Meds, Money, and Manners : The Case Management of Severe Mental Illness

Floersch shows how and why case management and community support services replaced psychiatry and mental hospitals. The case manager's use of textbook and practical knowledge allows for the management of medication, money, and day-to-day life of adults with severe mental illnesses. Yet, Floersch asks, are social workers state agents controlling clients? This critical study examines everyday written and oral narratives to prove that this common critique is untrue. As case management has replaced institutional care for mental health patients in recent decades, case management theory has grown in complexity and variety of models. But how are these models translated into real experience? How do caseworkers use both textbook and practical knowledge to assist clients with managing their medication and their money? Using ethnographic and historical-sociological methods, Meds, Money, and Manners: The Case Management of Severe Mental Illness uncovers unexpected differences between written and oral accounts of case management in practice. In the process, it suggests the possibility of small acts of resistance and challenges the myth of social workers as agents of state power and social control.

floersch Shows How And Why Case Management And Community Support Services Replaced Psychiatry And Mental Hospitals. The Case Manager's Use Of Textbook And Practical Knowledge Allows For The Management Of Medication, Money, And Day-to-day Life Of Adults With Severe Mental Illnesses. Yet, Floersch Asks, Are Social Workers State Agents Controlling Clients? This Critical Study Examines Everyday Written And Oral Narratives To Prove That This Common Critique Is Untrue.

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having Worked With And Studied Case Managers While They Mobilized Resources In A Mental Health Organization To Enable Former Hospital Patients To Continue Living In Communities, Floersch (social Service Administration, U. Of Chicago), Describes How They Use Case Management Theory Called Continuum-of-care Or Community Reintegration To Produce Apartment-dwelling Consumers Of Mental Health Services. Annotation C. Book News, Inc., Portland, Or (booknews.com)

Table of Contents List of Tables Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. The Formation of Community Support Services 3. The Rise of the Case Manager 4. Strengths Case Management 5. Landscape for a Case Manager: The Carless Mentally Ill 6. Oral and Written Narratives of Case Managers 7. Money 8. Meds 9. The Helper Habitus: Situated Knowledge and Case Management 10. Conclusion Appendix A: Methods, Data, and Analysis: A Critical-Realist Perspective Appendix B: Continuum of Services Appendix C: Interview Schedule Notes References Index The Formation Of Community Support Services -- The Rise Of The Case Manager -- Strengths Case Management -- Landscape For A Case Manager: The Carless Mentally Ill -- Oral And Written Narratives Of Case Managers -- Money -- Meds -- The Helper Habitus: Situated Knowledge And Case Management -- Methods, Data, And Analysis: A Critical-realist Perspective -- Continuum Of Services -- Interview Schedule. Jerry Floersch. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [235]-248) And Index. -- Rafael Herrera, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare