Center for Success and Independence Earns 3-Year CARF Accreditation

Center for Success and Independence earned another 3-year accreditation, the longest accreditation term awarded by CARF International, the Commission of Accreditation of Residential Facilities. TCSI continues to use the CARF accreditation standards as a guide for its ongoing development and continued improvement of its business operations and service delivery processes. TCSI has focused on implementation of evidence-based practices, improving its marketing materials, continuing to refine its formal planning documents, and developing a performance dashboard for measuring a range of key performance indicators. CARF noted, “Most important, the organization and personnel are clearly committed to continuously improving the quality of its services, and this is evidenced, in part, by the youth served and their families reporting that the services provided are making a lasting difference in the quality of their lives.”

Particular areas of strength for TCSI noted by CARF included:

• The organization has made deliberate improvements in its utilization management, specifically decreasing length of stay while increasing service volumes.
• The organization hosts Bejeweled, a gala held at artists’ studios with various themes; fundraising; and, importantly, parent and youth telling their family recovery stories.
• A board member and parent of a youth served provides parent and family training, advocacy, and support every week and had done so for many years, sharing his family’s own experience and encouraging meaningful family recovery through the services provided.
• The organization has implement multi-family group therapy and accelerated dialectical behavior therapy as evidence-based practices.
• The organization’s personnel records are well organized, complete and relatively thorough.
• The organization implemented a new electronic billing system, improving the efficiency and management of the system since the last survey.
• Clients interviewed felt that the services provided help them improve their lives.
• Peer mediation and anger management groups are seen by the youth served as valuable assets in managing peer relationships. The organization’s various other groups and therapeutic services are also seen as valuable.
• The organization’s clinical team is seen as collaborative, and the members are mutually supportive. The team members feel they have a voice in how services are provided.
• TCSI offers excellent family support, providing family therapy, multi-family groups and parent support groups. These services are vital to a successful return home for the youth served.
• Staff members interviewed feel that the structure of the program provides an environment in which they can help persons served learn new behaviors and improve the quality of their lives.
• Staff members interviewed felt that management is accessible and supportive. Training opportunities provided by management are highly valued.