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Highlights
Although the activities and responsibilities of the Consumer Satisfaction Team have continued to expand over the years, the organization remains committed to its original mission: to ensure that Philadelphia’s behavioral health services “meet the expressed needs and wishes of the users of those services."
We continue to be staffed by consumers and family members who make unannounced visits to mental health and substance abuse sites every day of the week. We talk directly with the people who use these services and hear firsthand what they like or dislike about their treatment.
Our role continues to be reporting this information to the funders and providers of behavioral health services - not to be advocates, case managers, or monitors. We do not interpret or judge consumer or family responses or provide direct resolution to problems. Instead, we submit written reports as well as meet regularly with funders of behavioral health services: the Office of Mental Health, the Coordinating Office for Drug and Alcohol Abuse Programs, and Community Behavioral Health. It is the funders’ responsibility to ensure that consumer and family concerns are addressed promptly. Our role is to hold them accountable.
Talking To Consumers
CST makes visits to service sites every day of the week to talk with consumers about their satisfaction with their services. These sites include the whole range of behavioral health services in Philadelphia: mental health outpatient, inpatient and residential facilities as well as substance abuse treatment and living arrangements. In the course of a year, CST may encounter 10, 000 individuals and make more than 1,000 site visits.
In addition to regularly scheduled site visits, CST also undertakes a number of Special Projects that focus on specific service areas, which include visits to Crisis Response Centers, Partial Hospitalization Programs, Therapeutic Summer Camps and to consumers who receive case management services. CST will also create special projects in conjunction with the Philadelphia Department of Behavior Health to ascertain information on an identified problem area.
Communicating With Family Members
CST welcomes feedback and comments from family members in regards to their loved ones’ behavioral health services. CST engages family members when they are present on site visits and via telephone. CST also undertakes an ongoing family project, which utilizes a survey to ascertain the family members’ perspective of their loved ones’ behavior health services.
Working With Others To Improve All Aspects Of The Behavioral Health System
CST staff continue to participate on many County and State convened committees whose purpose is to improve the behavioral health system. In addition to County convened committees, staff are also active at the state level participating in a range of planning activities for mental health services for both adults and children.
Over the years CST has responded to a number of invitations to provide training and education to behavioral health professionals, government entities, and family and consumer groups. CST has actively participated with the Department of Behavioral Health and provider organizations in moving the Behavioral Health System toward becoming a recovery focused system. CST staff have been involved in DBH committees focusing on system transformation as well as with a provider organization as it changes the focus of its programs.
Staff presented at the TCM Orientation for Case Managers, the Faith Based Initiative Conference, District 1199 C training, the Philadelphia Housing Authority, to police and behavioral health professionals.
A few words from those with whom CST works with closely:
"CST is a critical part of the Philadelphia Behavioral Health System. It gives us the ability to evaluate our services through the eyes of consumers and family members in an effective and non-threatening way. This has resulted in many positive changes in our service system and, more importantly, the lives of many consumers are better because of CST!" – Dr. Arthur Evans, Executive Director, Philadelphia Department of Behavior Health
“You folks provide us with an invaluable link to the youth that we are all trying to serve.” – James E. Randolph, Deputy Commissioner, Juvenile Justice Services, Department of Human Services
"CST continues to keep their eyes and ears where input and feedbackare most critical... with the people in recovery who are utilizing behavioral health services. CST's expectation that this input and feedback be not only listened to but responded to as well is a level of accountability that keeps this process 'real'. The accountability assures a system responsive to what consumers need and want for themselves and promotes change and growth within the system every day, one individual - one concern at a time." – Sandy Vasko, Mental Health Administrator for Operations
"CST has not only helped the system improve and be more responsive to those we serve, it has also identified areas and programs that are working well." – Marvin Levine, Executive Director, Coordinating Office of Drug and Alcohol Programs
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"Even though they are visiting treatment providers and talking to consumers every day, CST is so much more than just the 'eyes and ears' of the system. CST goes much further, by possessing a deep understanding of the people who are actually utilizing the services, and the challenges and victories that they face as they embark on their individual paths to recovery, which allows CST to engage with and partner with them in a powerful way. Even so, CST is able to maintain a balanced and realistic viewpoint of the service system, and is equally skilled at engaging with the treatment providers in order to make their services more relevant and effective. This unique combination makes CST an invaluable force for improving the system for those who are actually utilizing it." – Andy Devos, Director of Intake and Member Services, Community Behavioral Health
Publications
CST has several articles that have been published in Behavioral Healthcare Tomorrow.
One article is entitled, “Ensuring Consumer Satisfaction.” This article describes the origins of the Consumer Satisfaction Team, CST’s approach and how CST developed a collaborative relationship with Philadelphia’s managed care company.
A second article discusses how CST expedited the process of making consumers and family members familiar with the changes in the managed care behavioral health system in Philadelphia. This article is entitled “Involving Consumers and Families in Managed Care”.
Another article is entitled, “How is Case Management Working? Ask Consumers Directly”. This article described CST’s three-year assessment project of Targeted Case Management, which involved tracking and interviewing the same 800 consumers each year.
CST has also been featured in various newspaper articles and radio shows.
Continuing To Strengthen CST Operations
It is essential that our staff remains knowledgeable about current developments in the behavioral health system. Therefore, staff of CST receive in-house trainings provided by outside experts. Examples of topics covered are psychopharmacology, mental health diagnosis, resources for families, etc. Staff also attends training outside the agency on topics such as Recovery Foundations Training, Cross System Training for Older Adults, and Day Systems Transformation Family Inclusion Training.
In our commitment to accountability, CST meets with OMH, CBH, OAS, and BHSI. CST meets with the funders as a group twice a month. This format contributes to better integration of services for consumers with multiple needs as well as promotes greater understanding between the funders about each other’s services.
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