In today’s social services environment it is likely you are seeing people with more and more complex needs. Those service needs often cross systems for education, health, housing, criminal justice and more. This means that most clients will need services from multiple service providers. We all have our strengths and expertise, so we are acting in our clients’ best interests when we acknowledge that and collaborate with others to address all needs. There are many labels for assembling a set of services from multiple providers. Wraparound services, resource coordination, care coordination, services coordination. They all refer to how we, as case managers, develop service plans that are intentional and comprehensive. By the time we need to connect clients with services - internally and externally – we have collected: A thorough needs assessment based on the client’s feedback and our observations Their goals Their fears and concerns Their histories Family and friends who are involved in their lives That adds up to a lot of data that you need to consider in determining how you can assist your client as well as possible. If you are using a case management software system like Casebook you have all of this information in a centralized client record. It can accommodate as much information as you collect over the course of your service with any individual clients. Imagine you are an employment coach working with Susan, whose needs are relatively simple. She has an erratic work history due to poor habits, and as an experienced job coach you can help her identify the issues that contribute to her problems. With a clear picture of what’s happening you can work with her to overcome them. You and Susan create goals and she is on board with the service plan. It’s a straightforward problem with no particular aggravating factors that require a lot of interventions. You progress through the plan until you and Susan are confident she has established habits she can sustain. Clients With Multiple Service Needs Now imagine Susan has bad work habits because of multiple barriers. Her housing may be unstable. Unstable housing is proven to disrupt other areas of life, including someone like Susan’s ability to fulfill work obligations. In her case it has disrupted her employment. If she becomes street homeless there is a good chance she can get charged by law enforcement if she sleeps somewhere that local ordinances have banned. That would be a misdemeanor. Now she has a criminal complaint on her record on top of a fine it is unlikely she can afford to pay. This impaired her efforts to find employment even more. But that’s not all. Susan has clinical depression. It was under control until she stopped going to her appointments. Medicaid coverage lapsed when she did not fill the appropriate paperwork because it got lost during her moves. She does not have a current therapist or medications. She is unable to concentrate or follow through on tasks. Susan’s needs are clearly more complex. You are a job coach. You may work with people with psychiatric disabilities to secure employment suited to their needs and abilities. You do not have direct access to resources to stabilize her housing. Plus she needs to obtain health care and that means signing up for Medicaid, as she does not have insurance to cover her costs. This is an entirely different case.