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Posts Tagged ‘
services ’
Case managers help provide an array of services to help individuals and families cope with complicated situations in the most effective way possible, thereby achieving a better quality of life. They help people to identify their goals, needs, and resources. From that assessment, the case manager and the client—whether an individual or a family—together formulate a plan to meet those goals. The case manager helps clients to find resources and facilitates connection with services. Sometimes she or he advocates on behalf of a client to obtain needed services. The case manager also maintains communication with the client to evaluate whether the plan is effective in meeting the client's goals.
This sounds good, but I'm not sure about the term case manager. Do case managers really manage people? I don't want to lose control, and I'm not a case.
Excellent question. A good case manager will work with you to determine what is important to you and what you think would be the most effective way to reach those goals. Case managers don't manage people—they help people to manage complicated situations. Simply put, they help to keep you, or your loved ones, at the center of services being provided on your behalf.
Care management and care coordination are two other terms sometimes used to describe this work. Different organizations and individuals define these terms in different ways; for example, professionals providing services to older adults often call themselves geriatric care managers. (Click here to read an article about geriatric care managers.) The terms case management and case manager are used in this article for the sake of simplicity, but the information also applies to care management and care coordination.
Case managers work in a variety of specialties, including health care, mental health care, addictions, long-term care, aging, HIV/AIDS, disabilities, occupational services, child welfare, and immigrant/refugee services. They are employed in the public, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors.
Case managers come from a variety of professional backgrounds and disciplines—including social work, nursing, gerontology, to name a few. They need to understand how to both work with individuals and families and navigate complicated service systems. Social workers, who are trained to help people in the context of their unique social environments, are distinctly prepared to offer case management services. In fact, the social work profession grew out of early case management work in the early 20th century, and social workers have remained active in case management since that time.
Certification is available in case management and specialty areas of practice, such as gerontology. Knowing a case manager is certified can help you to feel confident that you are working with a skilled, well-trained professional. (Click here for information about NASW's certifications in case management and other specialties.) Some workplaces require certification, but others do not. Social work case managers should have either a bachelor's or a master's degree in social work. Depending on the state, they may also be required to have a social work license.
People coping with complex situations—either their own or of someone close to them—such as physical illness, disabilities of any sort, the aging process, emotional or psychological challenges, family problems, addictive behavior, problems with school or work—may benefit from case management services. Seeking help is a sign of strength and may benefit both you and your loved ones.
It depends on your situation. Commercial health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, or Tricare may pay for case management services delivered within some settings, such as hospitals, rehabilitation, or long-term care settings. In nonprofit or government agencies, case management services may be available on a sliding scale basis or even offered free of charge to eligible consumers. On the other hand, geriatric care management is generally not covered by public insurance or commercial health insurance. Some long-term care insurance policies may cover geriatric care management, and some nonprofits or public agencies may offer it on a sliding-scale basis; otherwise, it tends to be a private-pay service.
Again, this depends on your situation. If you are hospitalized or dealing with a system such as workers' compensation, you may be linked automatically with a case manager. Don't hesitate to ask if you are unsure. Otherwise, your health care provider, school, employee assistance program, or community service agency may be able to refer you. Local departments of aging and disabilities, health, and social services frequently offer case management services or may be able to refer you to case management agencies or professionals. You may also want to check with one of the professional organizations representing case managers.
Licensed social workers who provide case management services are listed in the National Social Worker Finder. Search by specialty area, such as aging; then click on an individual provider from the listing and look for case management under theoretical approach.
Regardless of whether you personally select a case manager or are paired with one you did not choose, it is essential that you feel comfortable with her or his approach. Don't be afraid to assert your needs, perceptions, and goals. Case management should always involve, and directly benefit, you or your loved ones.
This is an important topic receiving increased attention in the media. A transition of care takes place when people move between care settings—such as when a person leaves the hospital and returns home or goes to a rehabilitation facility—or care providers (such as physicians and other members of the care team, or agencies involved with the same client or family). Care transitions also occur when a person's condition or situation changes. For example, a person with a serious physical or mental illness may have a relapse, or a child may leave a foster home and return to her or his family. Lack of coordination during care transitions is, unfortunately, quite frequent and can be disastrous for everyone involved. Failure to transfer important information and medication errors are two examples of common problems that occur during care transitions.
Case managers, and social workers in general, are integral to successful transitions of care. They help to facilitate communication among everyone involved, including you and your loved ones.
