain menu.
• Click on copy shortcut

The Quest icon should appear on your desktop.