Case management is used across a diverse range of organisational settings, from child protection to aged care; disability services; acute and community health; courts and correctional services; employment services; veteran services; education; and immigration programs. However, case management is not always successfully implemented, and practitioners often feel they are not given sufficient support. The Practice of Case Management draws on extensive practice research to identify the key characteristics of successful case management: organisational support; developing delivery models to suit individual client needs; preparation of staff at all levels; and affirmation of the central and active role of the client. The authors outline the challenges and complexities faced by case managers, acknowledging that their role is often poorly conceptualised and articulated. They demonstrate that true engagement enables effective service provision and offer practical strategies for everyone involved in the case management process to facilitate negotiation, accountability and the achievement of positive outcomes. DI GURSANSKY is a social work consultant and an honorary fellow at the Australian Catholic University. She has had a long career in social work and human service education, with a particular interest in field education, social work practice, service delivery and gerontology. ROSEMARY KENNEDY is a psychologist and is also admitted as a practitioner of the Supreme Court of SA. She currently works in the area of government regulation of the health professions. Di and Rosemary are two of the co-authors of the first Australian case management text, Case Management: Policy, Practice and Professional Business . PETER CAMILLERI is Professor of Social Work at the Australian Catholic University. He has expertise in areas such as mental health, suicide, child protection and disaster response, and is also the author of books on social work practice and working with men. The Practice of Case Management Effective Strategies for Positive Outcomes By Di Gursansky, Rosemary Kennedy, Peter Camilleri Allen & Unwin Copyright © 2012 Di Gursansky, Rosemary Kennedy and Peter Camilleri All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-74237-044-6 Contents Figures and tables, Authors' note and acknowledgements, 1 With a focus on practice, what is on the agenda?, 2 The role of the service system and organisations in case management practice, 3 Beginning the case management process: Assessment, 4 Planning, 5 Implementing case management plans, 6 Monitoring and review in case management practice, 7 Transitions in case management practice, 8 Professional dilemmas in case management practice, 9 Beyond case management, References, CHAPTER 1 WITH A FOCUS ON PRACTICE, WHAT IS ON THE AGENDA? Declaring our position Why another book on case management? After all, case management has been on the scene for some 40 years, and in the Australian context has been established as a service-delivery approach since the mid-1980s. Few human service organisations or practitioners remain untouched by the influence of case management. This may mean that the organisation has adopted case management as a service-delivery approach; alternatively, if the organisation is a service provider, it will find at least some of its practitioners engaged in case management hosted by other programs or organisations. We often talk about 'doing case management' or 'working with case management' as a reality of the practice world in the human service and health sectors. However, as familiar as many practitioners are with case management, our practice research suggests that confusion still exists about the concept, as well as about what is different in the practice and what is expected of the case manager and those involved in this service-delivery approach. Much of the significant work on the conceptualisation and documentation of case management practice was entrenched in the international literature by the late 1990s and in the Australian literature during the early 2000s (e.g. see Austin & McClelland 1996; Greene & Vourlekis 1992; Gursansky, Harvey & Kennedy 2003; Holt 2000; Moxley 1989, 1997; Rose 1992; Rothman & Sager 1998; Weil, Karls and Associates 1985). While there continues to be writing about case management, the commentaries often document particular applications of the service-delivery approach, processes, practices or the evaluation of specific aspects of case management-based programs. Most recently, Elizabeth Moore (2009) has edited a book that provides insight into Australian applications of case management in different fields of practice. Texts such as this provide evidence of the many forms of case management that have been developed in response to different settings, client populations, policy and program agendas. Characteristically, much of the contemporary literature remains descriptive, and assumes the value and virtue of ca