Recognizing the importance of care transitions, NASW has been actively involved in efforts to ensure better care transitions for people receiving health and behavioral health care. As a member of the National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC), NASW is developing resources to educate other professionals, the public, and policymakers about this crucial issue. For more information, please visit www.ntocc.org
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Tags: advocate, assessment, Case manager, cases, client, families, managers, needs, services
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Recovery means something different for every individual with a mental health condition, but every person can achieve some level of recovery in their lives. For some people recovery means they will be able to work; for others that they will be able to live independently; for others that they will be able to have a relationship; and for some it will involve any combination of those or other changes in their lives.
Each person with a mental health condition must define what recovery means for his or her life. A common misperception of what recovery means, however, is that a person no longer has any signs or symptoms of a mental illness. Whereas many individuals in recovery will have no signs or symptoms, this will not be the case for everyone, and regardless of a person's level of functioning, relapses can still happen. Like everyone in the world, most people in recovery from a mental health problem will always have certain challenges that they have to face in life, and some of them may require learning to handle symptoms without allowing the symptoms to control their lives.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services assembled an expert panel to develop a consensus definition of recovery. Over 110 panelists, including consumers, family members, providers, researchers, and other stakeholders were involved. The definition was not designed to capture what recovery means for each individual person, but designed to give a broad definition to help people understand what recovery is about.
Mental health recovery is a journey of healing and transformation enabling a person with a mental health problem to live a meaningful life in a community of his or her choice while striving to achieve his or her full potential. (Available at: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/sma05-4129/)
The time that it takes to recover is different for each person and an important concept here is that each person must take responsibility for his or her own recovery. Family members, peers, providers, and others can help or motivate an individual, but recovery cannot be done to or for a person, it must be achieved by a person. Even developing the motivation to strive towards recovery is often challenging for individuals with mental health conditions, who often must cope with sedating medications, societal stigma, people telling them that they cannot recover, and other barriers. Motivation and hope are some of the best help that family members and other consumers can provide to individuals working on recovery.
There are ways to better orient mental health systems to help consumers in their journeys through the recovery process. A number of recovery-oriented best practices have been identified by experts (including consumers, family members, providers, clinicians, researchers and others) as particularly helpful in improving a mental health system's recovery orientation and operations. Some include:
Consumers can benefit if the mental health staff understand the vision, philosophy, values, and procedures necessary to ensure the full inclusion of consumers in developing their own individual plans of care. This approach looks at a number of aspects of a mental health system that may need to be addressed so that consumers can become full partners in developing their own plans of care.
A state's mental health emergency and acute care service system may not be operating as efficiently and effectively as it could to meet the needs of people in crisis. An evaluation of the system can help suggest ways to improve its accessibility and ability to meet the needs of diverse consumer populations.
People with Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders have unique needs that cannot effectively be met in a system that is designed to serve people with only one of the two disorders. Use of integrated treatment methods that treat both concerns at the same time can help a service delivery system design an approach that more effectively meets the unique needs of dually diagnosed individuals.
Without having consumers involved in decisions about the service delivery process, it will be difficult for any one else to truly know what is best for them. This approach, which is highly adaptable to a system's individual needs, is designed to help more fully involve consumers in a variety of roles and functions throughout the process of service delivery.
This practice is in the form of a training to help providers, the general public, family members, and others understand the prevalence of past traumatic life experiences in the lives of consumers. The training then helps attendees to understand how trauma can affect peoples' lives well past the event, and how and why service delivery systems must be designed so as to be sensitive to these experiences, if the goal of recovery is to be realized.
There are many different practices that work for different consumers, but there are also many practices that have been identified as consistently beneficial, and they are known as Evidence Based Practices. Mental health systems can be helped to identify and implement one or more of these practices by looking at the state's resources and infrastructure, and assessing what needs to change to make a particular practice widespread.
Consumers must be able to make decisions for themselves about their own care. But providers, based on their clinical experience, have a responsibility to provide education about the possible outcomes that may result from various decisions. The reality is in most systems that consumers, particularly those with more chronic and disabling mental health conditions, are commonly instructed as to what treatments they need, with minimal if any effort to involve them in decisions. A recovery-oriented mental health system acknowledges and encourages consumer involvement and decision-making. Furthermore, a recovery-oriented mental health system is structured in ways that support consumers in their journeys of recovery.
