By HannaMei Levine
Enhanced Care Management (ECM) provides case management services for families with highly complex needs. Youth up to age 21 are eligible for ECM services and there is no minimum age requirement.
Program Director Chelsea Prout, LCSW describes ECM as “like the bridge to helping families get connected to services” rather than services themselves. We know that accessing care within one’s community is especially challenging, so ECM aims to facilitate connections to appropriate types of care.
ECM revolves around the “whole person model” and the program is very flexible when it comes to meeting families where they are by providing support in multiple areas. The ECM Team can meet the family wherever is most convenient for them whether that is at home, in the community, or online. They can also support medical and physical health needs, and address related issues such as education, housing, or other basic needs.
So what makes San Diego Center for Children’s ECM program unique? Chelsea states that ECM “meets the different needs of families in a way that other typical case management programs do not.”
With our ECM program “you’re not passed around or left hanging,” but instead have continuous support from a team who really cares about you. “You get a person who’s going to be with you, to call you and send you reminder emails, and really follow you through those steps of making sure that you are getting what you need,” Chelsea adds.
ECM meets families where they are, provides support in multiple areas, and helps motivate them to do their best.
About Chelsea Prout, LCSW
Chelsea Prout, LCSW is the Program Director of Intensive Family Services (IFS) at San Diego Center for Children. She is a licensed clinical social worker and
has been working at the Center since 2013. Chelsea is a San Diego native and enjoys traveling in her freetime.
For more information about Intensive Family Services (IFS), please call (858) 569-2135 or visit https://www.centerforchildren.org/our-services/outpatient/intensive-family-services/.