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.

Social Work Case Management

The practice of case management varies greatly across social work settings and is even more diverse as applied by other professionals. Despite this diversity, several elements distinguish social work case management from other forms of case management.

 

Social work case management is a method of providing services whereby a professional social worker assesses the needs of the client and the client’s family, when appropriate, and arranges, coordinates, monitors., evaluates, and advocates for a package of multiple services to meet the specific client’s complex needs. A professional social worker is the primary provider of social work case management. Distinct from other forms of case management, social work case management addresses both the individual client’s biopsychosocial status as well as the state of the social system in which case management operates. 

Social work case management is both micro and macro in nature: intervention occurs at both the client and system levels. It requires the social worker to develop and maintain a therapeutic relationship with the client, which may include linking the client with systems that provide him or her with needed services, resources, and opportunities. Services provided under the rubric of social work case management practice may be located in a single agency or may be spread across numerous agencies or organizations.