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GoogleThe plan began by covering the introduction of several initiatives including an electronic medical records system, community advisory groups, federally qualified health center and community mental health center collaboration, privatization of inpatient beds, Missouri Foundation for Health grants for additional funds to women and children in substance abuse programs in the Hayti, Cape Girardeau and West Plains communities, vocational services, an employee recruitment and retention plan, a section 811 housing construction project for people with serious mental illness and Safe Haven renewal projects. The initiatives also included Missouri HealthNet, community release center's mental health program, a children's CPRC program, consumer collaborative care project, corporate compliance plan and policy changes, and staff training and development. These initiatives were covered in detail through the course of the unveiling of the plan.
An electronic medical records system was introduced as a storage system that had the ability to integrate several systems.
 Chief Executive Officer Myra Callahan joined others of Family Counseling Center on Monday in unveiling the organization's strategic plan for 2009. The center also introduced their new vision statment "Empowering Consumer Recovery." (Staff photo by Joshua Payne) [Click to enlarge] |
This improves the collaboration between workers which will lead to an increase in productivity and quality of service.
The system will allow Family Counseling Center to deliver psychiatry services to outreach locations and eliminate travel for staff meetings. The initiatives timeline is set to be fully operational in July of 2009. Benefits of the initiative include reduced travel, time, and energy for team members, greater HIPPA security, converting space into the nurse's office, and easily sharing health information among providers to better serve clients. The only challenge to this initiative is the personnel and clients adapting to new technologies.
The next initiative discussed is the community advisory groups which will be implemented in each area served by the center to better receive direct feedback from clients, family members, referrals, and other community partners. The feedback will be reviewable by the Board of Directors and management. This initiative is set to cost $1,200 a year for the purchase of meetings and meals. Benefiting the center will be the potential for improved outcome in program operations, community feedback, client feedback and input, along with improvement of community relations.
A federally qualified health center and community mental health center collaboration was another initiative discussed in the new strategic plan. The collaboration with Missouri Highlands Health Care in Poplar Bluff for a grant initiative from the Department of Mental Health will focus to strengthen primary health care and community mental health care resources that are available to rural communities. The grant projects a $250,000 revenue over a three-year period. This initiative has the potential to strengthen primary health care resources available to consumers of Family Counseling Center. Integration of primary and mental health services increasing access to care is another benefit of this initiative. The only challenge foreseen with this area is working with an outside agency that Family Counseling Center is not completely familiar with due to no previous collaboration between the two agencies.
Another initiative is the privatization of inpatient beds which is brought about by the decrease bed availability by 16 beds at Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center. The opportunity to collaborate with an area hospital to bring some or even all of these beds closer to the community where client's currently reside is the focus of this initiative by Family Counseling Center. Funding would be provided to be able to manage this project and this would be the challenge with this initiative, according to Family Counseling Center. It is yet to be determined if the financing for the project will be viable.
The next strategic initiative was the Missouri Foundation for Health grant that would provide additional funds to women and children involved in substance abuse programs in the communities of Hayti, Cape Girardeau, and West Plains. The focus of this initiative is on evidence-based addiction therapy along with management activities linking women and children to daycare, healthcare, and wellness programs along with other programs of this nature. The new grant for this initiative will begin in Jan. 2009. The initiative will be $100,000 per year for three years or any other terms that will be designated by the new grant beginning in Jan. The project will be challenged by the staff resistance to the change along with the effective administration of the transformation by the management team.
Vocational services were the next topic that was discussed during the plan. This initiative is the client vocational services using routine job processes in order to fund initial employment opportunities. There are five stages to this project and the center is currently involved in stage three of the program. The program should be self-sustaining and will benefit the center with client vocational training, client income, and improved clinical outcomes. The coordination of services will be the only challenges of this project.
An employee recruitment and retention plan is another initiative of the 2009 strategic plan. Enhancing Family Counseling Center's ability to retain and recruit staff on all levels of the organization is the focus of this initiative. Trainings will be given across all levels of supervision on leadership skills, creating staff development plans, and understanding and utilizing the evaluation tool. This program will reduce the turn-over in tech and case management staff, have a bottom-up approach to address the needs of the lowest paid staff members first, and enhance training to reduce critical and unusual incidents.
