Outcome Management plays an essential role in assisting a client to achieve their ultimate goal. The first step in the process is to create a plan and to identify and prioritize the issues and needs of a client. Prioritization of needs allows the real problems to be addressed first. Based on the needs identified, the client(s) and case worker can work together to define a set of achievable goals and objectives. Appropriate activities can then be identified and scheduled in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team in an effort to achieve the goals and objectives and to ultimately achieve a positive outcome for the client. For some outcome plans, visitation plans are an important aspect of the plan. The caseworker can create a visitation plan to specify the planned interactions that occur between clients and visitors.
The process is summarized below. Note: this is an example process flow, once a plan is created, the steps can be performed in any order.
This chapter outlines the features of Outcome Management which allow for the construction of an outcome plan to identify and address client needs.