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Social Work vocabulary · Casework and Assessment

Case management

Meaning in social work, with examples

nounCore term

In social work, case management means: A way of working in which one worker assesses a person's needs, plans and coordinates the services they receive, and reviews progress over time.

In Turkish: vaka yönetimi

How it is used

Common in NGOs, refugee programmes, health and mental health services. The cycle is usually described as intake, assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring and closure. A case manager coordinates services rather than providing every one personally.

Example sentences

  1. The project offers case management to refugee families with complex needs.

  2. Good case management means nobody has to tell their story five times.

Common collocations

  • case management system
  • case manager
  • provide case management
  • case management process
  • intakeThe first stage of contact with a service, when basic information is collected and a decision is made about what should happen next.
  • assessmentThe process of gathering and analysing information about a person's situation, needs, strengths and risks in order to decide what help is needed.
  • care planA written plan setting out a person's needs, the goals to work towards, the services to be provided, who is responsible and when progress will be reviewed.
  • case closureThe planned end of a social worker's or agency's involvement with a person or family, usually when goals are met or help is no longer needed.
  • caseloadThe number of cases or clients that one social worker or team is responsible for at a given time.

More terms: Casework and Assessment

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