Program Overview and Summary of Goals for Fiscal Year 2019 - 2020

Stop & Surrender, Inc. continues to be an agency providing comprehensive addiction and transitional living services to the neediest citizens of Philadelphia and surrounding areas. Changing attitudes towards treatment have left a void in the process of recovery in which individuals will continue to fail without sufficient time in an environment that promotes a lasting change in ideas, attitudes, and behaviors. The recovery process must be supported with a strong and meaningful foundation based in social learning and personal responsibility.

A. Administration

Over the past year Managed Care has not adequately compensated for the needs of our population. We continue to challenge ourselves with innovative approaches to treatment and focus our attention on treating our program participants who are with us for a shorter period. Philadelphia County during the past fiscal year has adapted what it calls “Recovery Transformation”. Philadelphia continues to overlook the research that speaks to the effectiveness of outpatient treatment followed by transitional aftercare services. Stop & Surrender, Inc. focused its attention on enhancing our clinical programming through a revised curriculum which includes Family Services, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Thinking for a Change, and the Social Learning Theory. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is based on the idea that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviors, not external things, like people, situations, and events. The benefit of this fact is that we can change the way we think to feel and act better even if the situation does not change. Thinking for a Change is an innovative approach to problem-solving for individuals who need to think before “reacting”. Social Learning Theory is that personality represents an interaction of the individual with his or her environment. In other words, change the way the person thinks, or change the environment the person is responding to, and behavior will change.

A. Clinical Services Overview

This past year saw many advances in the overall quality of the clinical services offered at Stop & Surrender, Inc. However, there were also many areas of the clinical component which had to be addressed through discharge and termination of employees who did not meet Stop and Surrender’s clinical standards. A new and unique clinical team took leadership of the Outpatient program. Increased trainings in core competencies were made in the implementation of individualized structured treatment models in the treatment program. We look forward to the training series being presented for clinical personnel by CBH. The Outpatient Programs received full licensure from the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH).

A. The Continuous Quality Improvement Process (CQI)

The focus of the CQI Program this fiscal year was to improve the skills levels of the participants and the data collection methods and continue to enhance the quality of resident care in all programs and departments. The CQI Program had two primary areas of focus. The first is the development of a well-defined Performance Improvement Plan. The plan is to serve as a blueprint for a programmatic effort to monitor, improve and evaluate the quality and appropriateness of the clinical care rendered, and it identifies opportunities and/or areas in which resident care can be reach the highest quality level possible. The second area is the consistent comprehensive implementation of structured tools designed to evaluate, support, and guide the Performance Improvement activities of Stop & Surrender. The focus for the coming year will be to continue to meet regularly and to monitor clinical services using the CQI process, identify trends and develop strategies to improve services and meet the needs of our resident population.

A. Human Resource

The Human Resource component refined its information collection methods by developing a data base that retrieves and organizes information in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Stop & Surrender hiring process has been improved to include reviews by management personnel and direct care staff before the actual hiring of the potential new employee. Employee’s initial orientation is a formal process over a 40 hour period and includes interviews, tours, trainings and information in areas such as employee benefits, expectations, ethics, two (2) hands-on policy and procedures trainings in their particular program for which hired, fire safety and prevention, use of fire extinguishers, physical plant safety and security, health and safety, etc. The department coordinates and tracks all staff training and credentialing within the agency for its employees to ensure all regulatory requirements are met and to provide the skills necessary for employees to be effective in their jobs. Personnel development was also highlighted this year. Staff competency was improved both by enhancing the training program available to existing staff and by standardizing the qualifications of all clinical positions to meet the agency standards. The goals for the coming year are to implement quality care through consistent service delivery and to enhance staff competency through regularly scheduled trainings and conferences. Unfortunately, several employees were terminated due to poor performance.

A. Fiscal

The Finance Department continued to closely monitor the finances of the agency to remain fiscally stable. The focus for the fiscal year was to stabilize and/or increase referrals from treatment providers in the Philadelphia and surrounding regions. In addition, our goal was to effectively market our services to the community-at-large and increase referrals from the Behavioral Health Special Initiative (BHSI) and Community Behavioral Health (CBH). We have enhanced our collaborations and relationships with agencies throughout the greater Philadelphia Region to increase and maintain program participant census. Our goal continues to be quality programming for those suffering from addiction and abuse. Additionally, we will explore the opportunities that exist in treating individuals with co-occurring disorders in Philadelphia County. Financial Information is attached to this report.