What does a mental health case manager do?
A Mental Health Care Manager supervises the development and implementation of care plans for clients. They regularly check on their clients and make recommendations for improving clients health care needs.
Mental health case manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real mental health case manager resumes:
- Manage the care of patients with tuberculosis (TB) during their hospitalization and their discharge follow-up care.
- Coordinate, collaborate, and refer to various community agencies to assist in meeting consumer's needs and maximizing their rehabilitation.
- Perform intensive early intervention behavior therapy for children diagnose on the autism spectrum disorder using the principles of apply behavior analysis.
- Organize and participate in the development, review and evaluation of IFSP meeting.
- Assist the individual to access activities, supports and services identify in the ISP.
- Coordinate cases with supervisor, team members, providers, DCF and attorneys as needed.
- Facilitate and participate in IFSP (treatment plan) development and review activities for eligible children.
- Conduct interview to determine level of need and create/update ISP on an annual basis after initial interview.
- Maintain a good working knowledge of community resources in order to communicate resources to TCM and administrative staff.
- Maintain accurate records of all services in client's case file, complete (DCF) utilization management tasks i.e.
- Provide intensive behavioral intervention for children with autism.
- Provide behavioral/emotional support and education for patients and families of patients with diagnoses including dementia and Alzheimer's.
- Educate, demonstrate, monitor implementation of coping mechanisms necessary for daily living skills, rehabilitation, and recreational activities.
- Facilitate support groups counseling patients on recovery, relapse prevention and develop progress reports and perform referral outreach for treatment continuity.
- Perform concurrent review to assure appropriateness of admission, inpatient/acute care, rehabilitation/SNF status, and discharge using establish InterQual guidelines.
Mental health case manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Mental Health Case Managers are proficient in Mental Health, Social Work, and Patients. They’re also known for soft skills such as Emotional skills, Communication skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Mental Health Case Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Mental Health, 15%
Participated in the ongoing evaluation and improvement of the Mental Health Case Management system by actively conducting case management projects.
- Social Work, 14%
Collaborated with treatment team of clinical psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and rehabilitation counselors to develop individualized treatment plans.
- Patients, 8%
Conduct interviews in order to determine the appropriate services to offer mental health patients Participate in implementation of unit therapeutic programming.
- Management Services, 5%
Provided home-and-community-based case management services to children and adults with mental illnesses, substance abuse diagnoses, intellectual & developmental disabilities.
- Rehabilitation, 4%
Coordinated, collaborated, and referred to various community agencies to assist in meeting consumer's needs and maximizing their rehabilitation.
- Crisis Intervention, 4%
Provide individualized comprehensive case management, clinical services and crisis intervention to veterans deemed at an increased risk for suicide.
"mental health," "social work," and "patients" are among the most common skills that mental health case managers use at work. You can find even more mental health case manager responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform mental health case manager duties is communication skills. Mental health case managers responsibilities require that "clients talk to social workers about challenges in their lives." Mental health case managers also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "maintained close communication with the consulting psychiatrist for input regarding client's medication compliance, side effects, etc. "
Interpersonal skills. mental health case managers are also known for interpersonal skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to mental health case manager responsibilities, because "social workers must be able to work with different groups of people." A mental health case manager resume example shows how interpersonal skills is used in the workplace: "counseled adults about interpersonal relationships, medication management, budgeting, personal hygiene, and building self-esteem. "
Organizational skills. For certain mental health case manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "organizational skills." The day-to-day duties of a mental health case manager rely on this skill, as "social workers must help and manage multiple clients, often assisting with their paperwork or documenting their treatment." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what mental health case managers do: "assisted with conversions from drs hsp to dhs home based funding skills used interpersonal skills organizational skills computer skills. "
Problem-solving skills. Another common skill required for mental health case manager responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." This skill comes up in the duties of mental health case managers all the time, as "social workers must analyze their clients’ complex situations and develop practical solutions." An excerpt from a real mental health case manager resume shows how this skill is central to what a mental health case manager does: "resolved crisis situations and provided screening for hospitalization. "
Compassion. While "compassion" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to mental health case manager responsibilities. Much of what a mental health case manager does relies on this skill, seeing as "social workers often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of mental health case managers: "provided compassionate, creative, community-based treatment and resource referrals to individuals with spmi diagnosis of spmi. "
The three companies that hire the most mental health case managers are:
- Telecare48 mental health case managers jobs
- Sea Mar Community Health Centers18 mental health case managers jobs
- Mental Health America of Los Angeles18 mental health case managers jobs
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Compare different mental health case managers
Mental health case manager vs. Case manager/program manager
Case managers focus on guiding clients in helping their needs, resolving problems, and provide support through coursing them to relevant welfare organizations and agencies. It is the case manager's job to create case studies on subjects, in this case, children, for a social worker to provide an assessment. In many situations, the case manager is a licensed social worker who focuses on providing help for children in need. A case manager is mostly seen in government agencies and welfare organizations, hospitals, and healthcare facilities.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a mental health case manager are more likely to require skills like "substance abuse issues," "severe mental illness," "medicaid," and "cpr." On the other hand, a job as a case manager/program manager requires skills like "foster care," "substance abuse," "criminal justice," and "financial assistance." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Case manager/program managers really shine in the insurance industry with an average salary of $40,445. Comparatively, mental health case managers tend to make the most money in the government industry with an average salary of $45,655.case manager/program managers tend to reach similar levels of education than mental health case managers. In fact, case manager/program managers are 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Mental health case manager vs. Case manager for children
A Case Manager Lead is responsible for providing an assessment, implementation, and overall evaluation of individual patient needs. They also assess patients satisfaction and the quality of the care provided.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, mental health case manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patients," "substance abuse issues," "severe mental illness," and "medicaid." Meanwhile, a case manager for children has duties that require skills in areas such as "child abuse," "foster care," "autism," and "substance abuse." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Case managers for children earn a lower average salary than mental health case managers. But case managers for children earn the highest pay in the professional industry, with an average salary of $39,229. Additionally, mental health case managers earn the highest salaries in the government with average pay of $45,655 annually.case managers for children earn similar levels of education than mental health case managers in general. They're 4.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for mental health case managers in the next 3-5 years?
Lesley Casarez Ph.D.
Director, Quality Enhancement Plan Program Coordinator, M.S. Professional School Counseling Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, Angelo State University
Mental health case manager vs. Case manager lead
A Counselor provides advice for coping with everyday situations, relationships, health challenges, or disabilities of patients. Case Managers develop, monitor, and evaluate treatment plans and the progress of patients within the social service departments, healthcare companies, hospital networks, etc.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, mental health case managers are more likely to have skills like "substance abuse issues," "severe mental illness," "medicaid," and "social services." But a case manager lead is more likely to have skills like "veterans," "hmis," "incident reports," and "dhs."
Case managers lead earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $44,384. Mental health case managers earn the highest pay from the government industry, with an average salary of $45,655.Most case managers lead achieve a similar degree level compared to mental health case managers. For example, they're 1.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Mental health case manager vs. Counselor/case manager
Types of mental health case manager
Updated January 8, 2025
