Jerry Floersch, Associate Professor, Rutgers University School of Social Work, is a 1998 graduate of the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. After earning the masters degree in social work from the University of Kansas, he worked as a social worker in drug and alcohol, hospital, mental health, and community settings. He administered a mental health crisis service and played a key role in developing and implementing housing policies and programs for the adult severely mentally ill. He is the author of Meds, Money, and Manners: The Case Management of Severe Mental Illness, published by Columbia University Press (2002), where, utilizing ethnographic and socio-historical methods, he examined the rise of community support services, the rise of the case manager and case management, and the limits of management models in providing services. He is a recent NIMH K08 recipient (2004-2009) for training in and development of qualitative methods to study youth subjective experience of psychotropic treatment. His work on psychotropic treatment focuses on the meanings adolescents and young adults make of their medication treatment, including social and psychological ‘side effects.’ In 2008, he was recipient of a CWRU Presidential Research Initiative award, where as the PI, he led a two-year investigation of college student use of mental health services, including psychiatric medications. His new book, with Jeffrey Longhofer and Paul Kubek, On Having and Being a Case Manager, builds on earlier work in this field by exploring a clinical method for case management practice.
Current Book Project: For Oxford, Qualitative Methods and Practice Arbitrage
- Current Courses
- The Proposed DSW
- Workshops on Method
Research on College Students and Psychiatric Medications
NEW Columbia University Press 2010
In On Being and Having a Case Manager: A Relational Approach to Recovery in Mental Health, we argue for the importance of relationship by closely examining its process, that is, the back-and-forth exchange of attention and information in the case management world. Using data from a two-year ethnographic study of Marilyn and her case managers, we show how the process of exchanging attention and information can be used intentionally by case managers (and others in the caring network) to help clients develop or enhance abilities to achieve their greatest potential for living independently in the community. In ordinary, everyday language we describe a practical method for engaging in relationships so everybody involved in mental health care, including service providers, clients, family members and close friends can share it. The method is meant not to replace but to complement the many and varied case management models: Recovery, Assertive Community Treatment, or Strengths.
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In this book I explored how and why case management and community support services replaced psychiatry and mental hospitals. The case manager's use of textbook and practical knowledge allows for the management of medication, money, and day-to-day life of adults with severe mental illnesses. I asked: are social workers state agents controlling clients? This critical study examines everyday written and oral narratives to prove that this common critique is untrue.
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Psychiatric Medication Issues for Social Workers, Counselors, and Psychologists explores a range of issues and dilemmas in psychopharmocology practice that emerge especially for social workers, counselors, and psychologists because of their unique roles and perspectives. This book contains qualitative and quantitative research examining the subjective experience of clients who use psychiatric medication. You’ll find unprecedented discussion of clinical and ethical situations that arise when social workers and allied health caregivers collaborate with clients and providers around psychiatric medicine. m This book contains creative ideas on how social workers and other allied health providers can be more responsive to both adults and children who take medication. Psychiatric Medication Issues for Social Workers, Counselors, and Psychologists focuses on the meaning of medication for the clients who use them and their positive and negative experiences with them over time. This book serves as an innovative forum and effective springboard for productive discussion among practitioners, scholars and researchers about psychiatric medication’s relevance to—and interface with—social work practice.
This book is designed to help practitioners:
- understand how clients manage their psychotropic medications and interpret their effects
- maximize the chances for successful treatment outcome by understanding the meaning, transference, and countertransference stimulated by the triangle created by the client, social worker, and psychopharmacological provider
- map the sociocultural context of youth medication management and help youthful clients adopt coping mechanisms for everyday medication treatment
- confront a variety of ethical dilemmas, such as ambiguities around the knowledge base of practice, appropriate roles of providers, and basic personal and professional values
- secure informed consent when discussing proposed treatments (including medications) and explain alternative treatments without breaking informed consent laws
- promote effective and comprehensive helping relationships by being cognizant of alternative practices, herbal preparations, and essential oil and flower essence products that clients could be using on their own
This book contains extensive references, suggestions for client-consultation questions, research findings, and interviews with social workers to complement the text. Unique in its focus on the client’s point of view, Psychiatric Medication Issues for Social Workers, Counselors, and Psychologists will help you overcome any difficulties of working with clients in drug therapy.
