The Counseling Center

Established in 1953 ~ Over 55 years of service excellence.

Annual Report

FY2008

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

by Susan D. Buchwalter, Ph.D., President/CEO

The Counseling Center touched the lives of approximately 11,500 people in fiscal year 2008 – approximately 7% of the population of the Wayne and Holmes County area.

The Counseling Center is a private, not-for-profit corporation that provides a comprehensive range of behavioral health services to a wide variety of community residents.  The main office is located on Benden Drive in Wooster; but the agency operates out of seven locations across the two county area.  The FY08 operating budget was $6.2 million.

Many of the services provided by the Center are specifically purchased by the Mental Health and Recovery Board (MHRB), and provided to those individuals with either limited resources or with more severe, persistent problems.  Other parts of the Center’s service array are targeted toward those with less chronic conditions and are funded with a combination of public dollars and private revenue from insurance, Medicare, and other payers.

The Center has a current staff of 125 individuals which includes 5 part-time consulting psychiatrists, 1 certified nurse specialist with prescriptive authority, 5 doctoral level psychology staff, 56 counselors or social workers, 2 nurses, 28 paraprofessional assistants and 28 business and support staff.  Staff includes 35 independently licensed professionals and encompasses over 1000 years of combined mental health experience. 

The Center is certified by both the Ohio Department of Mental Health and the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, and all mental health services are nationally accredited by CARF.  In addition, the Center serves as a qualified local provider for a number of regional and national health insurance companies.

The Center’s mission states that the organization is

“dedicated to enhancing the mental health of individuals, families, and

groups through a comprehensive range of prevention, treatment and

rehabilitation services, designed to meet individual needs.”

In the recently completed fiscal year, the Center made significant strides toward that mission.  Some of the Center’s efforts in each area are summarized below.

PREVENTION SERVICES

Prevention services at the Center include such activities as suicide prevention, child assault prevention, early childhood mental health consultation, specialized programs for parents who are divorcing, support groups for families with a mentally ill relative, school-based services, family support services,  and specialized training or education on a variety mental health issues.

In FY08, the Center’s prevention services:

·                     reached approximately 7,750 individuals with some type of mental health consultation, education or prevention service

·                     touched 1,088 adolescents with depression awareness and suicide prevention programs and specifically screened 432 students for depression, identifying 85 who were referred for additional services

·                     provided information or educational presentations on mental health to over 1,500 persons

·                     assisted other community professionals in dealing with the mental health needs of their own clients by providing 1,227 hours of consultation

·                     reached 407 parents with a divorce education program designed to reduce the impact of divorce on children and which 91% of the participating parents subsequently described as providing them with helpful strategies for dealing with their children

·                     implemented an early childhood mental health program providing training and consultation to 7 local childcare centers which resulted in all but one child being able to remain in the school setting

·                     provided an intensive evidence-based parenting program to parents with an out of control adolescent which resulted in a statistically significant decline in the youth yelling at others, and a statistically significant increase in the child’s reported ability to control emotions and stay out of trouble.

·                     provided a number of mental health support groups, including a support group specifically for Amish families with a mentally ill family member and an Amish children’s group for Amish children with a mentally ill parent

·                     provided on site school-based therapists in four local school systems with the parents of involved children reporting statistically significant positive change in their children’s behavior and the majority of the students passing their classes and being promoted

·                     provided paraprofessional family support aides to clients referred by either the Family and Children First Council in Holmes County or in Wayne County to assist in maintaining school attendance and family stability in young children with severe emotional disturbance. 

·                     assured that 100% of the students in the Holmes County family support aide program, 95% in the Wayne County program,  remained in the community without utilizing out-of-home placement

TREATMENT SERVICES

Treatment services provided by the Center include: individual and family counseling, medication assessment and monitoring, crisis intervention, and diagnostic assessment.  Counseling is provided at offices located in Wooster, Rittman, Orrville, and Millersburg and is available for adults, children, adolescents, families, and couples.  Typical problems include depression, anxiety, child behavioral difficulties, marital distress, interpersonal problems, and sexual and physical abuse.  Crisis intervention services are available 24-hours a day and focus on short-term intervention, suicide prevention, screening for possible hospitalization, and referral to other appropriate services.  Assessment services are provided to every person who seeks ongoing assistance from the Center; and, at times, to other organizations or individuals who have a specific need.  Medication is provided to clients who need this additional support to deal with their current symptoms.