Most individuals will need assistance to figure out what they need to do in order to move forward in the recovery process. The recovery process can take years; it is a journey, with both ups and downs, but it is a journey that is both possible and worthwhile for all consumers.
For more information on recovery or on how your state can obtain assistance with one of these or other recovery models, contact the author at timothy.tunner@nasmhpd.org.
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Tags: Acute Care, Co-Occuring Disorders, Consumer, Evidence-Based Practices, Involvement, mental health, programs, recovery, services, trauma
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Issues And Answers |
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Tags: articles, custody, grandparent, options, protective, rape, relative, services, social worker, teens
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Family Safety, Your Options |
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Introduction
 |
Dawn Simpson recently became
a licensed clinical social worker. |
Catalina Island Medical Center is now offering mental health services. Dawn Sampson, who received her masters in social work in 2001, recently became a licensed clinical social worker – a designation that required that Sampson provide 3,200 hours of supervised therapy as well as pass two comprehensive examinations. That designation also allows her to provide therapy to the island community.
For the past four years, Sampson has been providing counseling to local residents while being supervised both through the Guidance Center and by local resident Dan Hirst, who is also a licensed clinical social worker. “Dan volunteered his time to help me complete my hours,” Sampson said. “I couldn’t have done it without him.”
Now that she’s completed her hours and passed her exams, Sampson will be able to counsel patients with insurance through MediCal and Medicare. “Those patients haven’t been able to get services locally,” Sampson said. “That’s the gap that I’ll be able to fill.” Through the Catalina Island Medical Center, Sampson will also accept some other insurance programs.
She expects that most of her patients will be contending with depression, anxiety or adjusting to trauma. Many may also have relationship issues or substance abuse problems. “Most typically, people will be referred to me by their medical providers,” Sampson said. “But people can also self refer.” Appointments will be available immediately on Tuesdays, Fridays and Wednesday mornings. Call Sampson at 310-510-0520.
Her new professional title also comes with a new title at Catalina Island Medical Center. She is now the social services director and clinical therapist. Linda Altherr has been hired to round out the social services department. Altherr will now be responsible for discharge planning for patients who are going home from the hospital and for providing information and referrals about medical services to local residents. Altherr will be responsible for grant management.
For more information about the social services department at Catalina Island Medical Center, call Dawn Sampson at 310-510-0520.
Reprinted with permission of The Catalina Island Journal
Tags: Catalina Island Journal, counseling, Dawn Simpson, licensed clinical social worker, mental health, real life story, services, social worker
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Introduction
Social work practice consists of the professional application of social work values, principles, and techniques to one or more of the following ends: helping people obtain tangible services; counseling and psychotherapy with individuals, families, and groups; helping communities or groups provide or improve social and health services; and participating in legislative processes. The practice of social work requires knowledge of human development and behavior; of social and economic, and cultural institutions; and of the interaction of all these factors.
Practice
Social work practice consists of the professional application of social work values, principles, and techniques to one or more of the following ends: helping people obtain tangible services; counseling and psychotherapy with individuals, families, and groups; helping communities or groups provide or improve social and health services; and participating in legislative processes. The practice of social work requires knowledge of human development and behavior; of social and economic, and cultural institutions; and of the interaction of all these factors.
NASW Standards
Tags: application, NASW, practice, principles, professional, services, social work, social workers, standards, techniques, values
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Introduction
The first three years of a child's life are the prime time for parents and caregivers to provide positive experiences that will affect the rest of the child's life. Children will develop faster during these early years than at any other time in their lives.
Although individual children develop at their own pace, healthy early childhood development occurs in a sequence of growth and change in the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social areas. It is important for parents and caregivers to understand what children need at each stage of their early lives to promote progress to the next level.
It has long been known that babies who do not get enough love and attention are less likely to become well-adjusted adults. Recent discoveries on how children's brains are wired help to explain this occurrence. At birth, newborns' brains have all the cells they'll need for a lifetime, but the network connections needed for development do not begin until the first few days of life. The connections determine how a child thinks, feels, and behaves.
Scientists have discovered that early experiences actually build and shape these connections. Therefore, how a child is raised strongly influences their emotional, social, behavioral, physical—and even intellectual—capabilities.
Starting from birth, babies develop quickly in all development areas when they have nurturing caregivers and opportunities to explore their world. Each month brings new skills. At just two months of age, babies may roll from their stomach to their back. By four months, they may stand with support and enjoy games, such as peek-a-boo. And by nine months, they may babble and say simple words.
