About the Job Title "Forensic Case Manager"

Forensic Case Manager Job Description

A forensic case manager is responsible for the screening, treatment and case management of criminals with mental illness and/or substance abuse. The most common route to becoming a forensic case manager is to achieve a bachelor’s degree in psychology and then a master’s degree in forensic psychology or criminal justice.

Forensic Case Manager Job Profiles: This is a general writeup based on our research into Forensic Case Manager positions in the Forensic Psychologist career area. For individual, real-life job profiles of actual people with this type of job, check out our job profiles page.

What's it like to be a Forensic Case Manager?

Duties and responsibilities

A forensic case manager is responsible for the screening, treatment and case management or of clients with mental illness and/or substance abuse.  They also carry out tasks such as:

  • Liaising between the courts and correctional facilities
  • Investigating and recommending supportive services for clients
  • Conducting drug testing on all clients as needed
  • Providing screening services for clients involved with alcohol or drug abuse before court hearings
  • Presenting evidence of mental illness in order to ascertain appropriate treatment
  • Referring clients to the correct mental health, drug abuse or alcoholism facility
  • Assisting clients with applying for and receiving public and private benefits
  • Maintaining excellent case documentation, this documentation will be available for review by supervision at anytime
  • Monitoring clients participation and progress in the advised treatment program
  • Preparing and presenting written and oral status reports, regarding the clients progress, to the criminal justice system

Qualifications

To become forensic case manager, the most common route is to achieve a bachelor’s degree in psychology and then a master’s degree in forensic psychology or criminal justice. It is also highly advisable to obtain experience in mental health, substance abuse and/or criminal justice before applying for entry-level positions.

Skills and relevant work experience

  • As a forensic case manager, it is important that you have excellent verbal and written communication skills as you will often need to communicate and present ideas and findings to others in a way that they can understand
  • You will need to be able to work cooperatively as part of a team to provide clients with the best treatment possible and to work successfully with their families
  • Forensic case managers must also need to be able to solve problems in order to provide the most effective treatment plans. Similar to this, a forensic case manager will benefit from having a creative personality that allows them to think outside the box when implementing treatment plans
  • Forensic case managers must be proficient in computer applications and other systems, such as Microsoft Office

Hours

Forensic case managers tend to work full time (around 40 hours per week).

Salary

The Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) has not obtained statistics for the salary of a forensic case manager. However, glass door estimates that the average salary for a forensic case manager in the United States is $36,016.

Progression

Again, the Bureau of Labour Statistics has not predicted the growth of forensic case manager careers specifically. However, the growth rate for all psychology careers is 14%, which is much faster than average.

Forensic case managers can specialize in certain areas or progress to other areas of case management, such as correctional case management, juvenile case management or rehabilitation case management.

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