How Do We Learn?

If you were to ask me to list the core values of our agency, I would identify training and staff development as  integrally important to the work that we do.   The training that we either bring into the agency or we participate in at the local, state and national level assures that we are fully informed and up-to date on the best practices in the field.  

Here at Sound staff development takes many forms-  we train at department meetings and management team meetings; we  provide eLearning access to all staff and require a minimum of 30 hours of training yearly; we require that all managers attend at least one  state or regional conference annually; we support staff obtaining advanced degrees through tuition reimbursement; and senior managers are encouraged to attend  at least one regional or national conference annually.  

Recently as part of ongoing staff development Jessica DeFlumer-Trapp and I attended the Open Minds Technology Conference  http://www.openminds.com/ in Baltimore.  This week she joins me as a guest blogger and discusses some of the “take-aways” from that conference.  She also informs us about the changes that  have been implemented in the case management programs through her participation as a  State of Connecticut Recovery Champion.

Gail

This month, I attended the Open Minds Technology Conference in Baltimore; this is a yearly national conference that addresses technology as it relates to and enhances behavioral healthcare.  One of the speakers made a comment about change that resonated with me.   The comment was to the effect of, “Mental health went unchanged for so many years [with regard to diagnosis, understanding, treatment] that people often selected to work in this field BECAUSE they didn’t expect things to change.”  This is an interesting commentary on both the field and the people who work in it; these days, however, it probably feels like change is ALL that happens.  Budget cuts, funding shortages, and uncertainty at the state and federal level has lead to feeling as though we are constantly on a treadmill- the belt keeps coming no matter how fast you run.  It may feel like you’re running BECAUSE of outside sources, but what should be recognized is that many of these changes and initiatives are being implemented with an eye on what is best for the staff, community, and people that we serve. 

“Case management” is a term that broadly encompasses the care that people receive in a community setting.  Over time, the idea that a person is a “case” to be “managed” has been phased out, and is being replaced with more recovery-oriented language- “community support”, “service coordination”, and “care coordination”.  The old model of the case manager’s role-  assuring that their clients were still alive, were taking their medications, were staying out of trouble- is going the way of the dinosaur.  Now, in order for states, the Federal government, and managed care organizations to acknowledge and fund the work being done in the community, skills-building work MUST be demonstrated.  The days of “forever” case management are over.  Now, persons served in these programs should expect to be admitted, develop necessary community living skills, and be discharged.  Re-admittance to the program is not considered a treatment failure; it is simply viewed as a need for additional support and education before we send the person back on their way to continue their recovery.

Connecticut launched the initiative in March 2010 to take Case Management and revamp it to a Community Support model.  All agencies that were impacted, throughout Connecticut, had to appoint a Recovery Champion to lead the charge.  This person is responsible for heading the team that will implement the change, creating some enthusiasm and energy for new work being done, and serve as a point person state-wide for discussing and bringing feedback to DHMAS and the Office of the Commissioner, about what really works in our organization.   At this time, I serve as the Recovery Champion for SCSI; I attend meetings by phone and in person twice a month, and provide feedback and data to DHMAS and OOC.  This affords me the opportunity to see how truly innovative SCSI is, with regard to our ECR, use of technology, and implementation of best practices in Community Support, including concurrent documentation, skills development, and productivity requirements.  The truth about a major systems change is that it is never as easy as it appears on paper- we deal with people, both those that we serve as well as those delivering the service.  People have needs and expectations that often fall outside of what can be anticipated.  All that in mind, it is SCSI’s commitment to innovation and best practices that have made this transition a natural next step in the movement toward fee-for-service Community Support and evidence-based practices. 

A word about the staff- we have asked them to change their daily work in a variety of ways.  This includes their documentation content, length of sessions, location of appointments, and number of visits per month.  We’ve added additional assessment tools, tracking forms, and training sessions.  These changes have been only secondary to asking them to enhance and modify HOW they deliver services to the people we serve.   Staff have handled these changes with grace and ongoing commitment to assure that whatever changes are made, are executed with the best interests of the people they serve, at the forefront.   Kudos to them- they are the ones that create and promote positive change every day.  The feedback from the persons served has been extremely positive- they continue to feel that they receive services that are helpful and effective, delivered by staff that truly care about their well-being.  As SCSI continues to change and grow, it’s that overall commitment to the persons served that will carry us where we need to go. 