When parents know what to expect at each stage of their child's development, they can encourage progress by helping young children to be physically active and learn new motor skills, to develop a varied vocabulary, to play well with other children and learn new social skills, and to develop intellectually. In these early years, children learn primarily through play and interaction with others.
It is common sense that parental love and nurturing help babies form strong attachments for optimal development. Babies who are neglected or who receive inadequate, mechanical, or inconsistent care experience stress, which can have an adverse affect on the brain's biochemistry, potentially resulting in developmental delays.
To foster your child's development in many areas, child development experts recommend responding consistently to your baby's cries and showing continuing love and affection.
Also, promote language and social development and build a stronger bond by talking to your baby throughout the day in a pleasant tone and reading aloud, starting at an early age. Children who are exposed to language such as frequent reading, talking, and singing have more developed brains than other children. Avoid using baby talk, however, and pronouncing words incorrectly, such as using "baba" for bottle.
Babies and toddlers should not be confined to a crib or playpen because they need opportunities to move, and they need sounds and images. Remember that every experience helps to build the brain connections that guide development.
Parents want the best for their children, so it is critical not to underestimate the importance of quality care during the first three years of life. In fact, your child's future depends on it.
More than half of parents of 1-year-olds in the United States share their caregiving tasks with child care providers who play an important role in nurturing child development. Although mothers often feel guilty for leaving their infant in the care of others during the day, extensive research shows that quality child care does not adversely affect child development or the close bond with parents. However, quality is the key issue. High quality care is related to better cognitive performance, higher language ability, higher level of school readiness, and fewer behavioral problems in day care.
According to the National Child Care Information Center, the following are indicators of good quality child care.
- Smaller groups of children and a smaller adult-to-child ratio. (No more than one adult to three infants or one adult to four children aged 18 months to three years)
- Continuity of care: children cannot form close, trusting relationships with caregivers who come and go every six months
- A clean, healthy, and safe environment
- Responsive caregiving
- Qualified staff: caregivers with degrees or special training are better prepared to provide adequate care and help your child grow
- Child care resources and referral organizations help locate child care providers in their area. Call 1-800-424-2246 for a child care provider referral.
- Accreditation: Find out if child care providers are accredited or have been accredited by a national organization. Select providers that have met the voluntary national child care standards that are more stringent than most state licensing requirements. Contact the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Association for Family Child Care for information on these standards.
Services are available for young children of low-income families who may need assistance in fostering healthy growth through the early development stages. Research shows that poverty is linked with slowed cognitive and behavioral development. Without interventions, many children in low-income families may not be ready to start kindergarten at age 5 and may lag behind other children in developmental milestones.
The Head Start program, administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is provided in most communities for children from birth to age five through child care and at-home services for children and parents in low-income families.
Services provided through Head Start include child care and educational programs, and medical, dental, and mental health care for children. Families may receive referrals, family needs assessments, parenting education and training, and crisis intervention. Head Start social workers provide individualized services for each child and family, based on their needs.
Head Start interventions are particularly beneficial because they work with the child and parent together. According to DHHS research, mothers in a 1996-2001 intervention study were more emotionally responsive to their children and showed more warmth and affection than mothers who did not receive the Head Start parent education training.
Studies showed that by the time the children in Head Start programs were age two, they had larger vocabularies, higher sustained attention to toys or other objects, and lower levels of aggressive behavior than children not in the program. Interventions, such as the Head Start program, are more effective when they are provided in the first two to three years of a child's life than when provided later in life to correct developmental delays or problem behaviors.
Most parents will readily admit that parenting young children is one tough job. From the "terrible two's" to potty training, and from temper tantrums to eating and sleeping problems, behavioral issues are a fact of everyday life. Parents who are having difficulties with their children or who suspect their child has developmental delays can find help in their community. Social workers help parents locate needed services from local agencies, medical centers, schools, and organizations; provide parenting programs; and offer family counseling. Sometimes a little assistance from others can make the early childhood years more satisfying for parents and benefit infants, toddlers, and preschoolers during their prime learning years.
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Tags: babies, care, child, childhood, communication, development, early childhood, help, love, parenting, risk, services
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Introduction
Three major types of services that support positive youth development are particularly important: socialization and youth development services, community-building services, and counseling and healing services. All are areas in which professional social workers have specialized expertise, working in partnership with community-based organizations like neighborhood associations, community schools and religious groups.
