Family Service Center of Galveston County

Family Service Center of Galveston County Strategic Plan 2013-2016

Introduction

Family Service Center of Galveston County has been a provider of services to Galveston since its founding in 1914. At that time, the agency provided physical aid, including cash assistance, food, clothing, and temporary shelter. The agency operated as an arm of local government and was the predecessor to later public welfare programs. With the advent of the New Deal during the 1930’s, the agency changed its focus to helping families with problems like divorce, delinquency, and violence. The services became professional and oriented to helping people alleviate the stressors of living in the 20 th century through counseling and psycho-educational services. During this era, the agency also worked to prevent child abuse and also worked with children and families involved in the Child Protective Service system using counseling, education, and homemaker services.

Today, Family Service Center continues to provide counseling services to at-risk youth and families with at staff of 17 and a budget of over $1.2 million. Over the years, the agency has developed considerable expertise in working with troubled youth, and the youth/family focus is prominent in the agency. The current agency programs are (1) Individual and Family Counseling, (2) STAR – Services to At- Risk Youth, (3) the Oasis Program for juvenile sex offenders, (4) the Juvenile Justice Services for youth adjudicated as delinquent, and (5) the Community Support Services program that provides mental health services to community residents at various community-based facilities and client residences. STAR services are delivered in Liberty and Chambers Counties as well as in Galveston County.

The mission of Family Service Center is stated as follows:

The Center strives to help people pursue healthy, independent, and fulfilling lives through the provision of counseling and education, in collaboration with other social agencies.

The Guiding Values of the agency are as follows:

 Family Service Center values professionalism of staff and will recruit, hire, and train an ethical, responsible, dependable staff who are respectful of the clients they serve and whose efforts are in their client’s best interest.

 Family Service Center values a strengths-based culture in their work with clients, communities and colleagues. As a result, emphasis will be placed on listening and identifying a person’s strengths and resources, understanding clearly their goals and aspirations for the future and honoring their inherent worth and dignity.

 Family Service Center values accountability in their work with clients, the community and within the agency. Staff are committed and accessible to the agency and the clients they serves; maintain

*mental health services refers to outpatient and prevention services **including but not limited to healthy boundaries; address issues and concerns with positive intent; and meet and exceed agency and client expectations in their work.

 Family Service Center values collaboration in their work within the agency. Staff operate in partnership as a supportive team working together in the best interest of the clients they serve.

 Family Service Center values efforts that are community and client focused. Recognizing that relationships are key to positive health and wellness, Family Service Center utilizes research and client outcome data, best practice programming , and assistance from community partners to address the needs of clients within the context of their larger family and community system.

Strategic Planning Process:

In the Spring of 2012, Family Service Center identified a core group of board and staff leaders to form the strategic planning committee. This committee was tasked with conducting key informant surveys and focus groups with key community stakeholders representing a variety of community sectors (law enforcement, healthcare, religion, mental healthcare, schools, and the like). In addition, SWOT analyses were conducted on board and staff members. The committee reviewed community reports including the 2011 Galveston County Needs Assessment, the 2009 Galveston Children’s Report Card, the 2008- 2010 Family Service Center Strategic Plan, local reports from the Center to Eliminate Health Disparities, Texas on the Brink (A report from the Texas Legislative Study Group on the State of our State, February, 2011), and the 2012 Summary Report from the National Association of Psychiatric Services entitled “Where is Behavioral Health Headed?”

Results of interviews from key informants revealed several common threads:

1. There is an overall lack of knowledge about Family Service Center and its services and programs.

2. Referrals from key community constituents are driven by relationships.

3. There is a overall lack of mental health resources in Galveston County across the life span. While services are available to address the needs of special groups at specific agencies or are available for specific diagnostic categories, no continuum of outpatient services is readily available to address the needs of clients across the life span.

4. There is a changing demographic across the County. Specifically, the county is recognizing an increase in the senior population and in the Hispanic population.

5. The population of Galveston County continues its move north with League City now the largest city in the county and Galveston experiencing an 8% decrease in its population from 57,247 in 2000 to 47,743 in 2010.

