By Steven DeMille PhD, LCMHC
Executive Director
RedCliff Ascent
The mental health field is entering a new phase of
transparency and accountability. This includes therapeutic schools and
programs. There has been a forceful push across the healing professions for
increased accountability for the services we provide. In some cases government
agencies and insurance companies are requiring mental health professionals to
justify their effectiveness in order to receive financial reimbursements.
Furthermore, there has been a movement for a “consumer driven intervention” in
the mental health field. Many professional and nonprofit organizations are
educating consumers on how to question mental health professionals to hold them
accountable for their services. Resources are also being given away for
consumers to “rate” their therapist or treatment program. A program “report
card” has been developed and is available online for consumers to grade
treatment facilities on the quality of their services.
Many have responded to these changes with resistance and
defiance while others have embraced and even been ahead of the changing
demands. One of the powerful ways programs have been responding to these
changes is creating a culture of research and accountability within its program.
Recently, a progressive group of programs took creating a research culture to
the next level and hosted a research symposium dedicated to promoting quality
research and program collaboration.
The First Annual
Therapeutic
Programs Research Symposium
Recently, Discovery Academy, Discovery Connections, DiscoveryRanch, Oxbow Academy, Discovery Ranch for Girls, Redwood Grove and RedCliffAscent met to share and collaborate on research activities. Each program
presented on their current research activities and outcomes. In addition,
experiential activities were conducted to foster inter-program collaboration
and to develop better ideas on how to further develop the culture of research
within our programs.
To learn more about the specific research projects, go to
the above program websites and look under the “Research” page. Or, please feel
free to contact the admissions director for the programs involved.
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