Social workers and educators have worked to provide socialization experiences for youth for over a century, and such services are among those that have been proven to support positive youth development.
Programs in recreation and community centers, camps, Boys and Girls Clubs, sports leagues, after-school programs, and volunteer youth development organizations like the Girl Scouts and 4-H can have an enormous impact on building personal and social competence among young people, and on the development of a firm positive identify. Such programs allow young people to experiment with new activities and progressively face new challenges in ways that build self-confidence.
In many cases they also provide opportunities for youth to gain experience in working and dealing respectfully with persons of other races and cultures, to connect in healthy ways with the opposite sex, and to appreciate people who may differ from them in a wide variety of other ways. Such experiences prepare young people for to the contemporary social world.
The best of these programs can serve, in the words of social worker Bonnie Benard, as "turnaround places"—places where even youth who are struggling may find the support they need from inspirational adults and peers to turn their lives around. Professional social workers are involved in these programs as youth development workers, program planners, and administrators, roles for which their education in human development and programming specifically prepares them.
Young people flourish in flourishing communities, including school and neighborhood communities. While many such communities are characterized by high levels of risk factors including crime, threat, harassment, and emotional or physical violence, a good deal is now known about how to build strong, non-violent communities of empowerment.
For example, the PEACE POWER strategy (based at Jane Addams College of Social Work in Chicago) brings together staff, youth, parents, and community members to construct cultures of respect, responsibility, and shared power in schools, neighborhoods and youth-serving organizations. Social workers Janet Finn and Barry Checkoway have persuasively argued that young people should not be looked at as primarily "problems to be solved." Instead, with proper support in discovering their personal gifts and channeling their energy, young people can serve as tremendous resources for their communities, and in the process build their own competence through real world experience.
Community-building efforts give opportunities to refine collaboration, problem-solving and leadership skills, while having a meaningful impact on the world. All of the most effective prevention programs, in fact, rely on constructing positive cultures of shared power that support and reinforce prosocial behavior, rather than on merely discouraging antisocial behavior.
There are many examples of outstanding community-building work that relies on the power of youth. Rites of passage programs, for example, often draw on traditional cultural values, spirituality, and practices. Some such programs, for example, are grounded in the African-centered Nguzo Saba—Seven Pillars of strength. These programs assist young people to find their cultural place in the world, and to make their own unique contributions to their communities.
Among many other types of community-building efforts are youth boards who serve as reviewers for mini-grant programs that support projects designed by other youth, youth-led social awareness programs like the development of Gay-Straight Alliances, youth as field interviewers for planning projects, youth as peer mentors, and a wide range of community service projects. For example, community-enhancement projects like community murals, sculpture, and gardens can be designed and implemented primarily by youth, and provide opportunities to learn and use a wide variety of skills from mathematics and art to working with the local political system.
Social workers have long been involved in counseling and therapy services with youth and their families, as well as providing shelter and safety services for those most at risk. In recent years, however, a great deal has been learned about effective ways to maximize the benefits of counseling services.
Consistent with the research on supporting resilience, the best individual and group counseling services often emphasize enhancing protective factors discussed earlier, building connections with health social networks and mentors, and assisting youth to find and grow their own unique strengths and power.
Even for young people who are deeply involved in antisocial behavior, counseling that focuses on identifying and supporting a youth's gifts, and teaching life skills in an environment of recognition and support is usually more effective than a primary emphasis on what he or she is doing wrong.
There is power in supporting youth in their awareness of social injustice—poverty, sexism, racism, homophobia—by structuring ways to collectively confront injustice. Work in schools often brings students from different backgrounds together and can expose them to different perspectives and cultures. Schools with able adult models can also serve as laboratories for learning what is required to maintain cultures of peace, for example.
Many young people in our society have experienced serious abuse and trauma, find themselves in highly conflicted family situations in which everyone finds themselves hurting, or become involved in actions that bring them into conflict with schools or the law. Approaches that lead to healing, including family treatment, family group conferencing, mutual aid and empowerment groups and healing circles can facilitate such healing.
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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Association of Social Workers or its members.
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Tags: community schools, community-based, community-building counseling, expertise, neighborhood associations, religious groups, services, social workers, socialization, teen counselling, teens, youth
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Your Options, Youth Development |
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