When staff initially came to Eva’s Phoenix, they reviewed their experiences in other settings in terms of what worked well with youth and what needed to be improved. In many other programs the housing, counselling and employment initiatives - if available - are not well connected (or may, indeed, be run by separate organizations). This lack of coordination often means that the needs of the youth are not addressed effectively. For example, a youth who may be doing well in an employment program may be running into problems with his housing, which ultimately results in him discontinuing the employment program.
To do a good job, staff felt they needed to answer three main questions:
Goal setting is the key
The case management approach at Eva’s Phoenix has been one of the crucial factors in the success of the initiative. The basis for a coordinated case-management approach is a commonly understood set of goals. All youth coming into Eva’s Phoenix work with staff during the intake process to develop specific, concrete goals in three areas:
Youth participating in the employment program will also have specific goals related to finding and keeping employment.
Each youth has a co-case management team composed of a front-line youth worker, and an employment counsellor who work with the youth to make decisions and move forward on their Action Plans on a day-to-day basis. In addition, these goals outlined above are reviewed every three weeks by staff at case management meetings. These meetings bring together staff from all the different programs: the housing team, the employment team, the mentorship team. At case management meetings, progress towards the goals can be discussed, and the goals can be reviewed as required. The mix of skills present at these meetings provides an opportunity for staff to discuss together the sorts of behaviours they may be seeing (as youth may display a certain type of behaviour to particular staff members), and to problem-solve with respect to strategies to support specific youth. This approach also reinforces the use of a consistent approach with the youth across the agency.
The case management meetings have been particularly important in helping to identify the underlying issues affecting many of the youth. As many youth stay in Eva’s Phoenix for an extended period of time, it becomes possible to see patterns and for staff to put together a much more complete picture about what is happening with an individual. Based on this information, staff can develop strategies to try to address the underlying issues facing the youth, rather than just the presenting behaviours.
The entire case management team meets with each of the youth on a quarterly basis to discuss the goals. At these meetings they are able to jointly evaluate the progress that is made on these goals, and revise them. This is an important mechanism for engaging the youth in a formal discussion about how they are doing, where they are going, and what kind of support they feel they need, as well as reminding them of the progress that they have made along the way.
Based on its experience over the last five years, Eva’s Phoenix has also developed a timeline with specific benchmarks for counselling as the youth go through the process of settling into the program, work on their personal goals, and prepare to leave the program. This timeline is useful for identifying some of the landmarks that the youth pass through, and how they can be supported.
For more information on the overall approach to case management developed by Eva’s Phoenix
 Lessons Learned
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Establish clear, concrete goals with the youth in key areas: sense of community, housing, counselling, and employment.
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Use the goals as the focus of case management discussions so different points of view can be sought and common approaches developed. Even if the programs are not integrated in the same agency, it may be possible to bring staff together regularly from different agencies who are working with the same youth to discuss case management.
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Have the entire case management team do a formal check-in with each of the youth on a regular basis (e.g. quarterly) to discuss the goals. This should be supplemented by regular meetings and check-ins between the youth and their front-line youth and employment workers.
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Staff should use the case management discussions as a chance to problem-solve and brainstorm solutions with colleagues. These should be seen as opportunities for learning and mutual support.
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