Jessica

Be well!

Where Are We Going?

Here at Sound Community Services we are always evaluating the work we do and looking for ways to improve the services we offer. The Annual Consumer Satisfaction Survey is an example of a tool we use to do just that.  You can review  our most recent survey at https://sites.google.com/a/soundcommunityservices.org/care-review/Home/satisfaction-survey-1  The Annual Consumer Satisfaction Survey focuses on how those we serve perceive our services, programs and staff.  While consumer input is very valuable it is not the only tool we can use to evaluate the quality of our work.   And today I want to discuss with you an initiative that you will start hearing more about in the next few weeks and months.

Sound Community Services is one of several behavioral health agencies in Connecticut that is participating in  a Connecticut Community Providers Association (http://www.ccpa-inc.org) (CCPA) sponsored statewide Benchmarking Initiative.  CCPA is sponsoring this important initiative in collaboration with Behavioral Pathway Systems  (http://www.bpsys.org) (BPS). Through this initiative, we will receive benchmarking reports that will measure our performance in many areas of operation against that of other behavioral health agencies in Connecticut and around the country.

What is Benchmarking-   Benchmarking was a term first used by cobblers to measure people's feet for shoes. The cobbler would place someone's foot on a "bench" and mark it out to make the pattern for the shoes with the intent to provide the best possible product for the customer.  "Benchmarking" assured that the  shoe that was made fit the foot of the customer.  Today benchmarking refers to a series of “measurements” about various aspects of a business ( in our case our agency and the other agencies in the project) and the comparison of those measurements to  what are thought  to be the best practices in the field.  Benchmarking is a powerful performance management tool that can have significant value in behavioral health/human services settings as we strive to assure we provide the best possible services to our clients.   


This CCPA project is a best practice benchmarking project that will allow us to compare our agency to the other CCPA agencies  involved in the project and other similar agencies nationally.  We will learn where we do well by comparison and where there is  room for improvement.  We will then develop plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices. As a result we should be able to improve the services we offer our clients.

Much work has already been done on this project .  Our work began last June when I, Emily Reynolds and Cindy Kirchhoff  participated on a statewide planning committee that worked to identify benchmarking metrics and operational definitions in several operational areas.  Once the metrics and definitions were agreed upon by the participating agencies, work began on the survey tool that would be used to collect the data.   That survey tool was completed in October.   Data collection will begin sometime in late November or December.   

The survey that many of you will be asked to complete will involve almost all aspects of the agency and most staff will complete only  the parts of the survey that relate to their jobs.  Data on the many of the following metrics have been included in the survey:

Financial Benchmarks

Current Ratio of Payer Mix

General/Administrative Expenses as a percent of Total Expenses

Days of Cash on Hand

Days in Accounts Receivable

Net Margin Percent

Cost per Person Served per Year

Cost per Unit of Service and per Person Served (By Service Area)

Bad Debt Percent

Accounts Receivable over 90 Days

Operational Benchmarks

No-Show/Cancellation, Rate (Initial, Ongoing, Medication Appointment)

Productivity (By Service Area)

Access (Days from Request to Initial Assessment)

Access (Days from Request to Psychiatric Medication Management Appointment)

Access (Days from Request to Psychiatric Evaluation)

Subsequent Access (Days from Intake to First Service Appointment)

Utilization (Residential or Inpatient Length of Stay/Outpatient Visits per Person)

Occupancy Percent

Clinical Benchmarks

Client Satisfaction

Psychiatric Hospitalization Rate

Discharge Status (By Service Area)

Manual Restraint Rate (By Service Area)

Medical Hospitalization Rate

Emergency Room Visit Rate

Suicide Rate

Involvement with Criminal Justice System

Employment Rate

Homelessness Rate

Organizational Climate Benchmarks

25 Item Organizational Climate Survey

Staffing Retention/Turnover by Role

Staffing Retention/Turnover by Tenure

Average Tenure of Staff

 

Be well!

