Service Coordination and Treatment Plan Implementation
Coordination in practice
Service coordination is the glue: multidisciplinary team communication, case management, advocacy, linkage, monitoring, and discharge planning. Know each provider's role and document contacts-who, when, purpose, outcome. Update the plan when needs change and reassess level of care using ASAM dimensions. Coordinate with courts, child welfare, employers, and medical providers only with proper consent or legal authority.
Traps
Look for duplicate services, contradictory plans, or coordination done verbally and never documented. Another trap is boundary blurring-doing case management tasks that belong to another role without competence, or becoming the client's only support. Failing to plan discharge until the last day is a common weakness.
Rule of thumb
Every coordination contact gets a note. If it is not in the record, the team cannot rely on it, and the examiner will treat it as not done.
Worked example
A client in intensive outpatient also sees a psychiatrist and is on probation. With signed releases, the counselor sends a brief update to the psychiatrist, confirms probation conditions, schedules a team call, and documents each contact. When the client's housing becomes unstable, the plan is revised and a housing referral is added.