Case management training and qualifications

Rob CantonDe Montfort University,

LeicesterUK

Offending related needs & desistance

• EPR # 12 Probation agencies shall work in partnership with other public or private organisations and local communities to promote the social inclusion of offenders. Co-ordinated and complementary inter-agency and inter-disciplinary work is necessary to meet the often complex needs of offenders and to enhance community safety.

• But if there are several agencies or individuals involved, there is a risk of confusion

• Case management is the process to ensure that interventions are coordinated and make sense to all involved – especially the offender

Case management

• Continuity• Consistency• (providing opportunities for) Consolidation • Commitment (from staff)

Paul Holt

EPR # 80 Irrespective of the number of persons contributing to working with an offender, there shall in every case be an identified responsible member of staff whose task it is to assess, elaborate and co-ordinate the general work plan and to ensure contact with the offender and compliance. ...

Most important characteristics of good case management

• Referral and communication

• Relationship

Referral and Communication

• Referral is better seen as introducing a new, additional source of help and support rather than “passing on” a client

• Need to be clear about what you expect of the agency to whom you are referring

• The client too must understand the purpose of the referral

• Be willing to negotiate• Liaise regularly - about progress in individual

cases, but also more generally about how agencies are working together

• Clarity of purpose, skills of coordination, good written and spoken skills

Relationship

• Continuity and consolidation require a strong professional relationship

• EPR #1: Probation agencies shall aim to reduce reoffending by establishing positive relationships with offenders in order to supervise (including control where necessary), guide and assist them and to promote their successful social inclusion. Probation thus contributes to community safety and the fair administration of justice.

SkillsKnowledge

Values

Best practice

Almost all skills are best learnt and assessed in practice

Much knowledge can be particularly well imparted and assessed in educational setting

Values explored in both settings

A training curriculum should attend to

Knowledge

Relationship

• Understanding processes of change

• Understanding motivation

• Personal insights• Emotional

intelligence / emotional literacy

Referral and Communication

• Desistance• Awareness of

criminogenic factors• Clear understanding of

role and responsibilities

• Knowing about agencies / individuals, their skills and resources

Skills

Relationship

• Skills of engagement

• Interviewing • Interpretation• Motivational skills

Referral and Communication

• Good communication skills

• Problem solving

Values• EPR #4 Probation agencies shall take full account

of the individual characteristics, circumstances and needs of offenders in order to ensure that each case is dealt with justly and fairly. The interventions of probation agencies shall be carried out without discrimination on any {improper} ground ..

• EPR #6 As far as possible, the probation agencies shall seek the offenders’ informed consent and co-operation regarding interventions that affect them.

• Confidentiality

• Social inclusion

Education and Training

• EPR # 21 Staff shall be recruited and selected in accordance with approved criteria which shall place emphasis on the need for integrity, humanity, professional capacity and personal suitability for the complex work they are required to do.

• (Maybe not all qualities can be acquired through training?)

• EPR # 29 Probation staff shall be sufficiently numerous to carry out their work effectively.

Education and Training for case management

• Good education should be like good case management itself

• … i.e. requiring continuity, consistency, consolidation and commitment (from both students and their teachers / mentors)

• Range of skills and knowledge, but someone helping the student to make sense of it all

• Law, criminology, sociology, psychology, pedagogy – but also skills in and through practice

Qualifications• Considerable differences of approach in

different countries• Moves to begin to develop common

European standards – but very early days• Progression - Increased levels of

qualification to match increases in skills and responsibilities

• Assessed - and often assessed in and through practice (not just papers and dissertations)

• Should reflect the profession’s standing