Assignment
To prepare for this Assignment, make a list of three of the most prevalent social problems experienced by people who live in your town or city (e.g., unemployment). Then, make a list of the types of services that someone who has these problems might need. Think about the information that you discussed in the Survey of Social Problems class. Then, using information from your Applied Skills in Human Services course, create a plan that solves the problems described in the following scenario.
Scenario:
You are working as a community resource coordinator at a Workforce One Stop. Your primary duties are to attend community fairs and events to advertise the services provided at the One Stop (usually job training, food stamps, cash assistance, housing, and referrals to substance abuse and mental health treatment). Further, you collect information about your town's agencies, for profit and not for profit, and provide updated information to the intake specialists and employment counselors who work directly with clients. Your supervisor has given you a task: If you complete it, you will be promoted to intake specialist. You are excited because you want a promotion and raise, but the task seems impossible. In the past, you have done a great job of updating the agency's database, but case managers and counselors were still not able to get clients connected with services effectively.
The task: You are to create a coordination of services plan, a plan to update and connect clients in your agency with appropriate services offered by other agencies. The plan must include:
1. Guidelines for confidentiality of client information during the referral process
2. Guidelines for identifying barriers to service (e.g., transportation or cost of services)
3. Guidelines for making, tracking, and assessing the success of referrals to each agency
4. A reasonable timeline that specifies the time from first meeting with the client to the time that the referral is made to the amount of time for checking with the client or agency to assess the effectiveness of the referral
5. Guidelines for coordinating all of the referrals to help the client to manage appointments and services. Assume that your clients will need access to substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence, and job training services. Be as creative as possible when creating your plan; you may add a chart with your time line or a graphic that shows how someone in your agency might coordinate the clients' services (e.g., flow chart).
Be specific and brief as you write your plan. Think of it as a guide to be used by case managers and other specialists in your agency.