TCOM Training Session | Workshop Event
The Praed Foundation will be hosting 2 virtual workshops. The first workshop, the 2-Day TCOM Orientation, will focus on the Transformational Collaborative Outcomes Management (TCOM) philosophy, and the TCOM Tools (CANS, ANSA, FAST). The 2nd workshop hosted in July 2022 is a Certified Trainer Training, which will focus on creating training materials that represent the core concepts of communimetrics and the TCOM framework.
Keeping it Fresh: Updating Your Reference Guide
In recent months, we have updated our Standard Comprehensive versions of the CANS, ANSA and FAST (with the Early Childhood and CAT versions not far behind). Keep reading to learn about general and tool-specific updates and how you can access these new versions.
Supervision Strategies for the “New Normal:” Remote Work with an Improvement Mindset
Free Recorded Webinar (Listening Time: 42 Minutes) Last week, TCOM colleagues Mark Lardner and Tiffany Lindsey led a webinar for CANS and ANSA clinical supervisors, coaches and trainers. In the webinar, we present several team-based strategies from our Team First: Field Guide, which is a free download at The Praed Foundation’s homepage. Texas was gracious […]
Mass Customized Patterns and Priorities for Success
By Kate Cordell, PhD, MPH, Managing Director at Mental Health Data Alliance, LLC What if we could utilize the CANS and ANSA to identify which items, if resolved, were associated with success in our program? What if we could look at that by race/ethnicity, gender and age? If we could, we could get a lot […]
TCOM Conference Recap: Stories Worth Telling
Check out what happened at the 15th Annual TCOM Conference and get access to the presentations!
TCOM Conference: Data Sharing Workshop
The 15th Annual TCOM Conference is around the corner, and we have some exciting news! For the first time ever, our Pre-Conference Day will feature a series of round tables and master lectures covering a wide range of topics. Attendees will be given the chance to have more in-depth discussions with presenters and each other […]
One Person, One Story, One CANS/ANSA
By: Dr. John Lyons Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago A few years ago, I was in Hawai’i over Memorial Day. At the recommendation of a local colleague we attended the candle floating ceremony on Oahu. In the ceremony, people create candles commemorating lost loved ones and float them out to sea together. The […]
Defining Serious Mental Illness
By: Beth Anne Nichols, NH Mental Health Block Grant Plan Administrator New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services In the rugged landscape that is New Hampshire’s mental health system, serious mental illness (SMI) is a powerful thing. On an individual level, an adult experiencing SMI becomes eligible for community-based psychiatric rehabilitation. Psychiatric rehabilitation consists […]
Readiness Inventory for Successful Employment
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 […]
TCOM 2018 Speaker Spotlight-Betty Walton, Gina Doyle & Wendy Harrold
Meet some of your #TCOM2018 Presenters! Featured in this post: Betty Walton, Gina Doyle, and Wendy Harrold
TCOM 2018 Speaker Spotlight- Emily Shapiro & Melissa Villegas
Meet some of your #TCOM2018 Presenters! Featured in this post: Emily B. Shapiro & Melissa Villegas Emily B. Shapiro is a Quality Improvement Associate at Jewish Child and Family Services (JCFS) located in Chicago, IL. She has experience in qualitative research, project management, and evaluation consulting for nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. She provides direct quality improvement […]
Supporting Caregiver Connections
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 […]
TCOM Tools (CANS/ANSA) Certified Trainer
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 […]
Validating a Behavioral Health Instrument for Adults: Exploratory Factor Analysis-A Brief Summary
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, […]
Examining the Effectiveness of Integrated Behavioral and Primary Healthcare Treatment-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 […]
Building a System of Addiction Treatment, One Addiction at a Time
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 […]
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 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, […]
Driving Adult Recovery Forward with the ANSA in the Public Mental Health System, Part 1
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 […]
The Value of Vignettes
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 […]
Adaptation of the CANS and ANSA in Russia
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 […]
Western Michigan Implements the ANSA-John in Muskegon
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 […]
ANSA and Community Integration Services-Suzie in Maine! (updated)
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 […]
ANSA Implementation in Alameda County-John in San Leandro
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 […]
Using the ANSA in a Recovery Model-John in Georgia
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 […]