The Core Four: Promoting Social Support in Case Management

Social support can help insulate individuals from negative life events such as crime involvement and other poor outcomes. While support is unlikely to eliminate negative outcomes, such as crime, it can help to buffer against these events. The Core Four is a model which considers the four types of social support (instrumental, expressive, received, perceived) and how discussions surrounding their implementation can be built into case management and planning. Topics discussed will include a history of social support in working with justice-impacted persons, the use of surveying to identify areas of need, and case planning. Policy implications include recommendations for programming in each of these four areas.