TCOM Conversations is jointly hosted by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and The Praed Foundation. We are committed to improving the well-being of all through the use of personalized, timely and effective interventions. This blog is intended to serve as a forum to provide resources, answer your questions, and spark meaningful discussion for all members of the international TCOM collaboration.
Family Matters: Why finding and engaging extended family and fictive kin is critical to positive outcomes for children in foster care Written by Scott Leon, PhD If I asked you to name and describe all the important people in your family, who would you list? Would the list include people other than your parents and … Continue reading Family Matters
RISEmploy Each TCOM tool is a combination of items inside of a domain meant to reflect the emerging needs and strengths of its population of use. It is adaptable. One of these adaptations is the “Readiness Inventory for Successful Employment (RISEmploy), also known as the Strengths at Work (SAW), can be implemented as its own … Continue reading Readiness Inventory for Successful Employment
"Getting beyond the data dashboard means continuously using rigorous data and evidence to answer the questions that will lead to the solutions that will positively impact the children, youth, and families served by our organizations." -Yolanda Rogers, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago On November 5th, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, hosted … Continue reading Continuous Quality Improvement-Moving beyond the data dashboard
2018 was a big year for the TCOM Collaborative. Based on your conference feedback from years before, we work tirelessly to make sure YOU get the most out of the event. From planning, to producing, to posting materials after the conference ends, we depend on your voice. Thank you to everyone who completed conference surveys. … Continue reading Reflections from the conference-TCOM2018
Meet one of your #TCOM2018 Presenters! Featured in this post: David Channer David Channer is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Chief Operating Officer at A Better Way based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. He has worked on TCOM implementation efforts at the agency, county and regional levels since 2009. He has … Continue reading TCOM 2018 Speaker Spotlight-David Channer
Meet some of your #TCOM2018 Presenters! Featured in this post: Betty Walton, Gina Doyle, and Wendy Harrold Betty Walton is an Assistant Research Professor at Indiana University School of Social Work, Indianapolis. She conducts translational research to support the effective implementation of behavioral health services for children, youth, and adults. Since 2010, Dr. Walton has provided training … Continue reading TCOM 2018 Speaker Spotlight-Betty Walton, Gina Doyle & Wendy Harrold
Meet some of your #TCOM2018 Presenters! Featured in this post: Antonella Di Troia Antonella Di Troia is an Italian Child and Adolescent Psychologist and Psychotherapist. She has been collaborating with the Praed Foundation since 2013 when she first became a CANS Certified Trainer. Antonella works for a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit in Milan (Fondazione … Continue reading TCOM 2018 Speaker Spotlight-Antonella Di Troia
Meet one of your #TCOM2018 Presenters! Featured in this post: Rachel Andrew Rachel Andrew is the Director of Clinical Programs at Premera Blue Cross where she leads a multidisciplinary case management, care transition management, disease management and wellness team. She is the co-author of the book The Integrated Case Management Manual: Value-Based Assistance for Complex Medical and … Continue reading TCOM 2018 Speaker Spotlight-Rachel Andrew
Meet one of your #TCOM2018 Presenters! Featured in this post: Nate Lubold Nathan Lubold is the Director of Solution Implementation at Advanced Metrics. In recent years, Nate has focused his career on the science of implementation and training in behavioral health. After completing his Master’s degree in 2004, Nate spent the next decade in behavioral health … Continue reading TCOM 2018 Speaker Spotlight-Nate Lubold
Of the TCOM suite of tools, the most widely used tool is the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths Assessment (CANS). The CANS is a communimetric measurement tool that utilizes direct feedback from the youth, family & other team members to identify the actionable needs & strengths of the youth & family in developing and informing the treatment … Continue reading Mapping it out with CANS-Y-LAND
Meet some of your #TCOM2018 Presenters! Featured in this post: Kyla Clark & Tanya Albornoz Kyla Clark is a Program Administrator in Utah’s Child Welfare System. Kyla works on the “In-Home Team” focused on preserving family systems whenever safely possible. Kyla works on the larger Department of Human Services system integration efforts, which includes helping expand … Continue reading TCOM 2018 Speaker Spotlight-Kyla Clark & Tanya Albornoz
Thanks to recent technological growth, children are receiving cochlear implants earlier than ever before. This advance in technology offers a great benefit to support earlier development of language skills. While these advancements are exciting, they, of course, create some new challenges for the young patients, their auditory-verbal therapists, and their families. Because of their young … Continue reading The Development of CHISALS
Meet one of your #TCOM2018 Presenters! Featured in this post: Dan Dubovsky Dan Dubovsky, MSW is a mental health clinician who has worked for over 40 years in residential treatment with children and adolescents, outpatient settings, medical settings, and a medical school based continuing behavioral health education program. For 15 years, Dan was the fetal alcohol … Continue reading TCOM 2018 Speaker Spotlight-Dan Dubovsky
Meet some of your #TCOM2018 Presenters! Featured in this post: Mercedes Busby and Angela Pollard Mercedes Busby is a Youth Peer Advocate with the Mental Health Association of Erie County and works primarily with at risk youth. Prior to her role as an advocate, she worked in a number of child care settings to support healthy … Continue reading TCOM 2018 Speaker Spotlight-Mercedes Busby and Angela Pollard
By: Angela Pollard Project Assistant, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago Trauma and its effects on healthy development has become a bigger part of conversations in helping systems such as child welfare and behavioral health. Too many children experience a variety of potentially traumatic/adverse experiences (ACES), as a result of institutions and systems that … Continue reading Supporting Caregiver Connections