Do You Know the "Truth?"

I am joined to day by guest blogger Tracey Hauser, LCSW, Director of Quality Care.

Many years  ago as an undergraduate majoring in Chemistry  at the University of Rhode Island I was enrolled in a course titled The History of Science. In this course I was introduced  to an idea that I found to be absolutely astonishing.  In a nutshell the idea was that what we consider to be “truth” changes as our understanding of the environment or circumstances change.  Thomas S. Kuhn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn) in his very influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) tells us that  “truth” is not a constant!  Kuhn coined the term “paradigm shift” to describe this idea of “truth" changing and shifting across time.  In Kuhn’s lexicon “ paradigm shift” refers to a radical change in the basic assumptions within the ruling theory of a particular scientific field- a scientific revolution if you will.  

While Kuhn’s work referred specifically to the so-called hard sciences- chemistry, physics etc, his ideas are interesting from  the perspective of what we do as human services professionals.  Moreover, this idea of paradigm shift helps us understand why the treatment models that  we use do change and shift- why the “truth" in our field does change and why we must be aware of these shifts. 

Sound Community Services is committed to providing the very highest quality of services to our clients.   You might ask how do we know if the services we provide are good or not, are valuable to those we serve or not or even if we should consider continuing to do what we do.  In order to answer those questions we collect and analyze much data but we also are committed to the accreditation process.  Accreditation is a process in which an outside agency examines the competency, authority, or credibility of our practice and services.  Accreditation compares what we do to the current accepted paradigms in the field.

 Over the next several months, you will  notice that  we are beginning to spend more of our time and resources in getting ready for our CARF accreditation visit.  Our Director of Quality Care Tracey Hauser, LCSW has ably led our agency in its last two accreditation visits and will do so again for the upcoming 2012 visit.  The high quality of her work has been recognized by CARF and she has been invited to join the ranks of CARF surveyors.  I have asked her to reflect on accreditation and what it means to the agency and her recent experiences in training to become a CARF surveyor.

Gail Lawson, PhD

 Last week I traveled to Tucson, Arizona, courtesy of CARF International – the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.  The reason?  I was scheduled to attend a three day mock CARF Survey with the goal of becoming a CARF surveyor.  For those of you who worked for SCSI in May 2009 – the date of our last 3-day CARF accreditation survey – you may remember the numerous preparations for that visit.  You may have met the survey team or participated in the exit conference before they left.  For those of you newer to the agency – you hopefully remember hearing about CARF during your orientation process. 

CARF International accredits behavioral health programs across the country, in Canada and abroad.  CARF has identified standards for practice in the behavioral health care field that address both the business aspects of agency operation, as well as the services provided at the program level.  These standards are extensively reviewed and annually revised, not only by behavioral healthcare professionals, but by persons served, family members and other stakeholders.  Accrediting bodies, like CARF, promote the best practices in the field, as well as act as a barometer for where the field is moving.   CARF utilizes professional peer surveyors to conduct each survey.  While it is the organization’s responsibility to demonstrate its conformance to each of the CARF standards at the time of the survey visit, CARF surveyors are responsible for offering suggestions on ways the organization can improve services and organizational functioning.  This consultative approach is a cornerstone of the CARF survey process.  CARF surveyors are not on the lookout for mistakes, but rather seeking to identify conformance with the intent of the CARF standards.  “CARF accreditation signals a service provider’s commitment to continually improving services, encouraging feedback and serving the community.”  http://www.carf.org/home/

What we present to CARF during each survey visit is our best work at that time - the ‘truth’ as it were.  Accreditation through CARF provides us with a snapshot of our current services and program operation, as well as helpful consultation from professionals in the field on ways to meet, or improve how we meet, those standards with which we struggle.  These standards historically have included ways to improve service accessibility; ensuring connections between assessments, progress notes and goals; and inclusion of natural supports and family in program planning.  For the last 15 years, CARF has found this agency worthy of accreditation at the highest level – three year accreditation.  As I write this, our next survey awaits us on the horizon, 584 days away, in 2012.  Many of you may have heard me say that CARF is not a 4-letter word.  Instead, it is an opportunity for demonstrating our recovery-focused culture, our person-centered planning, and our commitment to quality services.  

  

Tracey Hauser, LCSW 



Be Well!

We and Not Me

Today Cindy Kirchhoff , SCSI United Way Campaign Chairperson joins me as a guest blogger on The Sounding Board.

Two renowned scientists from the National Institutes of Health (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institutes_of_Health) reported on the results of experiments conducted to determine why people perform altruistic acts. Neuroscientists Jorge Moll and Jordan Grafman ( http://intra.ninds.nih.gov/lab.asp?org_id=83) say that the results of the experiments they conducted have led them to conclude that unselfishness is not a matter of morality but rather of biology.  According to these scientists performing altuistic acts is something that stimulates a primitive part of the human brain that usually responds to food or sex. According to them, altruism is a biological imperative and not at all under conscious control or the result of experience. 


I do beg differ with these two erudite gentlemen. Their conclusion that we do not choose to be generous but rather do so because  some primitive need drives us in that direction seems silly to me and contradicts my experience with people.  Let me give you an example: several years ago when my children were much younger they were collecting money to support the trip of a sports team-  you  know what I mean- kids standing in front  of a supermarket in their uniforms with a watchful parent nearby asking for donations to help pay for travel costs, uniforms etc-.   My youngest son Nick, who was a philosopher even then, made the most astute observation that the individuals who were most likely to drop a coin or a bill into his collection container were the individuals who appeared to have the least to give. According to his real-life experiment the more well-heeled that someone seemed to be correlated with a reduced likelihood to make a donation.  So what might explain this? I do believe that people who have first-hand experience with troubled circumstances are more likely to empathize with those who have less. Perhaps that's why they are more likely to donate.  And  while I do appreciate the role of support from corporate sponsors like Pfizer, General Dynamics, and Mohegan Sun etc and the donations they might make to charities like the United Way, the  success of a United Way campaign really does come down to an individual understanding the needs of others and being willing to help. 


It has always seemed to me that we, as human service professionals, really do understand and empathize with the troubled circumstances and needs of others and, more importantly we are always willing to help.  And from my perspective the work that we do here at Sound Community Services with perhaps the neediest individuals in southeastern Connecticut gives me a renewed appreciation of how much I really do have. Working here at Sound Community Services reminds me of how lucky and blessed I and my family really are and I am sure that many of you share this sentiment!


So this month you will be hearing much about the United Way and the need to help.  We will be encouraging you to make either a one time donation or an ongoing donation through payroll deduction to the United Way.    And while we realize that due to cuts in our grants we have been unable to give raises we would still like you to consider donating to the United Way.  As human service professionals we do understand what other people are going through and we all have a very “up close and personal “ understanding of the impact of mental illness and substance abuse on people's lives. So please take a moment to reflect upon the importance of the United Way to our Intensive Outpatient Program as well as to the southeastern Connecticut community.  Our Intensive Outpatient Program receives the majority of its funding form the United Way-  without the United  Way grant, IOP would cease to exist since it receives NO funding at all from  the State of Connecticut.

So what exactly does the United Way do? Your gift to United Way is invested in four focus areas to get results that matter to our community.  Here in southeastern Connecticut four priorities have been established: Community Wellness, Thriving Children, Basic Needs and Training and Education for Jobs and United Way funds support 28 local agencies that meet community needs in these areas.  IOP is funded under the community wellness initiative

When donating to the United Way you can direct your donation to any one of the United Way agencies or to a particular priority. We of course hope that you will designate your donation to support our Intensive Outpatient Program but the choice is yours. And while the United Way campaign is largely focused on donations there are also many opportunities to volunteer if you are unable to donate. More information about the United  Way and its volunteer opportunities can be found at the United Way website at http://www.uwsect.org/.

So I hope you join me and Cindy Kirchhoff , SCSI United Way Campaign Chairperson in thinking of  “We instead of Me” and  supporting the United Way campaign here at Sound Community Services. Our goal is 100% participation!

Be Well!

