Revised Policies and Procedures Manual
Good news!
As promised at the QA, the revised policies and procedures manual, the holy grail of Dalton Associates, has received final approval for distribution.
This document consists of the best practices that have evolved over our 25 years of practice. Adherence to all the policies and procedures within, will not only keep the practice strong, but it will also keep our clients safe, it will keep us safe, and it will assure our future success as a major mental health service provider.
Its value is entirely dependent on whether or not we actually use and adhere to its content; I encourage you to read it over carefully, make a hard-copy if you wish, but keep it accessible on your computer for reference. We have endeavoured to make it as user-friendly as possible, meaning that you will be able to utilize the interactive table of contents (linked to specific sections and policies). When you renew your case management agreement in July, you will need to indicate that you reviewed this manual and agree to its contents.
If you have any questions about any procedure or any policy, please do not hesitate to call me or Carl directly.
Sincerely,
Dan Dalton
Please contact Candice to request a copy of this document.
Staff Bio of the Month – Heather Coulter
Heather Coulter joined Dalton Associates over 3 years ago in 2016 to cover a Parental Leave, and has since established herself as an invaluable member of our team. Heather is currently the Coordinator of Autism and Behavioural Services, administratively supporting the Director of this division, our team of therapists, and those clients seeking specialized autism and behavioural assessment and services.
Additionally, Heather is Dalton Associates’ Coordinator of Psychological Assessment Services, providing intake and administrative support to clients seeking various types of psychological assessments, as well as administrative support to those psychologists and psychometrists providing these services. She is also a member of our Client Care Team as an Intake Specialist, helping clients who call into the office in navigating and registering for our services.
2019 Quality Assurance Symposium Recap
Thank you to everyone who attended Dalton Associates’ annual Quality Assurance Symposium on May 4, 2019! More than 140 associates and staff members came together in Brampton for the highly-anticipated and informative morning seminar presented by CEO, Carl Dalton, and President, Dr. Dalton. Topics discussed included: current practice challenges, plans for accreditation in 2022, an upcoming CPO review of supervision and billing practices, the controlled act of psychotherapy, new partnerships, and marketing updates. In addition, a mini QA was announced for Saturday, November 9, 2019, from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm, at the Brampton Courtyard Marriott Hotel. Attendance at this mini QA is mandatory, and we look forward to seeing everyone again!
After the morning seminar, Carl Dalton explained the significance of outcome measurement, and Dr. Lane Pederson presented a keynote on maximizing alliance factors in clinical practice, resonating with many therapists in the audience.
After lunch, Ed Connors, Ph.D., C.Psych., Ann Morgan, RP, and Ashley McGhee, B.Ed., M.A., O.C.T., each held 2-hour workshops on indigenous cultural safety, return to work treatment, and working with LGBTQ2S populations respectively. Later in the afternoon, associates attended various 1-hour workshops, including workshops focused on the following: Greenspace outcome measurements, MVA adjunctive treatment modalities, the WSIB Community Mental Health Program, and OnCall Health. Dr. Dalton also hosted the President’s Cocktail Reception on Saturday evening.
Once again, we thank all the attendees and look forward to seeing you again in November!
DBT Lane Pederson Workshop Recap
Back by popular demand, Dr. Lane Pederson, PsyD, LP, DBTC, delivered his third full-day workshop presented by Dalton Associates on May 5, 2019. With a significant number of mental health clients presenting with co-occurring substance use issues, and with effective treatments in high demand, DBT skills and strategies are a must-have for all types of practitioners. Dr. Lane Pederson delivered an engaging workshop on Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Concurrent Mental Health and Substance Use Issues to more than 110 people, including a mix of Dalton Associates and non-associates. Attendees included counsellors, psychotherapists, students, psychologists, and nurses.
Updated Consent to Services Forms
As mentioned at this year’s Quality Assurance Symposium, we are undergoing a practice-wide audit and have been working hard to update our policy and procedures manual in preparation to become accredited through Accreditation Canada by 2022. These initiatives have required a thorough review of our record keeping practices, and one element that was noted to be lacking is a public statement of our clients’ bill of rights. This important information has now been added to our website, and our consent to service forms.
We have also added a new consent to service form titled “Consent to Services Form for MVA Services – Psychotherapy – revised June 27, 2019”, which is to be used only by RPs who are providing Psychotherapy to MVA clients, independently of a Psychologist (such cases will be identified to the therapist by the Fergus Admin office).
Please ensure that you are using the current consent to service forms, now accessible on the Intranet under Forms > Client Record-Keeping Forms, or you can download them from this article.
