The Person-in-Environment System (PIE)

In 1983 I was asked by James Karls, DSW, then director of training for the California Mental Health Department and President of the National Association of Social Workers California Chapter, to assist him in developing a classification system that would describe the problems that adult clients bring to social workers, a language for social work that was distinct from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) commonly in use. Under the sponsorship of the National Association of Social Workers, we worked with a task force of prominent social workers to develop the Person-in-Environment system.   This system highlights problems with social roles and environmental factors, including evaluating the strengths that service recipients bring to resolve these problems.  Since it also includes mental and physical disorders, the result is an assessment that is more wholistic than the traditional psychiatric model. 

Jim and I co-wrote a book and manual on the system. Jim worked with Maura O'Keefe of California State University, Sacramento, to produce the second edition of the manual. We also wrote numerous professional articles.

We trained hundreds of social workers in the use of the system. After his retirement, Jim was a world traveler and he was responsible for introducing PIE around the world. PIE has now been translated into PIE is used in social worker training programs not only in the United States but in other countries. It has also been used as a research tool and is routinely mentioned in books and articles whenever classification systems are discussed. Through our work with Janet B. Williams, DSW, of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, we were able to influence Axis IV (Psychosocial and environmental problems)  in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. 

In June of 2008, Jim was honored with the International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award. The citation read, in part, "Perhaps Dr. Karls' greatest contribution to the public appreciation of social work is his development of the "person in the environment" (PIE) assessment system along with Dr. Karin Wandrei, which distinguishes social work from other mental health professions".  PIE is built on social work's system theory that the environment affects the person.

Professor Emeritus Richard Ramsey, University of Calgary, has developed a web site devoted to PIE.

My professional publications on PIE include the following:

"The Person-In-Environment (PIE) System for Describing Problems of Social Functioning," Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 40(11), November 1989, 1125-1127 (with Janet B.W. Williams and James M. Karls)

"PIE:  A New Language for Social Work," Social Work, 37(1), January 1992, 80-85 (with James M. Karls).

"The Person-In-Environment System for Classifying Client Problems:  A New Tool For More Effective Case Management," Journal of Case Management, 1(3), Fall 1992, 90-95 (with James Karls)

Person-In-Environment (PIE) System: The PIE Classification System for Social Functioning Problems.  Washington, DC:  NASW Press, 1994 (with James M. Karls).

PIE Manual:  Person-in-Environment System:  The PIE Classification System for Social Functioning Problems.  Washington, DC:  NASW Press, 1994 (with James M. Karls)

"PIE (Person-in-Environment)", In Richard Edwards (ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Work, 19th Edition, Washington, DC:  NASW Press, 1995, 1818-1827. (with James Karls). And subsequent editions.

"PIE (Person-in-Environment),"New Technologies in Human Services, 9(3), 1996, 28-34 (with James Karls).

"The Use of the PIE (Person-in-Environment) System in Social Work Education:  A Dialogue," in Journal of Social Work Education, 1997, 33(1) 49-58.  (with Christine Lowery, Mark Mattaini, and James Karls)