Lesson 2: Attitudes of a Case Manager


Attention

A little spoof illustrating the fragmentation that occurs in the current, expert-driven approach to delivering social services to those in need.
To view this video on YouTube click HERE


Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

  • Identify the basic attitudes of a case manager

Teaching

In this lesson we look at the ethical responsibilities of the CM both to the clients they serve and the people that they work with.  

Basic Attitudes and Approaches in CM

Basic attitudes include:

  • Not burdening clients with your problems
  • You are not acting in such a way as your clients are meeting YOUR needs
  • Avoid insisting on YOUR solutions to a problem
  • Avoid exploiting your client's dependency on you

(Feel free to review the PSR Values document from Lesson 1 as well!)

The Mental Health Field

Individuals who work in this field can sometimes become locked into patterns of behavior that lead them to mistreat their clients. Some of the reasons this happens include:

  • The individual worker may be unpleasant
  • Need for power
  • Lack of support for workers
  • Working alone (isolated) surrounded by unpredictable behaviors

One of the most important ethical considerations for you as a Case Manager is to practice within your competence....in essence, don't do work that you have not specifically been trained to do.

As a CM you also have some responsibility to be aware of the well-being of your colleagues. If your co-workers are practicing in a way that is unethical or if they are somewhat impaired, you have an ethical obligation to address it...in some way.


Assessment

Lesson 2 Quiz

  1. Many people who work in the mental health field have their own issues to contend with. Our ability to keep these in check and outside of the relationship with our clients is critical to our success as a CM. Reflect on your own mental health history. What "buttons" or "blind spots" do you feel you might have in regard to the basic attitudes of CM and conforming to the PSR Values?

For each Lesson Quiz, I will list the actual questions right here in the Lesson Plan. Prepare your answers ahead of time, spell check them, and then simply copy/paste the answers into the answer box provided in the quiz.

Be sure to "save" your answers in the Quiz otherwise I won't get them!

I will not be repeating these directions again so apply these points to EVERY Quiz in this class!

Possible Class Discussion

Reflect upon your expectations and knowledge of the mental health field. How does this sort of workplace match (or NOT match) your personality characteristics?