Registration is Open! Each year we look forward to hosting the Annual TCOM Conference because it gives us the opportunity to bring together leaders and innovators in the fields of behavioral health, child welfare, juvenile justice, education, and more. This year’s conference theme is Evidence and Transformation: Taking Person-Centered Care to Scale. Person centered care … Continue reading Registration is Open! #TCOM2018
About the Institute: The Institute for Innovation and Implementation (The Institute) serves as a training, technical assistance, evaluation, policy, systems design, and finance center for the Maryland Children's Cabinet and its member agencies, along with multiple other states, localities, and private organizations. The Institute supports state and local governments and organizations to implement effective systems … Continue reading Partner Spotlight: The Institute for Innovation & Implementation
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago is a research and policy center focused on a mission of improving the well-being of children and youth, families, and their communities. They combine rigorous research methods to generate evidence, while providing implementation support to apply that evidence in the field. In 2015, Chapin Hall launched the Voices of Youth … Continue reading A Substantial Number of Youth Experiencing Homelessness are Pregnant or Parenting
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago is a research and policy center focused on a mission of improving the well-being of children and youth, families, and their communities. They combine rigorous research methods to generate evidence, while providing implementation support to apply that evidence in the field. In 2015, Chapin Hall launched the Voices of Youth … Continue reading LGBTQ Young Adults Experience Homelessness at More than Twice the Rate of Peers
The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) is a tool that is collaboratively completed to measure a child and family’s strengths and needs. Along with the other TCOM Tools (ANSA, FAST, SSIT, and more), they are evidence-based assessments to support decision-making, including level of care and intervention planning, facilitate quality improvement initiatives, and allows … Continue reading TCOM Tools (CANS/ANSA) Certified Trainer
Over the last 10 years, behavioral health systems and organizations have increasingly adopted the Adult Needs and Strengths Assessment (ANSA) to support planning, to monitor progress, and for quality improvement initiatives. However, research related to the ANSA remained scarce. This gap was recently been addressed through a publication by Betty Walton, PhD, and Hea-Won Kim, … Continue reading Validating a Behavioral Health Instrument for Adults: Exploratory Factor Analysis-A Brief Summary
Using subscales of the Adult Needs and Strengths Assessment (ANSA) and an author created Crisis Event measure, holistic client functioning was assessed for persons diagnosed with comorbid serious mental illness (SMI) and primary healthcare diseases. An ex post facto, quasi-experimental, pre- and post-test design was selected to compare the effectiveness of an integrated behavioral and … Continue reading Examining the Effectiveness of Integrated Behavioral and Primary Healthcare Treatment-A Brief Summary
By: Robert Shearer, MD Doctor, Middle Tennessee Addiction Center Incorporating TCOM into Addiction Treatment I discovered the work of Dr Lyons somewhat by accident when I began working with a case management group that belongs to the Tennessee HealthLink program. This program utilizes the Adult Needs and Strengths Assessment. To best communicate with the case … Continue reading Building a System of Addiction Treatment, One Addiction at a Time
by: Ella Jackson, MA, LMFT Clinical Specialist, Sonoma County Behavioral Health Continued from Part 1 posted April 5, 2018 --- I worked with Anna for 4 years. She was the first client I moved out of a state hospital. She transferred to a local locked treatment program, and as I carefully tracked her progress and setbacks, … Continue reading Driving Adult Recovery Forward with the ANSA in the Public Mental Health System, Part 2
by: Ella Jackson, MA, LMFT Clinical Specialist, Sonoma County Behavioral Health I have heard people say that a person receiving care in the adult system for years, a person with Schizophrenia and a history of substance abuse, will not get better. It's a story I have heard told over and over about many of the adults … Continue reading Driving Adult Recovery Forward with the ANSA in the Public Mental Health System, Part 1
Mention a case vignette to anyone who has gone through the certification process for the CANS, ANSA, CAT/CSPI or FAST and you will likely hear groans, and see eye rolls. Very few people are big fans of testing and vignettes are never as clear or easy as a trainee wishes. So, if test vignettes bring … Continue reading The Value of Vignettes
Get IN Chicago is a local organization founded in 2013. Their mission is to identify, fund, and rigorously evaluate evidence-based programs that will reduce violence for individuals and communities in Chicago. Their core programs focus on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mentoring, and Parent Engagement/Leadership. Last year, Get IN Chicago launched a new Strengthening Youth through … Continue reading The Start of SYNC
Planning for the 14th Annual TCOM Conference is underway! Hosted by The Praed Foundation and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, we invite you to share your work this October in Chicago, IL. EVIDENCE and TRANSFORMATION: Taking Person-Centered Care to Scale The idea that healthcare should be focused on the person is not new … Continue reading Submit NOW to Present at TCOM2018
Safe Systems Improvement Tool Tennessee’s Communimetric Assessment for Understanding Critical Incidents The 1st annual Safety Culture Summit gave attendees and their larger audience a glimpse of the work being done around safety culture. Along with the tools shared during the poster session at the summit, Michael Cull, Policy Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University … Continue reading Safe Systems Improvement Tool
The first-ever Safety Culture Summit provided an unprecedented opportunity for child welfare leaders to present strategies, tools and tactics that promote safe, reliable and effective care. Held earlier this month in Nashville, TN, the summit also demonstrated what to expect from the growing partnership from Casey Family Programs, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, … Continue reading TN Safety Culture Summit-2018
CANS-NY Technical Assistance Institute: Providing training, coaching, and technical assistance in effective use of the CANS-NY New York State is using the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) as the primary eligibility tool for Children’s Health Home access and as an outcomes management tool within this system. In order to support effective use of the CANS-NY by care … Continue reading CANS in NY-Establishing the Institute
Person-centered care is a strategy of providing health care that views the people using health and social services as equal partners in the entire process of planning, developing and monitoring care to ensure that the care meets their needs. The idea that health care should be focused on the person is not new. A considerable … Continue reading How TCOM takes Person-Centered Care to Scale
by: Marrianne McMullen, Director of Communication and Dissemination Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago Before last year’s women’s marches across the country, I felt like the country had turned its back on me and my experiences. Then I joined a 250,000-strong march where no back was turned. From the hundreds of blunt and funny … Continue reading Gender: A salient variable
By Jennifer Griffis, author of “Parenting with Hope” blog series August 2017 Join us as Jen shares her experience at the 13th annual TCOM Conference in San Antonio, TX this past fall. -- As I walked up to the conference registration table, a feeling of inadequacy began tugging at the corners of my mind. “I … Continue reading Just a Parent
By: Matt Brenner, Editor and Information Specialist Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago More than a dozen Chapin Hall staff members will contribute to presentations at the 2018 annual Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) conference. The conference, "Achieving Equal Opportunity, Equity, and Justice," features more than 500 symposia, workshops, roundtables, and paper … Continue reading Chapin Hall at the 2018 Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Conference
As we talked about in our last few posts, the holidays are a complicated time. Strengths, like natural supports and spiritual/religious worldview and community, are evident. Cultural stressors can be exacerbated. In addition, individuals who have experienced loss or those who do not have adequate natural supports can experience the holidays as a lonely time. … Continue reading The Holiday Season Requires Self-Care
“‘Tis the season,” as they say. For some, it is the season of celebration and strengths, but for others, the holidays can represent heightened experiences of cultural stress. In 2015, a controversy about Starbucks’ holiday cups reflected the cultural tension evident in a season that can be perceived as Christian-centric. Starbucks routinely changes its coffee … Continue reading The Holiday Season Can Increase Feelings of Isolation and Cultural Stress
The day before Thanksgiving, I was in an elevator with a man, who said, “I love Thanksgiving. It’s the only holiday of the year that no one feels discriminated against or lonely.” As we continued to talk, he told me that he was Jewish, and that he frequently felt lonely and stressed during the Christmas … Continue reading The Holiday Season Reminds Us Of Our Strengths
by: Evelyn Kintner and Max Kintner, Northern Rivers The October 2017 TCOM Conference provided an incredible opportunity for Max and I to present with Stephen Shimshock and Yvonne Humenay Roberts from Casey Family Programs. Although first intimidated by our illustrious co-presenters, it took all of 20 minutes over lunch before Max and I quickly formed … Continue reading Conference Collaboration
This month, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago reached an important milestone in their work on runaway and homeless youth. Voices of Youth Count released Missed Opportunities: Youth Homelessness in America, the first in a series of Research-to-Impact briefs on understanding and addressing youth homelessness. The first brief -- National Estimates -- highlights results … Continue reading Missed Opportunities: Youth Homelessness in America
Implementation and Goals This is Part 2 of the Project SAFESPACE post. Project SAFESPACE has experienced many successes since its inception. The child welfare and behavioral health community interact more frequently and acquired a better understanding of each other’s point of view about service provision. Both communities have a more formal mechanism for communicating … Continue reading Project SAFESPACE, Part 2 of 2
Background and Project Overview In 2013, The Children’s Bureau awarded Kentucky a grant to enhance access to behavioral health services for children in the custody of the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) and placed in out of home care (OOHC). This grant is a five-year cooperative agreement between the University of Louisville (U of … Continue reading Project SAFESPACE, Part 1 of 2
The National Resilience Institute (NRI) hosted its 4th annual international Resilience Summit at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago from October 16-18, 2017. Keynote speakers included Michelle Gay, Co-Founder of Safe and Sound Schools: A Sandy Hook Initiative; Steve Gross, Founder and Chief Playmaker of the LIfe is Good Kids Foundation; Janet Hilary, CEO of the Floreat … Continue reading Resilience Summit 2017
My son shared his story in the last post. I would like to share parts of this same story from a parent’s perspective. Raising a child with mental illness is not an experience I anticipated I would be adding to my resume. And just like Emily Perl Kingsley’s essay, Welcome to Holland, I found myself … Continue reading 24 and Counting
My name is Ryan and I would like to share my story of resilience, recovery and hope. As an individual who suffers from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, ADHD and Tourette’s, my life has been quite the roller-coaster ride of emotions. I have been told I was a giggly, happy-go-lucky toddler. I was able to read at the … Continue reading Resilience, Recovery, and Hope
November 2017 Update: Presentations from the conference are now available here! Thank you to those who attended the 13th annual TCOM Conference. It was another great year and YOU are the biggest part of what made this conference a success! Make sure to fill out your post conference surveys. Your feedback will be used … Continue reading Wrapping up #TCOM2017
Building Bridges and Collaborative Leadership. Post 3 by @mcgill_ken
Using TCOM in your own practice. Post 2 by @mcgill_ken
by: Ken McGill, LMFT In many ways the CANS, the FAST (the family version of the Communimetrics approach to measurement) and the ANSA align with the foundational definition of a system as outlined by Ludwig von Bertalanffy almost 40 years ago. A system must consist of four distinct components: Objects: the parts, elements or variables … Continue reading Aligning TCOM and Systems Theory
This is the last key principle in this series. Return to our home page to view all key principles!
