On Being and Having a Case Manager: A Relational Approach to Recovery in Mental Health - Softcover

Longhofer, Jeffrey; Kubek, Paul; Floersch, Jerry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231132662 ISBN 13: 9780231132664

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2010

Synopsis

On Being and Having a Case Manager stresses the importance of the process of building relationships in helping clients realize independent lives. Based on a two-year study of Marilyn and her case managers, this book emphasizes the intentional exchange of attention and information between case managers, clients, and others within the caring network and clearly outlines a practical method for all service providers, clients, family members, and close friends to follow.

Throughout the day, from moment to moment, relationships fluctuate among doing for, doing with, standing by for support, and doing for oneself. By observing Marilyn and her case manager, the authors prove the value of mutually and continuously monitoring these fluctuations within three primary domains-feeling, thinking, and acting-while carrying out daily activities. These findings show that managers are often stuck in doing-for modes of relating. Indeed, this may be one of the factors that contribute most to case manager and client burnout. While some clients with severe and persistent symptoms may, in fact, frequently require others to do-for, some like Marilyn may not require as much. They may need more doing-with and standing-by to encourage mastery and the internalization of confidence.

About this title

About the Author

Jeffrey Longhofer is an associate professor at the Rutgers University School of Social Work and has served as editor and associate editor of journals for the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology.

Paul M. Kubek is director of communications at the Center for Evidence-Based Practices at Case Western Reserve University. He specializes in translating the knowledge of researchers and practitioners from multiple disciplines into useful dissemination tools.

Jerry Floersch is associate professor at the Rutgers University School of Social Work and the author of Meds, Money and Manners: The Case Management of Severe Mental Illness, and is the recent recipient of a career development award from the National Institute of Mental Health.

From the Back Cover

"Case managers who work with individuals afflicted in varying degrees from mental illness, short and long term, are our front-line workers--those who have the most direct, ongoing relationships with patients, and those who are crucial to the well-being of their patients. On Being and Having a Case Manager is a valuable book, full of wonderful stories, sensible guidelines, and original ways of relating to people with mental illness. All those who work in the world of mental health will benefit from its thoroughgoing examination of the centrality of relationships in the treatment of people with mental illness, and from its wisdom. This is a wonderfully useful and necessary book."

Jay Neugeboren , Author of Imagining Robert: My Brother, Madness and Survival and Madness: New Lives for People Living with Mental Illness

"This book represents a milestone in the further development and refinement of the concept and practice of what is referred to as case management for individuals with mental illness. It also places this vital service in the intellectual and historical framework of the spectrum of services for such individuals in the specific context of wellness and recovery. The ideas presented in this engaging and insightful book also have broad applicability and implications for case management in other fields of service."
William Waldman, MSW
Lecturer and Executive in Residence
Rutgers University School of Social Work
Former Commissioner of Human Services, State of New Jersey
Former Executive Director of the American Public Human Services Association

"This book is a 'must read'-not just for case managers but for anyone who works in or relies on the mental health system. At some basic level, all of us understand two fundamental truths about mental health recovery. First, it is individuals--with all their strengths and weaknesses--who are the ultimate locus of change in their lives. Second, personal change such as recovery is aided and driven by human relationships. Small wonder that the Institute of Medicine has called for "continuous healing relationships" as a bedrock principle for reforming health care. On Being and Having a Case Manager uses the findings from research to provide well-grounded tips and guidance on how productive human relationships are developed and sustained. This book is about how to do "the right thing right" in mental health."
Michael F. Hogan, Ph.D.
Commissioner, Office of Mental Health, New York State and Chair, President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health

"This is the only book I have seen that truly gets in depth about the practice of case management. The authors purposely avoid complex professional jargon yet still describe in practical language the theories and principles required for comprehensive intervention. While particularly appropriate for newer case managers, all professionals will benefit from reading about the fascinating relationships between these consumers and providers and the continuing development of case management as a practice modality."
Joseph Walsh, Ph.D, MSW
Professor, School of Social Work
Virginia Commonwealth University

"In the genre of clinical case management, this thought-provoking book takes a serious look at the nature of the client - case manager relationship. One hopes that mental health clients, case managers, and supervisors will use the book as a vehicle for discussing the common tensions of independence vs. dependence, doing with vs. doing for, and self-determination vs. management. These are the essential dilemmas of relationship that strongly influence recovery."
Robert E. Drake, MD, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry and Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School

"Using ethnographic methods, a detailed case study, teaching points and suggestions for practice the authors weave together an engaging text that effectively focuses on the essence of case management--i.e., the relationship between the client and the case manager. Their suggestions for practice are straightforward and extremely relevant to all existing case management models."
William Anthony, Ph.D. Executive Director and Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences,
Boston University

Edition details

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0231132662
• ISBN 13: 9780231132664
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 242