As always, all updates to forms, policies and procedures will continue be advertised through the Communication Bulletins, to ensure everyone is informed and are using the most recent versions. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Candice Thornton, Manager of Administrative and Rehabilitation Services, at 1-855-259-9348 Ext. 131 or candice@daltonassociates.ca.
Dalton Associates at Pri-Med 2019 Recap
Dalton Associates exhibited at Pri-Med 2019 from May 8 to May 11. Pri-Med is the largest annual inter-professional conference in Canada, focusing on primary care. Over the 3-day conference, Eric Ferraro (Coordinator of Marketing) and Katie Crichton (Coordinator of the Client Care Centre) spoke to hundreds of health care professionals, including family physicians and general practitioners. Our new booth attracted much interest and attendees took home various Dalton Associates promotional materials. We provided live demonstrations of how easy it is for their patients to find therapists within their home communities that are appropriate to their specific needs. After stopping at our booth, many physicians requested brochure packages for their offices to share with patients.
Staff Announcement
It is with mixed emotions that we say farewell to one of our administrative team members this July; Taylor Annett. Taylor joined the Dalton Associates team as Coordinator of Rehabilitation Services in 2017, quickly taking on the administrative and clinical coordination of the entire MVA Services Division herself. She has been integral to the growth of our Rehabilitation Services Division, and a fantastic resource to our clients and clinicians these past 2.5 years.
We are beyond happy for Taylor as she embarks on the next stage in her career, and know that she’ll be a huge asset to the team at The Co-Operators. At the same time, we are extremely sad to lose such a brilliant team member here at Dalton Associates; one who has navigated the challenging terrain of accident benefits with ease, who has connected countless clients with much-needed rehabilitation psychological services, and who has meaningfully supported the clinical team of psychologists and therapists in this division.
We want to sincerely thank Taylor for her extremely hard work, positive attitude, and teamwork within our organization. We wish her all the very best in her career, and know she’ll go far.
For all Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) related questions or concerns, please direct your inquiries to Leigh Jackson. Leigh joined the Dalton Associates team earlier this year as another Coordinator of Rehabilitation Services, and has quickly established herself to be an invaluable asset to our team. She shares many of the positive attributes that Taylor has brought to our team, and we have every confidence that Leigh will rise to the challenge of becoming the primary Coordinator of the MVA Services Division within Dalton Associates! Leigh can be reached on the Intranet, at leigh@daltonassociates.ca, or at extension 135.
Update on Client Satisfaction Surveys and Progress Measurement with Greenspace
As discussed during the 2019 Quality Assurance Symposium morning meeting, and subsequent afternoon workshop, the landscape of mental health and wellness services in Canada is changing, and more transparency and accountability is being expected from psychological and mental health service providers. In addition, as we endeavour to create partnerships and develop mental health and wellness programs within the province, we are being asked to produce data to demonstrate our practices’ strengths and accomplishments.
That being said, we are well into building out processes to make this data collection easy for our associates, and useful to all parties involved, including our clients themselves!
Dalton Associates has been working with Greenspace Mental Health for the past 2 years to initiate progress and outcome measurement in our organization. Greenspace is an easy-to-use, PHIPA-compliant, web and mobile-based platform for measuring clinical progress and outcomes in therapy. The purpose of using Greenspace is to increase client engagement, accountability, and communication; keeping progress and goals at the forefront of mental healthcare sessions. This platform is evidence-based and has been developed from research proving that measuring and displaying client progress in therapy improves clinical outcomes. There are two main ways that Greenspace achieves this: firstly, measurement provides a therapist more feedback and information about a client’s progress in therapy. This results in improved decision-making, reduced biases and earlier detection of health changes (among other benefits); and, secondly, the ability to view your symptoms and progress provides clients with added transparency and involvement in their treatment process.
At the 2019 QA, we announced that the roll-out of client satisfaction surveys and progress measurement would begin early September this year. However, we heard your feedback regarding the client satisfaction scales we were intending to use (which we demonstrated at the Greenspace workshop at the QA), and want to make sure that the information we receive is not only useful, but is applicable to your clients and practice.
That being said, we are currently in the process of customizing the scales and developing our associate training around Greenspace and the measurement tools we intend to implement, and propose the following – revised– schedule:
If you have any questions about Greenspace, client satisfaction surveys, or progress and outcome measurement, please do not hesitate to reach out to Michelle Goldsworthy at 1-888-245-5516 Ext. 130. We are always happy to discuss further!
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