| Course | PS450 Case Management in Clinical Settings |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion board post |
| Length | About 510 words, 2 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 discussion post |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Psychology |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PS450 Unit 1
Six Agencies and One Phone Number: A PS450 Unit 1 Discussion Post on What Case Managers Do
PS450 · Unit 1 Discussion Board Post
Posted by [Student Name]
The writer, the program, the client and the classmates are composite; the sources cited are real.
Initial Post
I work as a case manager at an outpatient recovery program in Huntington, West Virginia, that serves our county's family treatment court. One client, whom I will call Brandi, shows why the job exists. When she entered the program in March, six agencies were involved in her life: the court, child protective services, our treatment program, a housing authority, the health department, which was treating her hepatitis C, and her son's school. Each had its own caseworker, forms and deadlines. Brandi had a prepaid phone that ran out of minutes by the third week of every month, and no car.
Case management in mental health grew out of deinstitutionalization. As state hospitals closed from the 1960s on, people with serious mental illness moved into communities where the services they needed were spread across many agencies with no one responsible for the whole. Intagliata (1982) argued that case management could improve community care by giving a person a single point of contact who assessed needs, planned services, linked the person to them, monitored progress and advocated when services failed. Those functions still describe my week.
In one week with Brandi, I assessed her needs with her, revised her service plan after a court hearing, linked her to a dentist who would see her on Medicaid, monitored her attendance at group and her drug screens, and advocated with the housing authority when her application stalled. None of those tasks is therapy, which she receives from a counselor, and none is supervision, which the court and child protective services provide.
Case management exists because the services are scattered, not because the clients are incapable.
That point matters to how I work. Brandi organized a household of three on a minimum-wage income for years. The six agencies were the problem, not her ability to manage them. My job is to make the system workable while she does the work of recovery.
What does the case manager's role look like where you work or volunteer?
Reply to Teresa
Teresa, your description of hospital discharge planning shows a different side of case management, focused on a short window rather than a year. I would be interested in how you monitor patients after they leave, since Intagliata (1982) treated monitoring as one of the functions most likely to be dropped.
Reply to Marcus
Marcus, I agree that advocacy is the hardest function. In my experience it is also the one that makes the others work, because a referral that the agency ignores is not really a link. A review of case management models for people with substance use problems found that the more intensive models, in which case managers stay involved and advocate, generally did better than brokerage models that mostly make referrals (Vanderplasschen et al., 2007).
References
Intagliata, J. (1982). Improving the quality of community care for the chronically mentally disabled: The role of case management. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 8(4), 655-674. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/8.4.655
Vanderplasschen, W., Wolf, J., Rapp, R. C., & Broekaert, E. (2007). Effectiveness of different models of case management for substance-abusing populations. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 39(1), 81-95. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2007.10399867
PS450 Unit 1 instructions, in plain terms
The first PS450 board asks how case management developed and what case managers do. Ground the role in a real workplace, a composite client or a job you have looked into. Explain the historical reasons the role emerged, citing a source. Name the core functions, such as assessment, planning, linking, monitoring and advocacy, and give an example of each. Distinguish case management from related roles such as therapy or supervision. Close with a question for classmates. Plan on roughly 400 words up front, then two replies that add a setting, a function or a source the classmate did not mention, keeping all client details composite. Cite at least one source.
How the PS 450 Unit 1 example is put together
The post opens with Brandi's six agencies and the practical barriers that made them hard to reach. A history paragraph explains deinstitutionalization and Intagliata's argument for a single point of contact. A week in the writer's job then shows assessment, plan revision, a dental linkage, monitoring of attendance and screens, and advocacy with the housing authority. A paragraph separates case management from therapy and court supervision, under a highlighted line that the role exists because services are scattered, not because clients are incapable. Replies ask a hospital discharge planner about monitoring and cite a review favoring models in which case managers stay involved. The closing question asks how other settings divide the work.
PS450 Unit 1 rubric: what earns full points
Graders of the opening post look for an accurate account of why case management exists and what it involves, illustrated rather than defined. Naming each core function with a concrete example earns more than listing them. A historical source shows the student understands the role's origins. Distinguishing case management from therapy and supervision demonstrates role clarity, which later units build on. Language that respects clients' abilities, rather than describing them as unable to cope, is often noticed. Replies should extend the discussion with a new setting, function or finding. APA citations are expected even in this short opening post, along with composite or disguised client details. Concrete weekly tasks help most.
Common PS450 Unit 1 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Many first posts define case management as helping people get services and stop there. Others describe the case manager as a counselor, blurring roles the course will separate. Students often skip history or cite a general website. Client descriptions sometimes slip into deficit language, portraying clients as helpless. Replies tend to agree without adding. Before posting, list the five functions and write one sentence of real work under each, check that your history comes from a scholarly source, and reread your description of the client for language that respects her abilities. In replies, ask a question about a function the classmate did not mention. Keep client details composite.
Get a PS450 Unit 1 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 1 prompt and the rubric. A custom post traces case management's history through a real setting and role. The first is free, delivered within 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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PS450 Unit 1 questions, answered
Why did case management grow after the 1960s?
Deinstitutionalization moved people with serious mental illness into communities with scattered services.
What are the core functions of case management?
Assessment, planning, linking, monitoring and advocacy.
What should replies add?
A setting or function the classmate did not describe.
Where can I find a free PS450 Unit 1 sample paper?
This page holds the complete PS450 Unit 1 post on what case managers do, built around a composite mother with six agencies in her life, with two replies.
Why does case management exist according to the PS450 Unit 1 sample?
Because services for people with complex needs are scattered across agencies, so someone must assess, plan, link, monitor and advocate across them.