How Targeted Case Management Can Get You Back on Your Feet

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Jewel is a single mom who was recently fired from her job. She is two months behind on rent and her car recently broke down. She doesn’t know how much more that she can take. She wants to make changes but doesn’t know where or how to start. Would you believe me if I told you there was a service available designed to tackle all of life’s challenges similarly to Jewel’s?

Although not well-known or understood, Targeted Case Management (TCM), a service provided by the Trauma-Informed Counseling Center, can help people get back on their feet. According to The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) case management is defined as “a range of services provided to assist and support individuals in developing their skills to gain access to needed medical, behavioral health, housing, employment, social, educational, and other services essential to meeting basic human services.”

TCMs advocate for their client’s needs and help them find resources within their communities so they can live happy lives. TCMs help their clients identify:

(1) The problems that prevent them from improving

(2) Where they want to go

(3) Specific, measurable steps to reach those goals

TCMs have several professional roles including that of an advocate, listener, broker, educator, facilitator, and organizer. TCMs “wear many hats” in that they can do a variety of tasks to aid in the client’s overall wellbeing. Examples of these task areas include, but aren’t limited to: medication management, stress management, and self-care, childcare, welfare & social security assistance, medical services, unemployment assistance, school & learning support, services for people with disabilities, mentoring programs, routine, and structure development, community enrichment programs, legal aid services, addiction services, and recreation & socialization. TCMs work with populations from varying economic, religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds; as well as diverse ages, sexual orientation, gender identities, and ability levels.

The overall goal of TCM is to help clients achieve wellness and autonomy. It helps people navigate systems that would otherwise be inaccessible, expensive, or downright confusing. These services help individuals gain access to necessary medical, social, educational & community-based services all while serving as a liaison between the client and other members in the client’s support network. This is accomplished by using a Wraparound approach which essentially “wraps” community services around the client as a means of support.

These services can benefit anyone whose quality of life is impacted in three or more areas (ex. school, health, family, social, spirituality, finances) by significant stressors or barriers. TCM can especially assist marginalized groups who experience discrimination and social injustice to counteract and empower them to take their power back.

To request TCM for you or someone else, please call our office directly or complete the referral form that can be found on our website at https://www.theticcoflexington.com/copy-of-referral-form