President’s Report
President's Report
March 1, 2012
The reach of our mission continued to expand last year with over 550 children and youth served in the various Northwood programs: residential treatment, intensive day treatment, foster care, diagnostic and assessment services, the Little Learner’s Enrichment Center, and in-home/ aftercare services. We served students aged 2-20 years, with an average age of 12.
All of the children we serve have been diagnosed by a mental health professional with a specific mental illness that presents significant life adjustment challenges. Interestingly, post-traumatic stress disorder appeared on the top diagnoses list for the first time. Many of our students grow up in chaotic, disruptive environments and have experienced abuse and neglect. Accordingly, our therapists have been trained extensively in the best techniques to help the students cope with trauma, and we strive to provide the most effective, evidenced-based practices to help them heal.
Our key stakeholders, referring workers and parents, reported a high level of satisfaction with the services we provided, especially in our provision of recreational opportunities, the daily care and support of the children, the knowledge and skill of our staff, our focus on the strengths of each child and family, the quality of the educational services we provide, meeting the children’s mental health needs, and our involvement and effective communication with parents and families. It is affirming to know that those who know us hold us in high regard.
We are engaged in a continuous improvement effort as an organization, as teams and work groups, and as individuals. Last year, 231 workshops were offered internally and Northwood staff received over 8,000 hours of training. Included in that impressive number are certification programs for counselors and therapists as well as supervision and leadership training for managers. Our counselor training program continues to be sanctioned by the University of Wisconsin-Superior, with completion of workshops resulting in certification from the university.
We expanded key community services programs and added another, partnering with St. Louis County and the Duluth Public Schools. Our in-home/aftercare service doubled in size to accommodate growing demand and we started a school-based day treatment program in October at the new Piedmont School. The program has been an incredible success. The parents and school faculty have been highly complementary and we have received inquiries about expanding the program to additional schools.
We completed the reaccreditation process with the Council on Accreditation this past summer. I’m not sure it could have been a more positive outcome. After five days of comprehensive and thorough review, the three seasoned reviewers reported that they could find no areas that were not compliant with standards. In a rare procedural process, Northwood was reaccredited on an expedited basis, which was described by COA staff in a letter as “an amazing accomplishment”. In addition, the agency was comprehensively reviewed by Hennepin County, our largest source of residential treatment students, and placed on their preferred provider list.
Once again, we have been successful in achieving our strategic aim of maintaining our status as the provider of choice for those programs we choose to operate. Occupancy remained strong in all programs, resulting in excellent financial performance.
We accomplished a lot in 2011, and there is a great deal left to do. These remain challenging times. There are half as many children in our state receiving the types of services we provide as there were just ten years ago, and correspondingly fewer service providers. We have created over the past few years a comprehensive mental health delivery system that enables us to provide the right service at the right time to the students and families we serve. There is no doubt that the trends and patterns of how our services are utilized will continue to change rapidly. Whatever challenges we face, we will do our best to be seen as an agency with credibility and integrity, with a stellar reputation for quality, augmented by staff who put the needs of the children first and foremost as we help guide them toward a brighter future.
Thank you for your support.
Richard Wolleat
President & CEO
