Client-Level Intervention

Once the social work case manager has identified and engaged clients as a result of outreach or referral activities, he or she conducts a face-to-face comprehensive assessment with each client of that client’s strengths and limitations and of the social, financial, and institutional resources available to the client. The social work case manager focuses particularly on how these resources relate to the principal concerns identified during the assessment. On the basis of this assessment, the social worker develops an individualized service plan with the client that identifies priorities, desired outcomes, and the strategies and resources to be used in attaining the outcomes. The responsibilities of the social worker, the client, and others should be clarified throughout development of the plan. The direct contact between social worker and client is essential to effectively accomplish the assessment and service plan development.

Additional social work case management tasks related to client intervention include implementing the service plan aimed at mobilizing the formal and informal resources and the services needed to maximize the client’s physical, social, and emotional well-being, and coordinating and monitoring service delivery. The social work case manager also advocates on behalf of the plan for needed client resources and services; periodically reassesses client status, the effectiveness of interventions, and the attainment of outcomes with revision of the service plan as indicated; and terminates the case.