6. There are concerns about financial stability of the agency and its ability to meet community needs and address sustainability of the programs that it already provides.

Staff and board identified the following:

*mental health services refers to outpatient and prevention services **including but not limited to 1. There is a highly skilled and committed staff team in place at FSC.

2. Outreach and relationship-building are key to increasing visibility, referrals, partnerships, programs, and meeting client and community needs.

a. Outreach through program development

b. Outreach through marketing

3. EMR needs to be supported by strong Standards of Care.

4. Growth and sustainability planning are key to agency security.

Based on these findings, the following Strategic plan was developed:

Overall Strategic Goal:

Based on FSC’s strong foundation and expertise in providing behavioral health services, we will become the premier provider of mental health services* in Galveston County up to and including outreach, prevention, and outpatient mental health services.

We will do this by:

1. Building and nurturing relationships and increasing our visibility among Mainland and Island- based community partners.

RATIONALE: As part of the Strategic Planning process, several community-based agencies and professionals were interviewed to understand what resources they utilize when behavioral health concerns arise with their primary constituents and to understand whether Family Service Center was utilized as part of their toolkit. In all situations, Family Service Center was not known and not utilized routinely. In addition, some people were unaware of our staff members’ areas of expertise and others were unaware of the nature or extent of services (programs; insurance; problem areas) that could be addressed by the agency. In addition, many of these community gatekeepers indicated that they primarily refer to agencies/people with whom they have a relationship. It is important that Family Service Center develop strategies to increase their visibility in the community and their relationship with key community sectors to ensure access to clients, ongoing referrals, coordinated delivery of service as well as enhanced donor giving.

a. Annual Outreach: Identify and implement an annual outreach and promotional plan to increase visibility of the agency as a whole including its programs, services and professional staff.

a.i. Update the website continuously to attract more viewers and keep people informed regarding the nature and extent of services; the professionalism of staff; program successes; and what we are doing in the community.

*mental health services refers to outpatient and prevention services **including but not limited to a.ii. Identify ways to develop a stronger on-line presence utilizing social media.

a.iii. Develop and implement a volunteer recruitment plan to assist with agency needs including social media, website updates, graphic design and to increase the number of community champions who acclaim FSC. a.iv. Identify and recruit non-paid interns in social marketing to assist with ongoing social media needs. a.v. Develop a volunteer-lead development & marketing committee to increase community visibility. a.vi. Develop a bi-monthly web-based agency newsletter to the community; a.vii. Develop comprehensive county-based email listserv.

a.viii. Develop an annual budget designated for advertising and promotion to be used for electronic website/e-newsletters, magazine/on-line/newspaper ads, promotional materials, brochures and signs.

a.ix. Develop a monthly article for the Galveston County Daily News.

b. Targeted Outreach: Develop and implement an outreach and promotional plan targeted at specific community groups to increase visibility of the agency and build relationships among these groups to ensure client access, increased client referrals, enhanced service coordination, and increased giving.

b.i. Groups to be considered to target include Mental health professionals (including psychiatrists), educational institutions across the County (districts & high edu), non-profit partners, law enforcement, and the faith community

b.ii. Priority target efforts will be based upon data and will address the needs of both Mainland and Island communities

b.iii. Integrate relationship-building and visibility efforts

b.iii.1. Develop packets that target specific community sectors that can be used to market FSC services to various community markets; b.iii.2. Develop a multi-method presentation to be delivered to target groups emphasizing how FSC can assist them in the work they do; b.iii.3. Develop a plan for FSC staff to “drop-in” monthly at targeted community sectors, leaving brochures and meeting with staff

b.iii.4. Develop a social media plan that integrates relationship-building via social network sites

c. Targeted Board Outreach: Develop plan to assist board members in building relationships with potential community donors.

*mental health services refers to outpatient and prevention services **including but not limited to d. Hire a Director of Development & Public Relations that assists with grants, fundraising, social media, website updates and community relationship building. Continue finding interns to assist the Director of Dev/PR in graphic design and online communication.

