In your own words, describe your understanding of case management
Case management in social work is the process used by a social worker to meet a client’s complex biopsychosocial-spiritual needs by arranging for a client to get access to multiple services (National Association of Social Workers, 2005, p. 22). This process entails a trained and qualified social worker performing needs assessment on the client, monitoring, evaluating, arranging, and coordinating several services with an aim to meet the client’s needs. The social work case manager, hence, acts as a conduit between service agencies and the client. In my capacity as a social work case manager, I should help the client access the services that will emancipate him/her from service dependence while meeting his/her current complex needs.
In your own words, describe your understanding of Client-Level Intervention
Client-level intervention in case management involves psychosocial assessment and financial assessment of the client as well as an evaluation of the resources available to the client and coming up with a service plan to meet the client’s desired outcome. The service plan is centered on the client and delineates the client’s priorities, desired outcomes, and resources to be used to achieve those outcomes. My responsibility as a social work case manager is to follow the service plan and make sure the client has access to services that enhance the client’s well-being (Case Management Standards Work Group, 1992, p. 5). The social work case manager has to perform monitoring and evaluation about the effectiveness of the service plan and make changes if need be.
In your own words, describe your understanding of System-Level Intervention
In system-level intervention, the social work case manager performs the duty of enhancing the capacity of institutions and agencies that provide social services to meet the clients’ needs. To this effect, the social work case manager should work to improve the service providing agencies and institutions’ capacity to offer better services to the client (Case Management Standards Work Group, 1992, p. 5). System-level intervention thus has the social work case manager working to improve the capability of the service systems to provide services by performing such tasks as research, providing feedback, policy formulation, and resource management.
In reviewing the six principles of case management, in the Case Management notes provided in a seminar class, discuss two (2) of your strengths as a case manager, and how these strengths contribute to your ability to provide effective case management to your clients
As a case manager, my strengths lie in my focus on the client’s individual strengths as well as having an aggressive outreach. Each client has unique circumstances, weaknesses, and strengths, but I prefer to focus on the strengths of the client. My work as a case manager is not to directly break the client’s dependence on services but rather to facilitate the client to improve their well-being by utilizing resources available to them, including the self. I use an aggressive outreach approach in the cases I manage as this provides me with a chance to have firsthand experience of the client’s situation. Being proactive gives me an opportunity to look for the best resources at the client’s disposal that will help achieve the best results after the intervention.
In reviewing the six principles of case management, discuss two (2) areas you need to challenge yourself more to improve your case management skills
I need to challenge myself on the principle of basing intervention on the client’s self-determination. I have a tendency of deciding for the client and I always give advice. I feel I am at a vantage point when it comes to understanding how services agencies and systems work and therefore tend to give advice that leads clients towards the decisions I feel are right for them. Sometimes I outrightly make decisions for clients especially if I feel like they are making the “wrong”. This is my weakness as case management is based on a client’s autonomy. Each client has a right to self-determination and I need to improve on respecting the clients’ decisions and decision-making even when I feel those choices are wrong or when I feel there are “better” choices for them.
References
Case Management Standards Work Group. (1992). NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management. Web.
National Association of Social Workers. (2005). NASW Standards for Social Work Practice in Health Care Settings. Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers.