Case Management Questions to Ask Clients
Twenty-two questions for a case management intake or review, in plain language a client can answer. They begin with what is urgent this week, then cover housing, money, health, safety, who the client can call, past experience of services, consent, and the first step to take.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What made you come in today?
Why ask it
Ask it plainly rather than referring to case management services, and then let the answer run. What a client volunteers first is not always the largest problem, but it is the one they are ready to work on, and starting anywhere else costs you the next twenty minutes.
Before we go through anything else, is there something that has to be dealt with this week?
Why ask it
This catches the eviction notice, the court date, the empty cupboard and the prescription that runs out on Friday. Assessment can wait an hour, and a client who leaves an intake with one urgent thing handled is far more likely to come back.
Where are you staying at the moment?
Why ask it
Better than asking about housing status, because it does not require the client to categorize themselves. Listen for temporary arrangements described as settled, such as sleeping on a sofa or paying rent to a friend, since those affect eligibility for almost everything.
Who else is in the household?
Why ask it
You need this for benefits, for safeguarding and for planning, and it often reveals caring responsibilities the client does not count as work. Ask who depends on them as well as who they depend on, since those are not the same people.
What does an ordinary week look like for you right now?
Why ask it
Walk through it day by day, because the general answer misses the practical detail: appointments clustered on one day, no transport after six, a shift pattern that makes mornings impossible. Most plans fail on this level rather than on the level of goals.
How are you managing for money at the moment?
Why ask it
A neutral opening that lets a client answer at whatever level of detail they can bear. Rather than asking for a figure straight away, ask what is covered and what is not, and listen for arrears, informal borrowing and any debt with enforcement attached.
Which benefits or programs are you getting, and is anything still pending?
Why ask it
Pending applications matter as much as current income, since a delayed decision is often the immediate cause of the crisis. Ask to see any letters, because dates and reference numbers get remembered wrongly and appeal windows are short.
What health care are you getting at the moment, and is it working?
Why ask it
You are checking for gaps and duplication, and for care the client has quietly dropped out of. Note who else is already involved so that your work coordinates with them rather than creating a second, competing plan.
Are you taking any medication, and can you get hold of it when you need it?
Why ask it
The second half is the practical question: cost, pharmacy distance, a prescription that needs a review appointment nobody can get. Do not ask why they stopped in a tone that requires justification, ask what got in the way.
Is there anything about where you are living, or who you are living with, that does not feel safe?
Why ask it
Ask directly, without an audience, and be ready for the answer. Some clients disclose immediately, others test you first with something small, so it is worth asking again at a later meeting rather than treating one no as settled.
Who can you call when something goes wrong?
Why ask it
More useful than asking whether someone has a support system, a phrase that invites a yes. A specific name and a working phone number is a resource, and nobody at all is an assessment finding that should change your plan.
How do you get to appointments?
Why ask it
Transport is the most common and most fixable reason plans quietly collapse. Ask how long the journey takes and what it costs, then schedule around the answer instead of recording missed appointments later.
Which services have you dealt with before, and how did they treat you?
Why ask it
You are learning the history and also being told what to avoid. A client who describes being passed between agencies is explaining, in advance, why they may not answer your calls.
What went wrong last time, and what should be different now?
Why ask it
Inviting the complaint early is more effective than discovering it in a disengagement. Take one thing from the answer and change it visibly, even something small like who calls whom, because that is what demonstrates the difference.
What is going well at the moment that we should leave alone?
Why ask it
Case plans have a tendency to reorganize a life that is partly working. Naming the parts that hold, a job, a routine, a relationship, protects them and tells you what the client is drawing on.
What are you good at, or what do other people ask you for help with?
Why ask it
Asked plainly, this is easier to answer than a question about strengths and it produces something concrete. It also changes the tone of an intake that has been a long list of problems, which matters for whether the client returns.
Is there anything about language, faith or family I should know so I get this right?
Why ask it
Ask openly rather than assuming from a name or an appearance, and act on what you hear when you make referrals. If language support is needed, arrange a professional interpreter rather than relying on a relative, particularly where safeguarding may be involved.
Who may I speak to on your behalf, and what should I not share with them?
Why ask it
Consent has limits and clients often have specific ones: a landlord who may be told about a payment plan but not a diagnosis, a parent who may not be told anything. Record the limits in their words, and explain plainly what you are obliged to pass on regardless.
Six months from now, what would have to be different for you to say this helped?
Why ask it
Ask for the observable version, since a description you could both recognize is a goal and a feeling is not. If the answer is beyond what your service can do, say so at this point rather than allowing the expectation to stand.
Which part of this do you want to start with?
Why ask it
Giving the client the order matters, and their choice is often not the one you would rank first. Working on their priority first buys the cooperation you will need later for yours.
What is one thing you would be willing to do in the next week?
Why ask it
Keep it small enough to be certain of, a phone call, one form, one appointment attended. An early success is worth more than an ambitious plan, and a task the client chose is the only kind that reliably gets done.
How often should we speak, and what is the best way to reach you?
Why ask it
Ask about the practical details: whether a voicemail can be left, whether a number is shared, whether a letter arriving at home would be a problem. Then agree who is contacting whom, and keep to it exactly, because reliability is most of what builds trust here.
Running the intake
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Order of business
- 1Deal with anything urgent before you start the assessment. Nobody can concentrate on a six-month plan while an eviction notice is in their bag.
- 2Explain at the start how long this will take, what you will write down, who can see it, and what you are legally obliged to report.
- 3Cover the practical ground next: where they are staying, money, health, transport. It is easier to answer than history and it builds the picture you need.
- 4Leave safety, past trauma and family detail until the middle, once the room has settled, and never ask with another person present.
- 5Finish with one agreed action each, written down, and read both back before they leave.
- 6Book the next contact while they are still in the room.
Asking so people can answer
Use their words, not the system's
Terms like presenting needs, intervention and support network belong in your notes, not in the conversation. Ask where they are staying, who they can call, and what is not getting paid.
One question at a time
Double-barrelled questions get half an answer, and the half that gets dropped is usually the one that mattered. Ask, wait, then follow up.
Ask what got in the way, not why they did not
Why questions invite justification and end disclosure. What made that difficult keeps the conversation open and gives you something you can act on.
Say what you cannot do
Be clear early about what your service does not provide and how long things realistically take. Clients tolerate limits far better than they tolerate a promise that quietly does not arrive.
Take notes visibly, and say why
Writing while someone speaks is unnerving unless you explain it. Tell them what you are recording, and offer to read it back at the end so they can correct it.
What tends to go wrong
Assessment before assistance
A full intake completed while a practical crisis goes untouched teaches the client that this process is about paperwork. Solve one thing first, even a small one.
Interviewing with family in the room
Questions about safety, money and health need a private conversation at least once. Arrange it as routine practice rather than as something requested, so it does not single anyone out.
Using a relative as an interpreter
Accuracy suffers and disclosure stops, and in safeguarding situations it can put the client at risk. Book a professional interpreter and allow extra time for the appointment.
Building the plan around your priorities
A plan the client did not choose gets recorded as non-engagement later. Start with their first choice, even if you would have ranked it third.
Goals nobody can observe
Feeling better and being more stable cannot be reviewed. Rewrite them as something you could both notice: rent paid on time for three months, two appointments attended, a benefit decision received.
Treating a missed appointment as a choice
Before recording a no-show, check the transport, the phone credit, the shift pattern and the letter that never arrived. The cause is usually practical.
At review
- Ask the safety question again. First answers are often cautious, and circumstances change.
- Check what has changed in income, housing and household since the last meeting, since eligibility follows these.
- Ask what has been useless as well as what has helped, and record it in their words.
- Confirm consent is still current, particularly if a new agency has become involved.
- Close any goal that is finished rather than carrying it forward, and say plainly which ones are not going to happen and why.