On Being and Having a Case Manager: A Relational Approach to Recovery in Mental Health
Product Description
In On Being and Having a Case Manager: A Relational Approach to Recovery in Mental Health, we argue for the importance of relationship by closely examining its process, that is, the back-and-forth exchange of attention and information in the case management world. Using data from a two-year ethnographic study of Marilyn and her case managers, we show how the process of exchanging attention and information can be used intentionally by case managers (and others in the caring network) to help clients develop or enhance abilities to achieve their greatest potential for living independently in the community. In ordinary, everyday language we describe a practical method for engaging in relationships so everybody involved in mental health care, including service providers, clients, family members and close friends can share it. The method is meant not to replace but to complement the many and varied case management models: Recovery, Assertive Community Treatment, or Strengths.
The method functions like a “common-user interface” for existing models. We show how relationships fluctuate among doing for, doing with, standing by for support, and doing for oneself many times, even during the course of a day, moment to moment, but also from the beginning to the end of life. By observing Marilyn and her case manager over two years, we show how reflective practitioners and clients continuously monitor fluctuations in doing-for-oneself or doing with others in three primary domains (i.e., feeling, thinking, and acting) while engaging in the activities of daily living.
The findings produced by this ethnographic study suggest that managers often get 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 who have severe and persistent symptoms may, in fact, require other people to do-for with great frequency, others like Marilyn, the central character in this book, may not require as much: they may need more doing-with and standing-by to encourage mastery and internalization of confidence.
On Being and Having a Case Manager: A Relational Approach to Recovery in Mental Health
