RECLAIMING COMMUNITY - AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO HUMAN-SERVICES

Taking the community rather than the service system as its starting po int, a community-centered approach to service integration seeks to int erweave formal and informal systems of care. Working as part of a comm unity-negotiating and building partnerships with families, social netw orks, and organizations to change problematic patterns and mobilize re sources-requires not only collaboration among administrators, but team work among front line staff. Team members need to share work; knowledg e, and resources, while building collaborative relationships with thei r counterparts in other organizations, service users, and other reside nts. Ensuring congruence between new, integrative methods of practice and the way they are introduced and managed may require substantial ch anges in management behavior. ''Resistance'' is best understood in thi s context as feedback to management about its need to change.