Did you know that you  can comment on this blog?  Just type in  Comments block below then click on the  Post Comment button. 

A Story to Live

Recently I heard a very interesting presentation by Antonio Damasio http://www.usc.edu/programs/neuroscience/faculty/profile.php?fid=27 , a behavioral neurologist from the University of Southern California and author of the upcoming book Self Comes to Mind.  Damasio talks about how each of us imagines what the story of our life will be.  We then proceed, through education, work and/or personal relationships  to make that “story”  happen.  Damasio also tells us that we may be forced or choose to re-write our story as circumstances overtake us.   He says, "You are constantly rearranging the narrative of your life, …and  you're rearranging is a function of the experiences that you have had and as what you imagine your experiences in the future ought to be."

Let me give you an example of a life story and the “rearranging [of] the narrative” that you may be familiar with.   Patrick "Pat" Tillman (November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004) was a football player who left his professional NFL sports career and enlisted in the US Army in June 2002, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.  He joined the Army Rangers and served multiple tours in combat before he died in the mountains of Afghanistan.   I am sure that Pat Tillman had spent much of his high school and college years imagining and writing the story of  a professional football career in the NFL.  He undoubtedly spent much of his life pursuing that story.   Then 9-11 happened and that circumstance caused him to choose to re-write his story.   From a NFL All-Pro Defensive Back to a US Army Ranger - Pat Tillman chose to re-write his life story with unfortunately tragic results- Pat Tillman was killed in combat.

Developmental psychology tells us that as young adults many of us have identified the professional and personal paths we intend to follow.  From Damasio’s perspective we have imagined and written our life story.  For some of us the story of our life proceeds just as we wrote it.  For others some circumstance that was never planned on, perhaps a marriage, the birth of a child, a divorce, a death or other life changing circumstance has caused the story to be re-written in a way we may never have imagined.  Sometimes that “re-arranging of the narrative” provides opportunities we may never have dreamed of, other times we find an inner strength that would have gone undiscovered, and sometimes tragedy results.  But none the less the life-story does continue on.

As I thought about Damasio’s ideas and how it might related to the work we do every day, I considered the concept of “recovery” and what is we do to help the clients we serve.  Although there are many perceptions and definitions of recovery, William Anthony, Director of the Boston Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation http://www.bu.edu/cpr/ seems to have developed the cornerstone definition of mental health recovery. Anthony (1993) identifies recovery as " a deeply personal, unique process of changing one’s attitudes, values, feelings, goals, skills and/or roles.  It is a way of living a satisfying, hopeful, and contributing life even with limitations caused by the illness. Recovery involves the development of new meaning and purpose in one’s life as one grows beyond the catastrophic effects of mental illness."   

Until I came across Damasio’s work I am not sure I could have clearly and simply articulated exactly how “recovery” manifests itself.  Damasio’s  work suggests that while we are unable to change the circumstance of mental illness that has overtaken their lives  we can help our clients to re-imagine and re-write the story of their lives.  We can help our clients to develop the skills necessary to live in the community and to manage their own illness.  Each “story” is a personal and unique process and each person writes his/her own definition of recovery.  So  for me this is the take-away-  as I work with  clients I will now give  more time to understanding the story and, now that the client has embarked on recovery, how he/she is “re-arranging the narrative” how  I might be able to help with the re-imagining and the re-writing of the story.

Be Well!

Down Memory Lane

Robin Egger is the founder and president of the DC Central Kitchen – he is known for many things in the nonprofit world but I find him at his most interesting when he is championing the cause of innovation. Egger writes, "It is not enough to see the future coming – you have to go out to meet it, confront it, challenge it and [most importantly] change it when necessary.