The following initiative presented during the plan was Section 811 housing construction project for persons with serious mental illness and Safe Haven projects. Construction of a multiplex facility in Poplar bluff in order to provide housing to persons with low-income and also those who suffer from a serious mental illness is the focus of this initiative. Also discusesed was the renewal grants for the continued operations of the Safe Haven facility in Kennett and the permanent housing program in Dunklin, Butler, and Pemiscot Counties. The Safe Haven renewal was due by Sep. 2009. Resources will be needed to place clients in safe, affordable housing; while covering all of the related staff and administrative costs. The project will benefit the center by improving client treatment outcomes with stable housing and overall reduced cost-per-client. The federal grant administration requirements are the challenges that must be faced with this initiative.
Missouri HealthNet was the next initiative focused upon in the strategic plan. This is described as adapting to the changes in Medicaid with its establishment. MO HealthNet is in place to monitor health care services for vulnerable citizens of the state of Mo. This assures quality health care through the development of service delivery systems, standards setting and enforcement, and education of providers and participants. This program will become beneficial to the community through placing Missouri at the forefront of health care integration for the chronically mentally ill population. This will also identify clinical concerns before a consumer's condition has a chance to worsen improving medical and behavioral outcomes. The difficulty in getting clients to sign up due to lack of understanding the program will be the only challenges to the project.
Next on the agenda was the initiative dealing with the community release center's mental health program. This program is a provision of mental health services and includes psychiatry in the Kennett and Poplar Bluff community release centers. This program will benefit the community by better coordinating the care for offenders once released to the community based mental health services. Coordination o psychiatry services with already stressed waiting lists will be the issue coinciding with this program.
A children's CPRC program was the next initiative covered in the discussion of the 2009 plan. A day treatment approach to mental health services including access to psychiatry and testing is the focus of this project. Activities in the program include family and community living skills, recreation and socialization, personal support system development, transportation, and group education. All consumers that are admitted to the program will have access to all services that will be offered by Family Counseling Center. These services will be individualized to meet the needs of youth and families. A case manager will be assigned to every consumer in order to promote a healthier mental and social stability. This program will use $300,000 of unused POS matching funds. Empowering youth in order to develop positive attitudes and behaviors to build strong interpersonal skills and enhance ability to reintegrate into community is the focus of this project. The challenges associated with this program will be educating referral sources along with the community about the admission criteria. Also buying into the importance of the program along with the purpose of the program.
Another initiative covered in the plan was the consumer collaborative care project. This project is designed to bring intensive, problem focused, outpatient mental health resources to clients who do not have a serious and persistent mental illness and do not have a care plan established with an existing payer such as an insurance company. The outpatient services will be delivered via planned brief psychotherapy that is intensively targeted to stabilize the client quickly and help the client to manage their mental health problem with an end goal of sustained follow-up services with their primary care provider. This program will be an evidenced based approach to brief psychotherapy and will enhance collaboration with community partners. The only challenges foreseen in with this project will be the staff resistance to change.
The following initiative dealt with corporate compliance plan and policy changes. This plan will be place to develop formal corporate compliance plans for Family Counseling Center. This will benefit the center by formally acknowledging the commitment to being an ethical company that will be compliant with applicable local, state and federal regulations. Training staff at a level of operational relevance will be the only challenge faced in this project.
The main focus of the plan was the outlined future of Family Counseling Center which has been summarized in a statement regarding empowering consumer recovery. This plan will be directly involved in the well-being of the clients of the center. Focusing on recovery and resilience as an ultimate goal of all the treatment and services delivered at the center. This plan is individual in nature due to the individual being directly involved in their own recovery path and plan. Engaging individuals along with empowering them to take control of their own lives and treatment while supporting them through an individual style will be the purpose of the center in this treatment plan, according to Family Counseling Center. These individuals will become a living document that will reflect the effectiveness of the individual treatment plan. Professionals have often been taught to be the leader in the recovery process when involved with clients. In the new plan professionals will, instead, team with family members and the individual to develop the best plan for that particular individual. There are six dimensions that contribute to the well-being of the clients and have been adapted from Carol Ryff's research. The six dimensions are physical, positive relations with others, purpose in life, self-acceptance, autonomy, environmental mastery, and personal growth. These dimensions are just guidelines to the plan and are able to be adapted to the individual that is involved in the program. The policy is being placed in order to encompass the processes needed for individuals to thrive in their personal lives and overcome adversity through their individualized plans.