As a small nonprofit serving pets and their guardians, we try to have fairly firm boundaries around case management. For example, we provide physical pet care assistance, vet care coordination and funding, pet pantry, and emergency foster care. While our programs provide a fairly holistic approach to pet care, there are so many other challenges our clients are facing as members of under-resourced communities. We pride ourselves on being able to connect our clients to resources for anything that we can't directly assist with. Some examples include home health care, mental health care, medical care, housing assistance, disability accommodations, and the list goes on.
As a result, we work tirelessly to make sure we have a huge resource and referral list. The document is a living thing, constantly changing with new information and contacts.
It is vital that our resources and referrals are up to date. We always strive for "active referrals", making the connection directly for the client, and ensuring that we have accurate information on what services are provided by who. As we all know, in the nonprofit world, service models change constantly and something offered last week might be an entirely new program with new eligibility this week. I try to tackle this by constantly checking in with our community partners. Explaining to them that giving me regular updates will, in the end, benefit them as well since they will not get referrals for situations they are unable to help with. Having a personal relationship with a contact at each organization is also key to smooth referrals. With a lot of turnover in these fields, this means always working on those relationships. Finally, I always try to go to an organization in person (or now virtually), and present our services directly to the staff who work on the front lines (case managers, social workers, etc).
#CaseManagement*#CommunityPartnerships*#PetSupportServices*------------------------------
Carrie Nydick Finch, MS, LCSW
Deputy Director of Programs and Strategy
PAWS NY
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Case Management &
Community Partnerships Specialist
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