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Peel Children's Centre
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Clinical Standards & Development:
At Peel Children’s Centre, our Mission is, “To provide a range of high quality mental health services for children, youth and their families who are experiencing, or may experience, serious emotional difficulties.” Reflecting our mission, the Centre’s Clinical Standards and Development (CSD) Department is committed to demonstrating that we deliver high quality services.Working collaboratively with the Centre’s clinical programs, our CSD Department provides the following services.
Program Evaluation
Peel Children’s Centre measures the results of our treatments to ensure that they are effective. We use three tools: the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI), the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS), and a version of the CAFAS for children ages 4–7 called the Preschool and Early Childhood Functional Assessment Scale (PECFAS). The implementation of these tools has been part of a provincial accountability initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
Quality Assurance and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)
Our CSD department has developed a QUality Enhancement STrategy, or QUEST©, which has several components.
- Peel Children’s Centre measures consumer satisfaction, asking clients, their families or caregivers, and referral sources about our clinical services. These surveys measure several dimensions of quality: acceptability, accessibility, appropriateness, competence, continuity of service, effectiveness, efficiency, respect and caring, safety, and timeliness.
- Other CQI processes include audits of clinical records, case reviews, and reviews of incidents, serious occurrences, and complaints.
- The results are monitored by our front-line staff, managers and Board of Directors as part of our commitment to Continuous Quality Improvement. Out of these reviews, recommendations are generated and improvement plans are developed.
Evidence-Based Practice and Clinical Research
Peel Children’s Centre is committed to using well-established, evidence-based practices in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of mental health concerns. To this end, we have undertaken several initiatives:
- Sharing and reviewing current research on evidence-based practices,
- Partnering in clinical research initiatives, e.g.: how immigrant families access children’s mental health services; social anxiety and selective mutism; and improving access to health care for children with mental health disorders. Our research partnerships have involved scientists from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Dalhousie University, McMaster University and University of Toronto,
- Providing on-the-job, practical training opportunities for the Centre’s clinical staff to ensure that they have a set of core competencies in children’s mental health practice,
- Providing internships and practica for college and university students,
- Providing or supporting continuing education opportunities to ensure that our staff remain current in evidence-based practices, and
- Leading communities of practice, which are groups that share knowledge, learn together, and create common practices. A community of practice focuses on learning, both within existing teams in organizations and more importantly, across different organizations. For example, Peel Children’s Centre led a community of practice with McMaster Children’s Hospital to develop community education programs about child and youth mental health problems.
Clinical Information Management and Reporting
The Centre maintains a clinical database, DANIC, which houses client demographics and characteristics, and service output data. Several DANIC statistical reports – New Cases, Wait Lists, Days Count for Residential and Day Treatment Services, Program Hours, Intake Disposition, and Clinical Hours – are reviewed by the Centre’s management and staff as part of the Centre’s regular monitoring process.
Clinical Records Management
The CSD Department develops and maintains the Centre’s state-of–the-art Clinical Records Management System.
Accreditation
Peel Children’s Centre maintains and monitors Ontario-wide accreditation standards developed by Children’s Mental Health Ontario. The Centre is also a member of the National Quality Institute.
