The Working Alliance, consisting of building bonds, establishing goals, and developing tasks, has been deemed the cornerstone of helping professions, and has been found to significantly and reliably predict client outcomes. The importance of client characteristics and perceptions of working alliance has been established in the literature. Less is…

This report, written for the Wisconsin State Legislative Council's Special Committee on Mental Health Issues, describes mental health services in Wisconsin. Part I summarizes the state and county organizational structures and responsibilities for mental health services and provides an introductory summary of funding sources for those services.…

This report contains recommendations of a Wisconsin Task Assignment Steering Committee created to explore solutions to some significant problems facing adult chronic "revolving-detox-door" alcohol abusers (CRA's), persons with repeated admissions for detoxification services; and to examine the system that serves and funds them. This…

This report provides findings from a study of families with newly opened cases served by Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare's Ongoing services program for children placed in out-of-home care. The Bureau is part of the Children's Services Division of the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS). Specifically, the central goal of the…

The initial client assessment procedures used by case managers in the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, were examined. Data were collected through the following activities: (1) observations of 100 financial and employment planner (FEP)-applicant intake interviews; (2) an examination of administrative data to learn how…

Initially, Wisconsin Works (W-2) emphasized moving people from welfare to W-2 and employment. Eventually, recognition of the important role of education and training in moving families to self-sufficiency was renewed. The goal of W-2 is to connect its broad client population (only 17% of whom have a high school diploma) with appropriate work or…