Solution-Based Casework: An Introduction to Clinical and Case Management Skills in Casework Practice Book

	Introduction	xi
I.	Historical Context
1	The Foundations of Solution-Based Casework	3
	Family-Centered Practice	3
	Ecological Perspective	4
	Competence-Centered Perspective	7
	Family Life Cycle Theory	9
	Postmodern Family Casework	11
	Solution-Focused Family Therapy	13
	Relapse Prevention Theory	15
	Integrating Solution-Focused and Problem-Centered Models	17
2	Searching for Solutions in the Postmodern World	21
	The Evolution of Casework Practice	22
	Current Challenges to Casework	25
	Rising Pressure from the Welfare to Work Movement	28
	Emerging Responses to the Crisis in Casework	29
II.	Assessment
3	Anchoring Casework in Everyday Life Events	37
	"Sorting Things Out" Together	37
	Partnership Changes the Meaning of Assessment	38
	Keeping Ourselves Focused on Everyday Life	38
	Routines Are at the Heart of Family Life	39
	The Problem with Solutions	40
	Overview of Family Development	41
	Beginning Couple	42
	Infant Preschool Family	43
	School-Age Family	44
	Adolescent Family	45
	Launching Family	46
	Postparental Family	47
	Divorce and Remarriage	47
	Keeping Your Finger on the Pulse of Family Life	48
	Everyday Life and Patterns of Discouragement	49
4	Recognizing Patterns	51
	Assessing Patterns in Everyday Life	51
	Creating a Partnership to Find Solutions	52
	Techniques for Building Partnerships	53
	Recognizing Dominant Patterns in Everyday Life	56
	Helping the Family Describe the Problem in Everyday Life Terms	57
	Decision-Making in Assessment	62
5	Assessing Problem Detail	65
	Relapse Prevention Requires Specific Skills	65
	What Skills Should Be Targeted for Outcome?	65
	Steps to Promoting Prevention Skills	68
Step 1	Recognizing Patterns in High-Risk Situations	68
Step 2	Learning the Details of High-Risk Patterns	69
Step 3	Practicing Small Steps toward Change	73
Step 4	Creating a Plan That Stays Focused on Solutions	76
	Reinforcing Client Progress During Assessment	79
	Summary	80
6	Building a Consensus for a Prevention Plan	83
	Co-Constructing Measurable Goals with Your Clients	83
	Searching for Solutions	83
	Strategies That Work in Gaining Goal Consensus	86
	Helping Clients Establish an Initial Safety Plan	94
	Thinking Long-Term While Taking Short-Term Steps	95
	What Goes into a Good Initial Safety Plan?	96
	Considerations on Implementing a Safety Plan	96
	Summary of the Role of Assessment in Case Planning	97
	Appendix	99
III.	Management Issues
7	The Process of Writing Objectives and Tasks	105
	The Advantages of Being Specific and Measurable	105
	When Case Plans Become Court Documents	107
	Writing a Case Plan That Is Focused on Solutions	108
	Uniting Around a Family Goal	109
	Breaking Down the Goal into Family Objectives	109
	Going from Family-Level Objectives to Individual-Level Objectives	110
	The Primacy of Risk-Related Objectives	112
	Breaking Down Objectives into Manageable Tasks	112
	Writing Action Plans to Prevent Relapse	118
8	Solution-Based Case Management	125
	The Challenge of Staying the Course	125
	A Reminder about Targeting Outcome Skills	126
Challenge 1	Making the Transition from Intake to Ongoing	127
Challenge 2	Making the Transition from Casework to Treatment	132
Challenge 3	Integrating Welfare to Work Objectives	136
Challenge 4	Making the Most of Setbacks	136
	Supervisor's Role in Case Management	140
	Taking the Time to Supervise	141
	Maintaining a Partnership	142
	Maintaining a Focus on Specific Situations in Family Life	143
	Summary	146
9	Treatment Providers' Role in Case Management	149
	Introduction	149
	Gathering Basic Information about the Referral	152
	What Happened?	152
	What Is the Safety Plan?	153
	How Has the Problem Been Defined with the Family?	154
	Sample Dialogue at the Time of Referral	155
	Offering Services to Mirror Family Developmental Needs	159
	Overview of Steps to Prevention	163
	Helping Clients Learn the Details of Their Patterns	164
	Helping Clients Practice Small Steps of Change	166
	Helping Clients Develop Relapse Prevention Plans	168
	Summary of Solution-Based Interviewing Techniques	169
	Strategies for Collaboration	170
10	Solution-Based Interviewing Techniques	175
	Techniques That Build a Consensus about the Problem	176
	Normalizing	177
	Externalizing the Problem	178
	Searching for Exceptions to the Pattern	179
	Tracking the Problem Pattern	180
	Techniques for Creating Interest in Signs of Change	184
	Between Session Observation	185
	Old versus New T-Charts	186
	Scaling Questions	187
	Time-Oriented Questions	189
	Anchoring Change in the New Self	191
	Expanding the Audience for Change	192
	Reinforcing Progress through Credentialing	194
	Celebrating Rites of Passage	195
	Reference Reading Specifically for Technique	197
11	How Staff Experience Change	199
	Frustration and Old Models	199
	Advantages to Solution-Based Casework	203
	Challenges Inherent in Changing Habits	207
	Success Stories	209
	Implementing Solution-Based Casework: Training Considerations	213
	References	219
	Index	225