Best Practices in Strength-Based Case Management: Documentation 2.0

Target Audience:

This full-day intensive is intended for all caseworkers and staff within DYCD-funded programs that are that provide full case management services.

Overview

Do you want to learn more effective strategies to help individuals and families set and meet their goals? Could your case notes use some organization and quality improvement? The case record is the official comprehensive account of activities relating to a specific person or family and it is a vital resource for the agency in providing continuity of service to the family.  The record also serves as an administrative tool used to provide information concerning the person or family to staff and administrators. Accurate, timely documentation significantly impacts the credibility of the worker as a professional and the agency as a responsible institution.

Beginning with a foundation in strength-based assessment, this day will be highly interactive and will use exercises, role plays, videos and other practice tools so that you walk away with new or enhanced skills with which to document your work. Given the myriad of complex challenges faced by the individuals and families served by DYCD, many organizations tend to focus on deficits first. Focusing on strengths allows service providers to involve people in service planning in a positive way by underscoring what is going well in their lives. Strength-based assessment provides a method for documenting a person’s strengths and competencies and offers a way for establishing positive expectations and a foundation upon which an Individualized Service Plan can be built. Using the SMARTS goal setting framework, we will practice the effective goal setting that sets the stage for critical and ongoing progress note documentation. Using a SOAP-D framework, along with other strategies, we spend significant time practicing improved documentation of progress notes.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

• Understand the importance of conducting a Strength-based assessment;
• Build a framework for analyzing the “full picture;”
• Utilize assessment(s) results to help individuals set and achieve important goals documented in their ISP/ISS to improve service delivery and performance outcomes;
•  Gain a better understanding of the value of effective documentation and its impact on individuals  and their families;
•  Understand the structure and content of progress notes and have the ability to use the SMARTS and SOAP-D techniques; and
•  Document service interactions stating the essential information about a contact in a manner that adheres to the case management standards.

Please contact Susan Grundberg (sgrundberg@mhaofnyc.org) with any questions.

NOTE: ** This training is open to all staff working within NYC DYCD-funded programs.