Communimetrics Key Principle #5
Communimetrics Key Principle #4
Communimetrics Key Principle #3
Communimetrics Key Principle #2
Communimetrics Key Principle #1
In late July Nate and Danijela headed to Yakima, Washington for the Wrap with Intensive Services (WISe) Symposium. The WISe Symposium: Networking to Build Strenghts was hosted by the State of Washington Department of Social and Health Services. It was the state's first coordinated event that brought together WISe stakeholders from across the state. Over … Continue reading WISe Symposium
Parenting with hope through the hard places by Jennifer Griffis. Visit the homepage for the full series! --- I drove 70 miles to attend this meeting in person. My husband adjusted his work schedule so he could call into the meeting, and my mother-in-law was in the waiting room of the office entertaining a couple … Continue reading Advocating for the Appropriate Level of Care
Parenting with hope through the hard places by Jennifer Griffis. Visit the homepage for the full series! --- “I don’t think she can safely return home right now. Do you have any other options? Are there any family members who can take her?” My husband and I sat across from our daughter’s case manager as … Continue reading Moment of Crisis, Part 3/4
Parenting with hope through the hard places by Jennifer Griffis. Visit the homepage for the full series! --- “Here’s the discharge summary. There’s a follow-up appointment for medication management in two weeks. She has an appointment for therapy next week. And here is all of the information on her medication. I just need you to … Continue reading Discharge Planning, Part 2/4
Welcome to the first post of a 4 part series written by Jennifer Griffis. Visit the homepage for her series for a full look into their experiences. --- “The treatment team is recommending long-term residential placement. Have you filled out an application for Children’s Mental Health services?” I was sitting on the floor of my … Continue reading Entering the System, Part 1/4
Earlier this summer, Drs. Cassandra Kisiel and Tracy Fehrenbach, at the Center for Child Trauma Assessment, Services and Interventions (CCTASI) at Northwestern University, a partner in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), launched a public awareness campaign and short film entitled "Remembering Trauma: Connecting the Dots Between Complex Trauma and Misdiagnosis in Youth." This 16-minute film highlights … Continue reading Remembering Trauma Part 2
Facilitated Collaborative Inquiry: Evidence Part 4/4 by Stephen Shimshock, PhD Director of Systems-Data and Reporting, Casey Family Programs --- Evidence This post is the final part of a four-part series on Facilitated Collaborative Inquiry (FCI). In the previous post (From Stories to Hypotheses) we explored how to engage staff in unpacking the stories behind the data, … Continue reading Facilitated Collaborative Inquiry: Evidence Part 4/4
Facilitated Collaborative Inquiry: From Stories to Hypothesis Part 3/4 by Stephen Shimshock, PhD Director of Systems-Data and Reporting, Casey Family Programs --- This post is part three of a four-part series on Facilitated Collaborative Inquiry (FCI). In the previous post (Using Data to Show Differences in Outcomes) we examined ways to identify subgroups of youth that may … Continue reading FCI: From Stories to Hypotheses Part 3/4
Facilitated Collaborative Inquiry: Using Data to Show Differences in Outcomes Part 2/4 by Stephen Shimshock, PhD Director of Systems-Data and Reporting, Casey Family Programs --- This post is part 2 of a 4 part series on Facilitated Collaborative Inquiry (FCI). This post builds on the foundational material presented in the previous post . In this post we … Continue reading FCI: Using Data to Show Differences in Outcomes Part 2/4
Facilitated Collaborative Inquiry: Process Overview Part 1/4 by Stephen Shimshock, PhD Director of Systems-Data and Reporting, Casey Family Programs --- Process Overview Facilitated Collaborative Inquiry (FCI) is a continuous quality-improvement (CQI) process that engages staff in every aspect of the inquiry process. The aim of FCI is to improve child welfare outcomes by building a culture … Continue reading Facilitated Collaborative Inquiry: Process Overview Part 1/4
by Dan Warner Executive Director and Founder, Community Data Roundtable Originally posted June 19, 2017 on the CDR Blog. Click here to view more of their posts and follow their work. I first met John Lyons in 2011 when he was doing a training in Pennsylvania. Instantly impressed by his vision for how to measure outcomes in … Continue reading The Developing Communimetric Community
Dr. Katarzyna Celinska recently shared her article with the TCOM team entitled "Effectiveness of Functional Family Therapy for Mandated Versus Non-Mandated Youth."[1] This article was originally published in the Juvenile and Family Court Journal and provides an overview of her extensive study comparing outcomes of youth mandated to participate in therapy versus those whose participation … Continue reading Effectiveness of Functional Family Therapy for Mandated Versus Non-Mandated Youth
Thank you Dr. Purva Rawal for your synopsis on your recent publication. The following discusses major themes in context of current debates surrounding healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act. -------------------------------------- By: Purva Rawal, PhD Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University Principal at CapView Strategies phrawal@gmail.com American healthcare is at a crossroads. The Affordable Care … Continue reading Evidence-Based Health Policy – Caught in the Crosshairs of Politics and Health Reform
Thank you to Tracey Merachli for sharing her vision of the CANS in this poem. Planting a Seed of Wisdom, December 2015 by: Tracey Merachli, tmerachli@children-first.ca Resource Consultant-Children First Well let me tell you about my vision for the CANS. It starts with listening to families and understanding their unique life and plans. The life … Continue reading Planting a Seed of Wisdom
May 25th and 26th saw the first Italian conference dedicated to the CANS and TCOM. Entitled “Particepicapzione e valuatazione di esito in eta evolutiva: Approcci collaborative in situazioni complesse, sanitarie e psicosociali.” The meeting was held in Milan and sponsored by the Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico, the conference involved presentations by national leaders in outcomes management … Continue reading Italy Hosts their First TCOM Conference
Resiliency, as defined by the TCOM tools, is an individual’s capacity to identify and use their internal strengths to manage their lives in times of need and support their own development. Resiliency acknowledges an individual’s ability to “bounce back” from psychosocial consequences resulting from traumatic experiences. These experiences can range from traumatic life events such … Continue reading Resiliency
The Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) held the 2017 National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) All Network conference on April 25-27 in Arlington, Virginia. This year's theme was "Serving Children and Families Who Have Experience Trauma: Building a Trauma-Informed Nation." With a continued commitment to raising the standard of care and improving access to … Continue reading Remembering Trauma
By: Nathaniel Israel, PhD EPISODES: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION, MANAGEMENT *Episode—a container or set of parameters which define when a series of actions are expected to take place and when interventions have ceased A building block of understanding a person’s care is being able to assign an Episode of Care to a person. Nearly all reports are based … Continue reading EPISODES: Structure, Function, Management
*September 2017 Post Update: Additional information added to the TCOM Report Suite. Click here to view the amended version. The work we do across all levels and systems of care is a knowledge-based community connected to a variety of service settings including clinics, hospitals, state and local agencies. Ultimately, the goal is to improve the … Continue reading Standard Reports: Design for Decision Support
*5/3/2017 UPDATE: Hope you enjoyed the Webinar! Click HERE to view slides used in today's presentation. by Tristan Keelan, TenEleven Group TenEleven Group is pleased to sponsor a FREE webinar featuring Dr. John S. Lyons titled Managing the Business of Helping: Overcoming the Myths of Outcomes Management. Dr. Lyons has 35 years of experience in the … Continue reading Managing the Business of Helping: Overcoming the Myths of Outcomes Management
By: Dr. John S Lyons Engagement is the second key decision point in the TCOM conceptual framework. Historically in most helping professions we have thought of engagement as primarily personal and often between two people. A therapist engages a client in mental health treatment. A substance treatment provider engages a person in their recovery process. … Continue reading Rethinking Engagement in a High Staff Turnover Environment
by: Gene Griffin, J.D., Ph.D. Senior Fellow for Policy and Practice ChildTrauma Academy John Lyons, in his post of December 27, 2016, Complicated versus Complex: Implications for Collaboration, distinguished between a complicated system and a complex system. In a complicated system, all components and the result of their interactions are predictable. In a complex system, the final … Continue reading Collaborating To Address Child Trauma
By Jesh Harbaugh, Assistant Director of Business Intelligence Development, Evaluation, and Strategic Initiatives (DESI) SENECA FAMILY OF AGENCIES This is the last post of a 3 part series In the previous posts of this series, Data is Only Useful When it’s Used and Increasing the Value of Your Data With Interactive Reports, I’ve discussed the … Continue reading Interactive Reports: A Feasible Goal for Any Organization
By Jesh Harbaugh, Assistant Director of Business Intelligence Development, Evaluation, and Strategic Initiatives (DESI) SENECA FAMILY OF AGENCIES This post is Part 2 of 3! Stay tuned next week for more from Jesh and Seneca Family of Agencies
By Jesh Harbaugh, Assistant Director of Business Intelligence Development, Evaluation, and Strategic Initiatives (DESI) SENECA FAMILY OF AGENCIES This is the first post of a 3 part series In the helping professions, few words elicit such strong and varied reactions as “data.” In our culture of evidence-informed treatment, having strong outcome data to support your … Continue reading Data is Only Useful When it’s Used
by: Mario Cappelli, PhD and Paula Cloutier, MA Affiliations: 1Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), 2CHEO Research Institute, 3University of Ottawa What is the HEADS-ED? The HEADS-ED is a brief mental health screening tool that helps physicians to obtain a psychosocial history to aid in making decisions regarding patient disposition (e.g., admission, discharge, or requesting … Continue reading The HEADS-ED: A Rapid Mental Health Screening Tool for Children and Youth
by: Svetlana G Klimanova, M.S. Contact Svetlana, svetlanagk@mail.ru *5/8/2017 Update* Following a great question from one of our followers, Svetlana provided the following articles as additional resources on adapting the CANS and ANSA for Russian implementation. The World's Youth The Russian Education System Described and Compared with the Dutch System Alternative Education: Comparative Study of … Continue reading Adaptation of the CANS and ANSA in Russia
Thank you to Dr. Toni Heineman for sharing your work!
Happy Presidents’ Day! In the United States, the third Monday of February is known as Presidents’ Day, which historically honors the first President of the United States, George Washington. Today, Presidents’ Day is commonly viewed as a day to celebrate all presidents – past, present and future. Today at the Praed Foundation and Chapin Hall … Continue reading The Growing TCOM Team
By Dan Warner, Ph.D. Are you a Communimetrics data nerd? Do you worry about your CANS’ data integrity and database structure? Perhaps you find yourself drifting off into thoughts about data capture, storage, security, and analysis! (oy, the list goes on…). Or maybe you’re more on the statistical and display side: trying to identify norms … Continue reading Communimetrics Roundtable
Happy Valentine's Day! What does Valentine's Day mean to you? Is it a celebration of love, a hallmark holiday, or both? As a child, this holiday can take the form of a classroom activity where you put Valentine’s Day grams with chocolates and hand them out to each child in the class. As we get … Continue reading Healthy Relationships
The TCOM Team met in Chicago in January to kick off the New Year and review the work being done across the collaborative. As a result of this meeting we’ve produced our very first TCOM newsletter that highlights these efforts! *Keep an eye out for the release of our newsletter next week!* One important discussion at … Continue reading TCOM’s Targeted Tools
by Suzanne Button Two women meet at their child's school. Mothers and daughters become and stay friends, even though one family moves far away-- from Alaska to Virginia. This longstanding social connection leads, through a series of other social connections, to 21 women, ranging in age from 9 to 93, spending the weekend marching in … Continue reading The Women’s March-January 21, 2017
A caregiver is a family member or paid helper who provides physical, emotional, and/or developmental support for an individual who is unable to fully care for themselves. When an individual is in care or receiving services, it is often important to look at multiple aspects of their life - strengths, risk behaviors, functioning, and school/work. … Continue reading Defining a Caregiver
In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that effectively put civil rights on the top of the agenda and preceded the passage of the Civil Rights act of 1964. It is on this day that we take a moment as an entire nation to reflect … Continue reading The STRENGTH that lies in our Cultural Identity
“Always return to a focus on the shared vision—the best interests of the people we help.” John S Lyons By: Dr. Suzanne Button, sbutton@chapinhall.org A few weeks ago, in TCOM Conversations, Nate Israel wrote about improving the health of people-serving systems with “alignment in decision-making at every level of the system,” and emphasized the importance … Continue reading TCOM Algorithms for Decision Points in Care
There is a growing awareness that the sex industry sometimes victimizes children. The Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, along with reauthorizations in 2003, 2005, and 2008 describes a victim of human trafficking as a person induced to perform labor or a commercial sex act through force, fraud, or coercion. Any person under … Continue reading Helping Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC)
We shared a video recently on our Facebook and Twitter from the New York Times called “We Trust You” from the series, The Art of Better. This video, created by Charles Duhigg, examines issues of innovation, motivation, and productivity through the lens of the automobile industry in the U.S. The parallels between how one factory … Continue reading Lean Management and TCOM
by: Dr. John S. Lyons The ‘C’ in TCOM standards for ‘Collaboration’ so it is useful to understand why we believe that collaboration is a fundamental aspect of using data to inform helping programs and systems. In order to describe the thinking behind this choice it is useful to consider the similarities and differences … Continue reading Complicated versus Complex: Implications for Collaboration
TCOMHappy Holidays from New Jersey! written by: Kenneth McGill The ‘Holiday Season’ is well in progress and the wrap-up of 2016 is near! Looking back…what are some of the highlights you want to remember…are there things you would like to soon forget…what do you have planned for the New Year? Well enough introspection. My hope and wishes … Continue reading IMDS Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2016
December 14, 2016 Written by Paul Berger, Managing Director at SAAVSUS Inc Funded by a series of grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Adolescent Coping with Depression Course (CWD-A) is an evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for adolescent depression. The course materials, Leaders Manual and Student Workbook, are available as a free download … Continue reading A Cost-effective, Evidence-based Intervention for Depressed Adolescents
By: Dr. Thomas S. Lyons, PhD Michigan State University R.I.S.E. -Readiness Inventory for Successful Entrepreneurship In the business world, it has been known for some time that companies that want to be successful in the highly competitive global economy must be constantly reinventing themselves through innovation. This requires that they develop a culture of … Continue reading The RISE: A Tool for Fostering Entrepreneurship in Human Service Settings
In August, Dr. John Lyons presented a keynote at the 5th annual user conference TenEleven CONNECT. Dr. Lyons talked about "doing the right thing" for those in need with a focus on measurement and outcomes. To see the original post, visit their page at 10e11.com Dr. John Lyons and Spike Lee say: "Do the Right Thing" By: … Continue reading “Do the right thing”-TenEleven group
By: Dr. John S. Lyons Have you ever had this situation? You have talented staff and ask them to take on the most challenging cases, but then they burn out and leave for a different job, and as a manager you are now left with the staff you’ve been working around when it comes … Continue reading CASELOAD VERSUS WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT
One of the more compelling stories from the 12th annual TCOM Conference was the KEYNOTE provided by Liz Manley, the Assistant Commissioner of New Jersey’s System of Care. Having been involved with this project since its inception more than a decade ago, Liz provided both a personal description and a description based on the data collected, of the … Continue reading The Role of the CANS in Reducing Residential Treatment Placement and Length of Stay in New Jersey
This is the first post of a multi-part series on Collaborative CQI (Continuous Quality Improvement) Part 1: Creating Trust and Positive Impact by Nathaniel Israel Health and human service systems are composed of people. People make important decisions which shift the likelihood that children and families will meet their health and wellness goals. Having a … Continue reading Key Decision Points for Collaborative CQI-Part 1
This year's TCOM Conference was a success! We had a record number of presentations, 36 States in the USA, and 4 different countries represented. Every presentation was well attended and we are happy to say that there was something for everyone at every session 🙂 Some of those topics included the CANS, FAST, ANSA, CAT, Communimetrics, … Continue reading Wrapping Up: 2016 TCOM Conference
If you have stumbled upon this blog or are reading it for the first time, I'm sure you all know who Dr. John Lyons is. Although he is not leading one particular workshop, Dr Lyons will be present during the conference to say hello and answer any questions you might have. If you see him, … Continue reading Speaker Spotlight-Dr. John S. Lyons
Nathaniel Israel, PhD and MA in Clinical/Community Psychology Policy Fellow at Chapin Hall Nathaniel Israel is a Policy Fellow at Chapin Hall. Based in San Francisco, Dr. Israel facilitates the further uptake and full implementation of the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) and Transformational Collaborative Outcomes Management (TCOM) on the West coast. He … Continue reading Speaker Spotlight-Nathaniel Israel and Mark Lardner
Nicholas Mader, PhD Senior Researcher at Chapin Hall Nicholas Mader is a Senior Researcher at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. His work focuses on improving outcomes for at-risk youth by guiding policy development and evaluating youth service programs in partnership with city agencies and non-profit providers. His methodological interests are in using rigorous quantitative … Continue reading Speaker Spotlight-Nicholas Mader, Jennifer O’Brien, Richard Epstein
By now you should all know what TCOM is. If not, Check out one of the many posts under the category, What is TCOM! With the first day of the conference less than a week away, let's introduce you to the TCOM team lead here at Chapin Hall and Policy Fellow based out of … Continue reading Speaker Spotlight-April Fernando & Suzanne Button
The first day of the conference is exactly one week from today! Here is everything you need to know when you get there: Registration begins at 10am at the Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village. If you haven't registered for the conference yet, do so ASAP so we can get you signed up for each topical … Continue reading TCOM Conference Day 1-The First Workshop!
Mark was in Phoenix, Arizona, conducting a two day CANS Integration training for supervisors and staff from Casey Family Program’s Tucson and Phoenix field offices. He was joined by Neil Mallon from the University of Maryland. The training focused on integrating the CANS into Multidisciplinary Team Meetings, Developing Strength Based Action Plans based on the … Continue reading Integration Training-Mark in Phoenix
Thanks to Stephanie Romney, in collaboration with Carolyn Webster-Stratton and John Lyons, we have a great guide to the integration of the Incredible Years and the CANS 0-5. What is The Incredible Years (IY)? The Incredible Years is a training program that occurs as a series of complementary evidence-based programs that promote child social, emotional, and academic competence and … Continue reading The Incredible Years
Dr. John Lyons was in Muskegon, Michigan conducting a training for Lakeshore Regional Entity. They are planning to implement the ANSA across all 5 agencies in western Michigan. Thanks to Paul Duff, we are able to learn more about what is going on in the world of TCOM! Lakeshore Regional Entity first heard about TCOM … Continue reading Western Michigan Implements the ANSA-John in Muskegon
Chicago was recently home to the Third Annual International Resilience Summit, hosted by the National Resilience Institute at the Chicago Cultural Center. This was a two day conference from November 2-3, 2016 where people came to learn from resilience pioneers who are actively working to help students, families, institutions, and communities become stronger, healthier, and happier. #HumanResilienceMovement Dr. John Lyons … Continue reading 3rd Annual International Resilience Summit-John in Chicago
Thank you to our partners at the Rehabilitation and Protection Group in Singapore for joining our conversation: --- In 2010, the Rehabilitation and Protection Group in Singapore was in need of a way to communicate the needs and outcomes for children in care. After reviewing the different frameworks in the literature, we decided that the … Continue reading CANS/FAST use in Singapore
TCOM and the CANS not only is used all over the United States, but there are many countries that have worked with Dr. John Lyons in adapting the TCOM tools to meet their needs. This year at the TCOM Conference, we have the unique opportunity to hear from our colleagues in Italy on how the … Continue reading Speaker Spotlight: Alessandro Chinello & Francoise Peronace
By: Dr. John S. Lyons There are two basic doctrines that have been used to define fairness—equality and equity. Equality approaches attempt to achieve fairness by treating everyone exactly the same. In equality doctrine fairness is defined as giving everyone identical opportunities. Equality doctrine underlies the core constructs of a democratic society. The Declaration … Continue reading Equality vs. Equity
This year, we have a record number of presenters at this conference. This opens up the door for a wide array of topics. We are lucky to have such great partners with a wealth of experience to share. The following two speakers will lead a breakout session entitled "Possible Roles of TCOM in Helping … Continue reading Speaker Spotlight: Betty Walton & Wendy Harrold
The entire TCOM Team is together in Chicago at Chapin Hall for our monthly TCOM Team meeting. Important items on our agenda today include the TCOM Conference, TCOM Implementations in various states, and how to share our principles and goals in a more clear way. Below you will see our CORE PRINCIPLES and GUIDING VALUES. None … Continue reading The TCOM Team in Chicago
Dr. Suzanne Button has made it to Maine! [11/3/2016 Day 2 of Suzie in Maine] More than 120 case managers and supervisors are practicing at the second day of ANSA General Training. There is a lot of great discussion about trauma informed language and TCOM this week! Maine has a passionate group of case managers … Continue reading ANSA and Community Integration Services-Suzie in Maine! (updated)
John continues his trip on the west coast with two stops in California. This past Friday, John was at the West San Gabriel SELPA in Alhambra and today he is at the Southwest SELPA in Rondo Beach, California. He is training on the new version of the CANS specifically designed for use in schools! This version was … Continue reading CANS in Schools-John in California
April rounds off her Washington whirlwind adventure with one last stop in Kent, WA (just an hour or so away from Seattle). Here she is working with a supervisor group focusing on how to provide culturally responsive care and work from a culturally humble approach. In our combined efforts to do so, the CANS Core … Continue reading Cultural Responsibility-April in Kent, WA
The TCOM conference seems like it is just around the corner (November 16-18)! The conference is 3 days, and all participants have the option to attend all 3 days or register for just one day. We encourage attendance at all 3 days of the conference, but if you can only go for 1, then take a look … Continue reading Speaker Spotlight: Elizabeth Manley and David Channer
Mark was in Towson, MD today as part of the implementation of Maryland’s family version of the CANS, the CANS-F. Frontline staff and supervisors from the county child welfare agency met to discuss their existing implementation, review their CANS-F data from the past quarter, and work on strategies to simplify the re-certification process. (As it … Continue reading A CANS-F Refresher: Mark in Towson, MD
With the 2016 TCOM Conference a month away we want to highlight some of our fantastic speakers and presenters to give you a glimpse of what to expect for the conference. Each presenter at the conference has been an integral part in successful implementations of the TCOM framework and a trusted partner in practice. Kenneth … Continue reading Speaker Spotlight: Kenneth McGill and Dan Warner
ATTN: T-30 days until the 2016 TCOM Conference! For those of you who have yet to register for the TCOM Conference, Register here. The TCOM Conference is a 3 day conference full of great speakers and a variety of sessions presented by members of the TCOM Team and our partners around the world. Not sure … Continue reading What to Expect from TCOM2016
From Yakima to Spokane to Arlington, April continues her Washington adventure with another stop in Arlington, WA. April is conducting treatment planning and supervisor trainings to another great group at the WA State Department of Social and Health Services. The team here is using the CANS to support families and children involved in the child … Continue reading Supervisor Training-April in Arlington, WA
We have a great team here at the Praed Foundation and Chapin Hall, but we can't forget our fantastic partners and sponsors! Thank you for all of the great work you do and your on-going support of the TCOM practice. TCOM 2016 Conference Partner: TCOM 2016 Conference Sponsors: Want to get involved in the … Continue reading Conference Sponsors 2016
Today the New Jersey Department of Children and Families are hosting their annual conference. This conference includes opening remarks from Allison Blake, Commissioner of NJ Department of Children & Families, Elizabeth Manley, NJ DCF Assistnat Commissioner Children's System of Care, Andrew Solomon, author and professor at Columbia University Medical Center, and many more workshop presenters. The … Continue reading The Impact of Identity: The New Jersey Story
The current popular trend in juvenile justice is to assess risk. Developing predictive analytics about which young people are likely to repeat criminal or delinquent behavior is important when thinking in this context. MAIN IDEA: If we can prevent who is at risk of being or staying delinquent, than we can more effectively work to … Continue reading Rethinking the Concept of Risk Assessment in Juvenile Justice
Complete a test, Do your research, Collect the data... There is no doubt that we live in a world with a wealth of information about the people, place, and entire environment around us. Aside from the thrilling celebrity gossip and election 2016 madness, what are we doing with all of this information? With great RESEARCH … Continue reading Using the Data
From Yakima, April headed straight for Spokane. Washington State is ok, not bad, pretty, GORGEOUS in the fall! Now we know where April is, but why is she there??? One of more widely known tools of TCOM is the CANS. The Child and Adolescent Strengths and Needs. It (like the other tools) focuses on identifying … Continue reading CANS Training Days-April in Spokane
ANSA - Adult Needs and Strengths Assessment The ANSA is another TCOM Tool that was developed for adult's behavioral health services to support decision making, including level of care and service planning, to facilitate quality improvement initiatives, and to allow for the monitoring of outcomes of services. The ANSA is currently used in a number … Continue reading ANSA Implementation in Alameda County-John in San Leandro
"Greetings from Yakima, WA where I am in the midst of doing a 1.5 day CANS Collaborative Treatment Planning and Supervision training with the team from the Children's Administration at the DSHS Regional Office. Discussions on cultural humility and culturally responsive care have been lively, and folks are engaged in learning the TCOM treatment planning … Continue reading Collaborative Treatment Planning and Supervision-April in Yakima, WA
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! There are CANS implementations in most provinces in Canada with a province-wide implementation in the autism sector in Ontario. First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities have created a cultural reflections application of the CANS. Thank you for all your hard work and Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours! -John Lyons
Holding onto the remnants of summer 2016, John is in the historical town of Buford, Georgia, attending the Behavioral Health Symposium hosted by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD). This is a two day conference aimed at informing professionals of best practices in delivering services and supports. Missed the conference??? The team … Continue reading Using the ANSA in a Recovery Model-John in Georgia
The 12th Annual TCOM Conference is coming up soon Register now and join the TCOM Team at Princeton, New Jersey! For questions in registering for the event, contact: Adriel Jones, MA, CMP Event Planner 530-237-4350 (voicemail) events@adrieljonesllc.com View/Download our Conference Agenda: tcom_2016-agenda
Anyone who is certified in the CANS, ANSA, FAST, or any of the Communimetric tools has taken the time to become certified. Those of you who certify online at TCOMTraining.com have probably received an email from one of us stating something along the lines of... "Unfortunately you have not yet received sufficient reliability. Your most … Continue reading Defining a NEED and a STRENGTH
***11/18/2016 UPDATE*** Currently at Closing Plenary in Princeton, NJ for the 2016 TCOM Conference. Below you will see our updated CANS Core Items available. If you have any additional questions on how to implement the CORE items to your own agency/jurisdiction/state, contact April Fernando at afernando@chapinhall.org cans-6-17-core-50-2016 Every agency, jurisdiction, and, most importantly, child, is … Continue reading CANS Core
Last week Dr. John Lyons headed to Guam to meet with folks to discuss the reliability and validity of the CANS and ANSA. It's not just about having the tools, it's about how we use the framework of TCOM to implement and support all the work done with children and families. Here's the whole crew … Continue reading Working with the Chamarro Culture-John in Guam
Welcome to the TCOM Conversations blog. The purpose of this blog is to create an open forum for us all to share our experiences with the TCOM approach and…converse! With this, we can share in our goals and provide guidance to others J So, lets start with a simple WHO, WHAT, WHY, AND HOW WHO: … Continue reading Welcome to TCOM Conversations
