Advocating for consumers
The case manager attempts to bring about solutions to problems impeding the consumer’s progress or infringing on his/her rights. The case manager also supports the consumer to be a strong self-advocate. Additionally, the case manager develops a network of community collaborators for advocacy. Community collaborators are resourceful, caring, and responsible individuals who are committed to the growth and development of the consumer. Often these collaborators are family members, friends, neighbors, and community agency personnel. By meeting regularly with the consumer and with collaborators, barriers to consumer progress can be identified and steps can be taken.
Advocacy takes place at different levels of the service system. For example, the case manager may go with the consumer to reapply or submit an appeal for financial assistance, or a case manager may approach a public housing authority about making low-income housing available to a client. Advocacy is important. Through the process of case management, positive and long-term improvements for the consumers can be made.
The purpose of referral and linkage is resource acquisition; acquiring the environmental resources desired by consumers to achieve their goals, insure their rights, and to increase each person’s assets. A primary focus is to break down the walls separating consumers from the community and to replace segregation with true community integration. Often, the case manager acts to buffer the client from the stress of navigating the bureaucracy. To be successful, it is the responsibility of each case manager to learn the resources in their community that are beneficial to their consumers and to assist consumers in accessing and utilizing these community resources. Case managers must also be familiar with the key contact persons within particular agencies.
The case manager makes arrangements to assure the client receives the needed services/resources/supports. The case manager assists the client to choose a service/resource/support provider agency to delivery their services and supports identified in the ICSP. This includes the arranging and attending meetings as necessary to share the client’s plan and communicate a common strategy. The case manager facilitates the delivery of services by coordinating the contributions of multiple service/resource/supports representatives and the timeliness of services. The case manager can serve as the client’s guide to access the resources to support the client’s recovery.