Case Management

This Center’s case management and group counseling elements give its clients the emotional and behavioral support they need to set and keep focused on their goals for self-sufficiency, as well as acclimatize to finding and maintaining employment.  While the programs’ budget training, transportation and housing referral elements furnish these clients’ the structural support they need to prepare for, and ultimately transition into permanent housing.  The budget counseling, particularly in the Men’s Advancement Program, allows the clients to save up to 70 percent of their earnings, as well as familiarizes them with the routine of paying rent and meeting other financial obligations. 

In addition, the Center’s case management assists clients in locating additional services either when they are needed, or when their availability would enhance a client’s life.  The Staff also assist clients with making the choices they need to attain their goals, which includes helping the clients enroll in school or vocational training programs, securing needed medical or mental health services and understanding such day-to-day responsibilities as managing their money or getting to work on time.  Counselors and case managers provide the clients continuous moral support as well, by assisting them in overcoming negative self-thoughts, developing self-respect and establishing what responsibilities belong to them, thus enabling the clients to keep from relapsing into negative behaviors.  Because admission to the program is dependent upon a client’s agreement to save a substantial amount of his income toward permanent housing, men not only have the ability to move into their own apartments once their six months is complete, but the satisfaction of realizing, often for the first time in many of their lives, that it is possible for them to postpone gratification and work toward a goal. 

Moreover, the Center’s staff will spend considerable time trying to locate for clients needed specialized services that the Center is not equipped to provide.  The client may be given a temporary bed while efforts are made to locate a shelter program that will meet the specific need.  In addition to recovery programs, this can include care for chronic medical conditions, AIDS/HIV housing, youth housing, and long-term housing for undocumented men and families.  Clients who have a steady source of income are referred to SRO Housing Corporation and Skid Row Housing Trust for Section 8 rooms.  The Center’s case managers always call the agencies being considered for a referral to discuss the situation, which frequently results in suggestions for an even better alternative.  Frequently, men for whom the Center has made referrals for, and have completed, a recovery program, return to the Center requesting admission into the Men’s Advancement Program.