 GOAL Strategy One: Increase individual, corporate and foundation giving by 6%; Increase agency referrals by 5%.

2. Investing in Our Team** by creating and supporting a culture of learning, professionalism and support.

RATIONALE: Family Service Center strives to be the premier mental health service provider for our county. In order to ensure this, FSC needs to invest in a well-trained, diverse counseling staff to meet the needs of the county with cultural competence. The social work and counseling professions are comprised predominantly of women. A substantial portion of the youth served by the agency is male, and may benefit from having male counselors. Similarly, one contract bilingual counselor is not sufficient to respond to a growing Spanish speaking population. Additionally, while FSC has a very generous benefits package, compensation for staff is below market rates and needs to be addressed for FSC to remain competitive and to increase staff retention.

FSC will invest in our team by:

a.a. Instituting a plan for the recruitment of diverse staff members: a.a.i. Develop high quality multi-disciplinary training for interns that will serve as the primary recruitment pipeline.  Utilize the expertise of licensed supervisory staff to develop training plan by 12/31/2013. a.a.ii. Increase diversity of staff with priority given to bilingual recruits for all future hires.

a.b. Develop and implement a plan for staff retention that includes:

a.b.i. A competitive compensation plan that takes into account licensure, multiple licenses, specialized trainings and the like.

a.b.ii. Focus on self-care and support for all staff including

 Identification of clear roles and responsibilities for all staff members

 Ongoing, relevant staff development that meets the needs of staff members and the agency in their efforts at meeting their stated mission

 Ongoing team support through consistent supervision and peer review.

*mental health services refers to outpatient and prevention services **including but not limited to  Annual performance evaluations that identify, promote and support professional growth opportunities for staff in areas of individual professional interest and agency guiding values and strategic direction.

 Cross training of administrative staff and others in essential functions to reduce burnout.

 Continue/build non-financial incentives for staff. a.b.iii. Develop a plan for recruitment, growth and leadership for board membership.

GOAL Strategy Two: Improve staff retention by 10% in upcoming year. Increase active board membership by 10%.

3. Building an Integrated Standard of Care System** that supports quality in all services by achieving the highest standards.

Rationale: Family Service Center strives to be the premier mental health service provider for our region. To ensure this, FSC needs to be able to clearly articulate our expectations of staff and our standards of care as well as provide identifiable pathways of meeting these expectations and exceeding these standards. Additionally, FSC believes that it is imperative to have a clearly defined method of not only assuring quality but ways of continuously improving performance at or across all levels. With the purchase of our new Electronic Medical Records system, quality standards can be identified and continuously monitored if agency resources are devoted to address this goal.

a. Identify feasible ways to contract with a quality assurance coordinator with skills in systems analysis, evaluation, comprehensive process and outcome analysis, and development and implementation of such processes; b. Review and identify current FSC standards of care and assess whether they are in keeping with COA standards.

c. Develop policies, procedures, and practices based on results of the above and ensure awareness of and integration throughout all agency functions and entities.

d. Design and implement continuous, integrated quality assurance and improvement processes with specific attention to ongoing assessment, capacity needs and development, planning and implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.

e. Identify, develop, and monitor Quality Improvement standards for Board Leadership

GOAL Strategy 3: By the end of the 2013 fiscal year, FSC will have ongoing Quality Improvement system (policies, procedures, and practices) in place and will identify goals for continuous quality improvement.

*mental health services refers to outpatient and prevention services **including but not limited to 4. Building the Continuum of Care by increasing the breadth of services to include the life span and increasing the depth of services to include a full spectrum of prevention and intervention services.