I started off by asking what is it that Sound Community Services does better than anyone else in Connecticut and, to some extent, almost better than many other behavioral health agencies nationwide. While we do many things well, an area for which we are getting much recognition is our innovative use of technology. Let me give you an example – just last week 11 staff members from a Michigan behavioral health organization that serves more than 10,000 clients annually, delivering 350,000 distinct services to those clients, employing 1400 staff and with an annual budget of $82 million visited our agency to see just how we do things here. These colleagues spent part of one evening and entire day with us shadowing staff in our fiscal and reception offices,  listening to detailed presentations by Emily Reynolds and Jessica DeFlumer about several of the components of our state-of-the-art ECR including our treatment plan, clinical documentation protocols, E-prescribing etc. In addition to looking at our  electronic client record they also reviewed the way in which we do staff development, support the use of technology across the agency and how we use Google apps as the base architecture for our agency intranet.  They were particularly impressed with our "Help Page."  They really did think that we "had it together" as regards leveraging technology to support our staff and enhance client services.

Obviously it was very gratifying to me for our agency to be so recognized. It has taken much hard work by many people to get us where we are today. After these colleagues left I spent some time reflecting on where we were when we started our technology journey. So let's take a trip down memory lane and rewind the clock back to September, 2004. In September, 2004 First Step was housed almost entirely at 38 Green St. Integrated Behavioral Health occupied the second floor and 2 offices on the third floor of 165 State Street. At First Step only the most senior managers had access to e-mail or the Internet and while line staff did use a homegrown UNIX software product called Caminar to enter service notes, three or more staff often shared a single computer within cramped office space. Staff frequently didn't enter their notes until the very end of the month. So you can imagine how congested the staff office and the single available computer was as the end of the month approached. I never did quite figure out how a staff member could recall the nuances of the interaction he or she might have had with the client when that interaction had happened 10 or 15 or even more days before. The Caminar system was less than reliable and each morning when you came to work you checked the department bulletin board to see if the " Caminar is up and running" sign had been posted – otherwise Caminar was down- it did seem to me at the time that Caminar was more often down than up and running. Getting notes done on time was really "hit or miss!"

And while there was a computer database for notes, the client file was still paper based. Mike Reynolds, our indefatigable IT guy, would come in every Sunday afternoon to print off reams and reams of Caminar notes. Those reams and reams of notes were taken to SAP where third shift staff collated the notes by date and by client. Once that task was completed the notes were distributed back to the programs where they were manually placed into the client file. Client files were actually large three ring binders. Clients who had received services with us for many years had multiple binders that contained literally thousands of pages. You can imagine what it was like to find a single note – it might take you hours to do so!

At IBH, software was used to schedule client appointments, bill Medicare, Medicaid, or other insurers for the services provided. Staff did have personal computers and access to e-mail in their offices. However these computers were not particularly well used. I do remember a staff member who did not know where the on/off switch was for the computer on his desk because he used the computer so infrequently. While at First Step notes were entered electronically, at IBH all notes, both clinical and medical, were handwritten on carbon-less forms. One copy of the form went to the client record and the second copy of the note went to billing. As some of you may know a signed note is required to bill for the services provided to the client.  Tracking clinicians down to get signed notes became an almost full-time job for a member of the billing staff. And on one very terrible yet memorable occasion, Integrated Behavioral Health had to pay significant dollars back to Medicare largely due to unsigned notes.  So that's how it was in 2004- very few computers, lots of paper, no spellcheck, and I'm sure lots of frustration.

In 2005, in response to the need for more integrated client services, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services strongly encouraged and supported the merger of First Step and IBH. While mergers are always difficult and complex undertakings, one of the major barriers to the merger of First Step and IBH was the conflicting computer systems – neither system was capable of communicating with the other. For example, First Step case managers could not read the notes or even see the schedule of services for clients served by IBH staff. IBH clinicians and psychiatrists could not read the notes of First Step case managers. It was clear that if the goal of improved services and improved communication between and among service providers was to be realized it was necessary to address the issue of the disparate computer systems once the two agencies merged to become Sound Community Services. After much investigation our agency decided upon the Carelogic "software as a service"( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service) solution by Qualifacts. Sound Community Services was the very first agency in Connecticut to adopt the enterprise version of Carelogic and the rest as they say is history!

