Case Management For Ex-Offenders

Case Management for Ex-Offenders

What is Case Management? Case management is the coordination of services to meet the treatment, housing, employment and other needs of ex-offenders and their families.

Case managers should not be a generalist position, but need to have clear definitions of their role and responsibilities1. Why is it important for ex-offenders? Ex-offenders who spend more time with case managers show a higher likelihood of finding and keeping employment after release.2 Promising Practices in Case Management with Ex-Offenders Risk Assessment and Targeted Interventions 3 Needs and risks of the clients should be assessed at the beginning of service provision  Should be empirically-based and validated

A case plan should be developed based upon the risk assessment identifying interventions and goals. It should be distributed to the client

Interventions should be targeted to the needs of the client and provided at appropriate times

Interventions or services that target the individual’s assessed needs should either be provided by the organization itself or the case manager should facilitate access to such services through formal collaborations with service provision agencies or coordinated referrals.

Collaboration and Joint Ownership 4 Services and responsibilities must be coordinated between relevant agencies working with the transitioning ex-offender. This includes the prison/jail and probation/parole officers as well as community agencies

1 Jucovy, L. (2006). Just Out: Early Lessons from the Ready4Work Prisoner Reentry Initiative. Baltimore: Annie E. Casey Foundation. 2 Solomon, A. L., Visher, C., La Vigne, N. G., & Osborne, J. (2006). Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry: Research Findings from the Urban Institute's Prisoner Reentry Portfolio. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=411289 3Warwick, K., Dodd, H., & Neusteter, S. R. (2012). Case Management Strategies for Successful Jail Reentry. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.; Burke, P., Herman, P., Stroker, R., & Giguere, R. (2010). TPC Case Management Handbook: An Integrated Case Management Approach. Washington, DC: National Insititute of Corrections. Retrieved from http://nicic.gov/Library/024393 4 Warwick, Dodd, & Neusteter, 2012; Burke, Herman, Stroker, & Giguere, 2010

1 Prepared by Megan Foster, Graduate Intern April 2013 If possible, all agencies should provide services based upon a single case plan and/or establish a case management team

Data Driven Responses and Strategies for Success Case management models should be based on data related to an organization’s population characteristics, current needs and evaluation of current and past programming.

Enhanced Motivational Strategies 5 Motivational Interviewing6 “A consumer-centered, directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence.”  Ex-offender must be engaged in the change process

Case Planning7 Develop goals, plans and activities to meet success goals based upon assessment and participant readiness.  Focus on goals that are attainable and reasonable

 Use a strengths-based approach to determining goals and strategies

 Have at least one goal that can be accomplished easily and right away

On-Going Staff Activities 8 Modeling pro-social behavior: positive communication and problem-solving

Skills Practice Opportunities: structured exercises and providing opportunities to practice problem- solving skills

Positive Reinforcement and Incentives: reinforce positive behavior and use incentives consistently. Punish rarely and only when necessary9

Authoritarian Dynamic: Instead of authoritative

5 Burke, Herman, Stroker, & Giguere, 2010 6 Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.; Blandford, A. M., & Osher, F. C. (2012). A Checklist for Implementing Evidence-Based Practices and Programs for Justice-Involved Adults with Behavioral Health Disorders. Rockville, MD: SAMHSA’s GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation.; Orbis Partners, Inc. (2005). Motivational Interviewing: An Introduction [Lesson Plan and Participant's Manual]. Washington, DC: National Institute of Corrections. 7 Mullins, T. G., & Toner, C. (2008). Implementing the Family Support Approach for Community Supervision. Lexington, KY: Family Justice and the American Probation and Parole Association. 8 Burke, Herman, Stroker, & Giguere, 2010; Carter, M. M., Gibel, S., Giguere, R., & Stroker, R. (2007). Increasing Public Safety Through Successful Offender Reentry:Evidence-Based and Emerging Practices in Corrections. Silver Spring, MD: Center for Effective Public Policy 9 Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (1994). The psychology of criminal conduct. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing. Incentives and punishers should be used at a scale of 4 to 1

2 Prepared by Megan Foster, Graduate Intern April 2013 Advocate: case manager should be an advocate for the ex-offender Program Models Family Case Management Looking at the entire family as a client rather than an individual  Include all family members in needs assessments  Include all family members in case planning  Utilization of tools such as genograms and ecomaps Strengths-based approach

Intensive Case Management (ICM) 10 Coordinated services to support clients in recovery and prevent recidivism using case managers with individualized caseloads

Forensic Intensive Case Management (FICM) 11 ICM model specifically tailored to effect criminogenic needs

Model is currently utilized by Missouri DOC

Components:  Risk Containment  Risk Reduction  Stabilization  Compliance Tracking

Women Offender Case Management Model (WOCMM) 12 Gender-responsive case management model utilizing gender-responsive assessment tools, strengths based approaches and safety planning.  Based on needs of female ex-offenders

 Strengths-based

o Includes social support evaluations

 Collaborative with ex-offender Outcomes for Case Management Short-Term Promote or increase access to services deemed necessary to reduce criminogenic risk

10 Burke, Herman, Stroker, & Giguere, 2010 11 Blandford & Osher, 2012; Morrissey, J., & Meyer, P. (2008). Extending Assertive Community Treatment to Criminal Justice Settings. Rockville, MD: SAMHSA's GAINS Centerfor Behaviorial Health and Justice Transformation. 12 Orbis Partners, Inc. (2006). Women Offender Case Management Model. Washington, DC: National Institute of Corrections. Retrieved from http://static.nicic.gov/Library/021814.pdf Contains many useful assessments and worksheets

3 Prepared by Megan Foster, Graduate Intern April 2013 Promote employment and maintenance of employment13 Increased pro-social beliefs, skills, attitude Provide a model for pro-social behaviors and communication skills Provide support for reentry goals and troubleshooting for barriers to goals Long-Term Reduced Recidivism  One evaluation of WOCMM found consistently lower rates of recidivism of the treatment group. None of the differences, however, were statistically significant.14 Resources National Institute on Corrections: http://nicic.gov/  National Institute of Corrections: Motivational Interviewing Page: http://nicic.gov/MotivationalInterviewing

SAMHSA  GAINS Center : http://gainscenter.samhsa.gov  National Registry of Evidence- Based Practices and Programs: http://www.nrepp.samhsa.gov

13 Solomon et al., 2006 14 Orbis Partners, Inc. (2009). Outcome Evaluation of the Women Offender Case Management Model in Connecticut Probation. Washington, DC: National Institute of Corrections.

4 Prepared by Megan Foster, Graduate Intern April 2013