When an individual goes through any level of treatment, they are often in no state of mind to handle the forward-thinking aspects of their treatment. Case management helps them with these pieces and allows clients to concentrate on their own care.
What Are the Main Aspects of a Recovery Program?
Recovery programs exist in a linear format. However, depending on an individual’s specific case, they may be able to enter this process at any point. The process includes four major milestones of care:
- Detox
- Inpatient
- Outpatient
- Post-treatment
Beneath each of these treatment levels are various programs meant to help a person from addiction into a manageable life where they are integrated back into society.
What Is a Case Manager?
A case manager is defined as “a health care professional who helps a patient or client develop a plan that coordinates and integrates the support services that the patient/client needs to optimize the healthcare and psychosocial possible goals and outcomes.”
How Case Management Helps in Outpatient Programs
The case management process helps the client and their family navigate a complicated set of services. For most people, the idea of navigating treatment and recovery is simply not feasible. They require assistance with the entire process, from beginning to end.
The case manager will assist in putting together a plan of care and meeting regularly with the client and the client’s loved ones. These meetings exist to update everyone on the current state of the client within the program, their progress, and what can be done to make their experience as fulfilling and helpful as possible.
One of the distinct ways that case management helps in the outpatient sphere is by checking in on how the client is performing outside of the program. Whereas an inpatient program is only concerned with clients who are confined to the treatment program, an outpatient program allows clients to return home daily. This presents opportunities for success and failure.
The goal is to liaise with loved ones who have daily interaction with the client in order to learn more about how they are implementing what they have been learning. For some people, their loved ones may indicate negative behaviors that could be adverse to their healing process. Others will progress much easier with the knowledge that the recovery program is ready and available for them each day. This reassurance can keep clients on a straight path toward healing.
Case managers will utilize this knowledge to inform medical staff, create updated plans, and begin looking forward to what clients will need next. This can be anything from what their next steps are within the program to what they will need post-treatment.
How Case Management Helps With Post-Treatment Planning
As clients reach the final stages of their outpatient process, case managers will begin outlining the steps clients will take next. This outline can include a variety of different concepts, including:
- Community support groups
- Medical professionals
- Potential living situations
- Job placement programs
These are just a few of the services that case management can provide. Often, these services will be dependent on the program, community, and the client’s personal situation.
A central part of post-treatment planning is doing everything possible while still participating in an inpatient program to prepare for post-treatment. This means accepting the fact that relapses are a very real danger. With this in mind, case managers utilize their knowledge of their clients from before and during their time in treatment. This allows them to get a better picture of their client and work with medical professionals, community programs, and loved ones to provide as much relapse prevention as possible.
Case Management at West Coast Recovery Centers
West Coast Recovery Centers emphasizes a client’s well-being during and after their time in the program. Because of this, clients are assigned case managers for them to consult with and utilize.
When clients and loved ones have questions or concerns about treatment or where it is heading, case managers can point to their road map. West Coast Recovery Centers wants each client to feel that they are comfortable understanding where they are in their process. When case managers can lay out their plan before a client, it often provides the client with a blueprint to follow.
This structured case management means that there is no guessing as to what comes next. No client will be left without a plan of care. They are also able to contact their case manager in the event that they think there need to be changes to the plan. There are many reasons this might happen, but case managers and case management teams are there for just that purpose.
West Coast Recovery Centers believe that without guidance, individuals will find themselves right back where they started. Care planning helps bring assurance to people whose path feels uncertain by pointing them in the right direction, giving them specific milestones, and guiding them along the way.
It can be difficult for people to navigate the treatment and recovery process. That is why West Coast Recovery Centers provides clients with a case manager to assist them in their journey. These professionals are in place to create a path for clients to follow. This takes the guesswork out of the hands of individuals and allows case managers to work directly with clients to map out the next steps and get them from treatment into their post-treatment lives. At West Coast Recovery Centers, we are proud of our program and how it propels clients into the next phases of their lives. To learn more about our program, call (760) 492-6509.