In FY08, the Center’s treatment programs

·                     provided a diagnostic assessment to 1,531 different individuals who sought on-going mental health services during the year         

·                     provided individual counseling services to 1,929 different persons, with a customer satisfaction rating of 95% and a reported improvement in symptomology of 86%

·                     intervened with 1,181 different persons who contacted the Center for crisis intervention

·                     provided psychiatric assessment and access to psychotropic medication to a total of 1,565 different clients

·                     accessed nearly $800,000 in actual medication or indigent medication program assistance to help clients who could not otherwise afford their medications

·                     maintained a caseload per psychiatrist that is more than double the national average

·                     arranged 95 public hospital admissions, involving 82 persons, and  assisted with 376 private admissions

·                     reduced the use of public hospital days by 37% over the prior year

·                     documented statistically significant reductions in system distress or problem severity, for adults and children respectively,  as measured by the Ohio Department of Mental Health Outcomes system

REHABILITATION SERVICES

The Center’s rehabilitation services are designed to assist those adults and children in the community who are affected with more severe and persistent mental health problems.  Specific services include: community support services (which focus on helping clients to live successfully in the community), social and recreational support, home-based family intervention, employment services, and residential care.

In FY08 the Center’s rehabilitation programs

·                     provided 52,986 units of community psychiatric support services to adults,  and an additional 22,298 units for children or youth

·                     achieved excellent customer satisfaction in programs targeted to severely emotionally disturbed children with 99% of those who received either community psychiatric support or home-based services rated the program as good, very good, or excellent.

documented statistically significant improvement in symptoms and functioning for children and youth participating in the home-based intervention program and noted that 87% of the children and youth who completed the program were still in their homes eight months after the conclusion of services were completed and 95% were consistently attending school

·                     received a Best Practice in Customer Satisfaction Award from the MHCA for the services provided by the employment program

·                     documented that  33 of the mentally disabled persons who secured job placement with the assistance of the employment program were employed in positions that offered medical benefits

·                     demonstrated statistically significant improvement in symptom distress scores for severely mentally disabled adults who completed the ODMH outcomes survey

OTHER SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

·                     In addition to the specific program accomplishments noted above, the Center also

·                     provided 160,040 units of mental health care

·                     managed 3,877 different cases and maintained an active caseload of 2,678 per month

·                     processed 2,369 admissions – 192 per month

·                     completed a referral source satisfaction survey in which 85% rated their satisfaction with the Center as good, very good, or excellent

·                     completed a revision of the employee evaluation process, implemented a new diagnostic assessment form, and improved compliance with criteria for records completeness and the submission of ODMH outcomes reports

·                    completed a client satisfaction survey in which 94% rated their overall service satisfaction as good, very good or excellent; 92% reported that services were helping them deal with their problems; and 98% indicated that they would refer others to the Center.

·                     administered a staff satisfaction survey in which 97% rated the Counseling Center as a good place to work

·                     secured a two-year renewed of the mental health licensure for the agency mental health group home

SPECIAL CHALLENGES

While the Center experienced significant clinical success during the year, the agency also faced a number of difficult challenges as noted below:

·                     thirteen of twenty of the specific services offered by the Center failed to meet their expected productivity targets due to difficulty in recruiting replacement staff and an excessive number of family/medical leaves among clinical providers

·                     key services continued to have a waiting list which ranged from 72 to 315 and averaged 164 persons – an increase of 71 (76%) from the prior year

·                     operating revenue, alone, was not adequate to cover operating expenses

SUMMARY

Despite the challenges of significant service demand, increased administrative requirements, and the constantly changing health care environment, The Center continues as a positive, dynamic organization, committed to providing quality mental health care and excellent customer service to the residents of Wayne and Holmes counties.

Outcome measures and customer satisfaction surveys reflect that the individuals who use the Center are positively impacted in their lives – whether their problems are short-term and acute, requiring only limited intervention, or long-term and chronic with ongoing needs for rehabilitation and support.