Social Services Agency

WHO

Ontario's largest children's mental health agency with multiple sites and programs. Funded primarily by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.

WHAT

Ontario's largest children's mental health agency proves treatment and family programs, child care centers. autism services and youth justice services, in addition to operating an outdoor center. As part of a strategic planning process, the agency identified a key priority to transform clinical practices by implementing Evidence Based Practices (EBP's) across all services of the agency.

HOW

The Osborne Group was engaged as Project Manager for the Clinical Transformation Project. In this capacity, the Project Lead was responsible for developing and monitoring adherence to the critical path and budget, organization and leadership of the Steering Committee, providing direction to multiple project teams, and coordination of all related activities. The change management process which was used for the multi-year project was that developed by Dean Fixsen of the National Implementation Research Network.

The Project Manager worked alongside the staff at all levels who were actually completing the work assignment whether it was a Clinical Director or a front line worker. The Project Manager educated all participants in the change process and was a major champion/spokesperson through the duration of the project for the new way of operating. The extensive documentation of the process that exists on the agency's sharepoint application means that all the working papers of every staff-led group is available to the agency for reference and development. This included a timeline/chronology of the entire project created by The Osborne Group of key developments and decisions throughout the process.

As part of the Fixsen model, the agency created a Clinical transformation "Practice Leader" role to ensure ongoing fidelity to the model.

SUCCESS STORY

Major Outcomes of this project were the implementation of:

A change management process that is broadly understood by all management and many staff who were active on the project.
A menu of evidence-based interventions for children and youth mental health issues that is consistently used across all of the agency's programs.
The redevelopment of the Client information system to support a Client-centered approach to treatment and Client service.
The development of a research and evaluation capability to support the work within the agency's programs but is also a resource for other agencies in the sector.
A comprehensive sustainability plan for the work that was started that sets out the organizational requirements that have been put in place or are under development to support the transformed organization going forward.