Fast forward now to 2010 – there are now 12 behavioral health agencies in Connecticut who have adopted the Carelogic solution. And among those 12, Sound Community Services is recognized as a leader and innovator! As an agency we have developed a variety of strategies that leverage Carelogic and allow us to improve services for our clients. We were the first agency nationally to use the Qualifacts reporting system to develop a file upload protocol to be used to make automated appointment reminder calls. We were also the first agency nationally to utilize the Wiley databases in our treatment planning documents. Samples of our Quick Reference training pamphlet solution to support ongoing Carelogic staff development have been requested by many agencies nationally and two of our staff members now sit on Qualifacts advisory boards providing ongoing input into product development and use. We have shared our expertise both regionally and nationally – we have presented at several regional and national conferences and we are often sought out by other agencies for guidance and advice.  We have come a long way since 2004!

What will the future bring – no one knows for sure. But I do know that Robin Egger was right – particularly in the case of behavioral health-care and in this era of reform – you must be prepared to meet the future, to challenge it and change it when necessary!  Our innovative use of technology is helping us to do just that.

Be well!

Two Very Special People

James B. Conant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bryant_Conant), a great educator and President of Harvard University, once said that 'Each honest calling, each walk of life, has its own elite, its own aristocracy, based on excellence of performance."  I want to bring to your attention to two members of  Sound Community Services' "aristocracy"-  Donna Millette-Fridge and December Heffernan.

Each year the Board of Directors of Sound Community Services accepts nominations for the Donna Millette-Fridge Memorial Award.  For those of you who did not know Donna, she was a First Step employee for many years, her last position was as the  Director of Employment Services.  Donna was preparing for her promotion to Associate Director at First Step at the time of her tragic and untimely death. Let me tell you  about Donna.

Donna epitomized the values of social  work!  She always exhibited a very strong work ethic, strong leadership, and was an advocate for all of our clients. Donna's special interest was in young people experiencing behavioral health challenges who would be transitioning from their high school years into adulthood where many would be unprepared to face the stigma associated with mental illness which so many of our clients must deal with on a daily basis. She had dedicated her life to helping those young people become productive members of  the community.

Donna was admired and respected by her clients and her colleagues. Shortly after her tragic death the Connecticut Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers posthumously awarded to Donna a Lifetime Achievement Award.  Upon the presentation of that award it was noted that, " Her social work colleagues saw in Donna woman who lived the values of social work. She had a vision that one day individuals with psychiatric disabilities would be fully integrated into society and have available to them the same opportunities and benefits we all enjoy.  Her belief in, energy and enthusiasm for individuals with psychiatric disabilities to become productive members of society were contagious and inspired coworkers throughout her agency. agency."  Donna was the "founding" member of  the Sound Community Services "aristocracy." And after her death our Board of Directors established an award in her name- the Donna Millette-Fridge Memorial Award.

The Donna Millette-Fridge Memorial Award is the most important that Sound Community Services gives as it acknowledges the work of an employee who demonstrates the values that Donna brought to her work.   This year there were several nominees all of whom were noted to bring a high level of care for persons served and professionalism to their work.

In nominating December Heffernan, Mat Waldo wrote, "I have only been here at Sound Community Services for five months and during that time I've worked with a number of dedicated and effective colleagues. One person who continually strikes me as an employee who goes the extra mile for clients and who embodies  excellence in social work practice is December Heffernan, LCSW.  Her job of engaging mentally ill clients in the shelter system and in the streets of New London and providing them with services to improve their  circumstances is difficult at best but, time and time again, December appears to be able to provide an empathetic support for clients which provides them with some dignified value. A number of homeless men and women on my caseload have spoken about how they look forward to meeting with her in the shelter serving the community:  they know they will be respectfully listened to and that their needs and concerns will be met by someone who will do her best to remedy the problems. Working in collaboration with December as a fellow colleague is enjoyable-she exhibits dedication to the Sound Community Services mission, a strong working professional ethic, and brings excellence to the interchange which positively impacts the outcome.  I know that when she is involved my clients are in good hands. I feel that December is a good candidate for the Donna Millette-Fridge Memorial Award and know that many formerly homeless clients would agree with this nomination.   This year's winner of the Donna Millette-Fridege Award is December Heffernan.  Please take a moment to thank December for all her hard work on behalf of those we serve and congratulate her on being named the 2010 winner of the  Donna Millette-Fridge Memorial Award.


Be well!