| Organization Name: | Teen Challenge Canada |
| Location: | London, ON |
| Project Name: | GTA Women’s Centre Case Management System |
| Amount Awarded: | $100,000.00 |
| Date Awarded: | 11/18/2017 |
| Participating Grantmakers: |
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| Purpose of Investment: | To develop and implement a new Client Management System into a regional women’s addiction centre, piloting it for introduction in centres across the country. |
Executive Summary:
Teen Challenge Canada’s (TCC’s) first Women’s Centre in King City (“GTA Women’s Centre”) has helped more than one hundred women battle addiction since inception in 2008. Women in this residential program are twice as likely to break free from addiction over other typical rehab programs, thanks to TCC’s intensive intervention strategy and a year-long commitment by clients to developing new behavioral patterns.
TCC will develop and pilot a customized Case Management System (CMS) for the GTA Women’s Centre which will maximize the ability of staff to track progress for their clients with a customized treatment plan. This will be uniquely designed for the highly individualized program offered at the GTA Women’s Centre, and once piloted there, will be rolled out to all TCC locations across Canada.
The Case Management System is not simply about acquiring data, but rather about using data. Its a tool that will fulfill a vital day-to-day real-time role to help improve the response to an ever-changing drug environment, and to improve the overall level of care from the multi-disciplinary team. The CMS will improve the quality, consistency and integrity of data, while maintaining a high standard of confidentiality and security, which is critical given the multiple types and sources of data across the Women’s Centre.
This new technology will enable TCC to improve its treatment program and options, increasingly using an evidence-based methodology. Data relating drug-of-choice, mental health issues, co-occurring disorders, age, cultural factors, degree of addiction, psychotropic medications, and many other histories and factors can be mined to customize and improve a treatment plan for the individual. The longer the tool is used, the better the data and the greater the ability to adjust the treatment plan accordingly.
Women’s programs in particular are highly complex due to the prevalence of co-occurring issues, including past sexual abuse, eating disorders, self-harm behaviours, complex medication interactions, and family issues. For this reason, the Case Management System must be initially designed and tested to work in the complexity of the GTA Women’s Centre.
The CMS will facilitate streamlined communications, with real-time, accurate, and consistent data, between multiple components of program, and at different times across the 24/7 care team. In medical environments, this is called the ‘hand-off’ of care from one shift or specialty to another. Finally, the CMS will greatly enhance TCC’s ability to tailor aftercare and track program success.
Measurable Outcomes:
- Completed design of Case Management System delivered to TCC by May 2018 (6 months following funding).
- Completed installation, training and pilot operation of Case Management System at the GTA Women’s Centre by Sep 2018 (10 months following funding).
- The following Qualitative Program Outcomes will be effective as of the end of the project. These include:
- Accurate and up-to-date communications between all staff on student issues and flags (i.e. allergies, medications and interactions, eating disorders and progress in the program, etc.).
- Ability to tailor treatment and care options to individual factors (i.e. prior trauma, drugs-of-choice) which play a role in behaviour, mental health, and physiological issues.
- Improved ‘evidence-based’ programming will result in increased retention and graduation rates and lower recidivism rates after graduation.
- CMS System will be rolled out to all other TCC Centres following project completion.
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