Rationale: Family Service Center strives to be the premier mental health service provider for our region. To ensure this, FSC needs to be aware of the changing demographic make-up of our community. With an aging population, more families are going to be facing the challenges of households with three generations. FSCG needs to serve these families and the older populations with many psychosocial and service coordination needs that go beyond health care and traditional outpatient mental health care – retirement, death of mates/friends, mutual support, transitional decision making, etc. In addition, our school-based (3-17 years of age) and our adult population are in need of services that extend beyond traditional outpatient mental health services provided in an office based setting. As FSC expands its services into the community, there is a need to look at offering a full continuum of prevention to intervention services to address the needs of clients across the life span.

a. Identify staff expertise and capacity in various prevention and intervention strategies as well as their expertise and capacity in working with different populations across the life span.

b. Identify the pieces of the continuum of care provided by FSC currently for youth, adult and senior populations.

c. Utilizing expertise of staff, FSC will identify gaps in the continuum of care (external and internal) for youth, adult and senior populations and will set priorities regarding what prevention/intervention initiatives to be addressed.

d. Developing/Enhancing Programs

d.i. FSC will develop a prevention/outreach arm of the agency to build prevention/outreach programs and initiatives to address priorities identified.

d.ii. FSC will conduct pilot prevention/intervention initiative aimed at elementary and middle school aged youth in a school based setting.

d.iii. FSC will expand prevention initiatives targeting youth, based on findings of this pilot program.

d.iv. FSC will seek funding for other prevention initiatives that target youth, adults, and seniors based on identified need and priorities identified by agency staff. d.v. FSC will explore ways provide agency-based psychiatric services up to and including the use of tele-psychiatry to address medication needs of clients. e. Enhance board knowledge of agency programs: Assist board in their efforts at becoming FSC Champions…increasing their knowledge and understanding of FSC programming, opportunities for referrals and opportunities for donor solicitation.

*mental health services refers to outpatient and prevention services **including but not limited to GOAL Strategy 4: Increase agency referrals by 5%; Increase foundation/state or federal funding to support prevention initiatives by 25%. 5. Developing a plan to ensure FSC Growth and Sustainability

Rationale: In an effort to become the premier mental health agency for our county, FSC needs resources for emergency planning, innovation, and program sustainability. As an organization that is nearing its 100th year anniversary, development strategies need to be put in place to maximize new and continued sources of sustainable funding from corporate, foundation, and individual donors and to increase our volunteer base in addressing this need. While FSC has developed a small cushion that allows us to address emergency needs, the agency does not have funding that allows us to creatively look forward or to sustain effective programs as grant funding diminishes. Additionally, national data indicates that 2013 will be the year that many healthcare initiatives take place with the advent of the Affordable Care Act. FSC needs to be positioned to address these opportunities and needs to understanding its implications on future funding.

a. Increase understanding of Affordable Care Act and its implications of FSC:

i. Coordinate trainings to assist staff and board in understanding the implications of the Affordable Care Act on reimbursement for services provided by Family Service Center.

ii. Develop strategies and initiatives to maximize funding.

b. Establish and maintain a development committee made up of board members and community leaders who will assist in making and soliciting others for major contributions. This committee will:

i. Develop a plan to increase/enhance the base of corporate, foundation and individual donors through relationship development.

ii. Develop a volunteer network of community leaders and executives who support the agency’s mission and will solicit for the organization.

iii. Develop communication strategy that effectively communicates the organization’s funding needs and its value to both the island and mainland communities.

iv. Hire a Director of Development & Public Relations that assists with grants, fundraising, social media, website updates and community relationship building.

c. Continue to plan, initiate, and produce our annual campaign/gala for 2013 while at the same time planning our 100 year anniversary annual campaign for 2014.

d. Conduct feasibility study to determine feasibility of capital and/or endowment campaign to support agency innovations and initiatives. Determine nature of long-term fundraising initiatives to support island and mainland programming.

*mental health services refers to outpatient and prevention services **including but not limited to GOAL Strategy 5: Develop agency funding profile within upcoming year. Increase donor giving by 5% annually.

Things to Consider:

 Eshbach’s Data: workforce stats and its indications for regional approach and accessibility, poverty (inclusive of student populations), age, ethnicity

 Integrating quality & accountability measures in everything we do

 How do we meet these objectives/goals at the macro, mezzo, µ levels?

 How do we integrate service coordination into our work?

 How do we target our efforts to meet the specific needs and “speak to” Mainland communities and the Island community(s)?

*mental health services refers to outpatient and prevention services **including but not limited to