2011 Behavioral Health Pacesetter Award

Behavioral Health Pacesetter Award

in Support of Direct Care Workers

Better Jobs, Better Services, and Better Business

In March 2010, The Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce released a national Call for Nominations for the Behavioral Health Pacesetter Award as part of its continuing efforts to identify and support exemplary workforce practices in community-based behavioral health.

The Pacesetter competition is the result of a partnership between the Annapolis Coalition and the Hitachi Foundation and represents the shared desire of both organizations to improve conditions for direct-care workers while also improving outcomes for clients and organizational performance.

This requires understanding the business case for supporting lower-wage employees, many of whom are unlicensed staff who hold a bachelor’s degree or less, but who provide essential client services on a day-to-day basis. This initiative, created under the banner "Better Jobs, Better Services, and Better Business,” is meant to focus national recognition on organizations engaged in best workforce practices.

The Selection Process:

The Annapolis Coalition received 51 nominations for the award from mental health and substance use treatment and support organizations throughout the United States. In June 2010, the Coalition convened four evaluation teams comprised of subject matter experts in behavioral health to begin the process of reviewing applications. The teams sought to identify workforce practices that:

• Strengthen business performance and bottom line results;
• Improve work-life, skills, and economic advancement among direct-support employees, and
• Improve client outcomes based on the organization's delivery of high-quality services and supports.
  

All finalists received a site visit by a representative from the Annapolis Coalition and will be profiled in case studies on the Annapolis Coalition and Hitachi Foundation websites at www.annapoliscoalition.org and www.hitachifoundation.org.

Cross-Cutting Themes Among Winning Programs:

Winning programs:

• Used evidence-based practices, and monitored and maintained adherence to practice fidelity.
  
• Actively supported the educational and career development aspirations of front line workers.
• Provided competitive wages, benefits and other incentives to employees.
• Developed and maintained partnerships with academic and research institutions that actively promoted training and other involvement of direct-care workers.
• Provided highly individualized and supportive supervision to staff on a frequent, regular basis.

2011 National Award Winners:

Thresholds in Chicago has advanced the careers of front-line mental health staff while implementing Integrated Dual Disorders Treatment (IDDT) through the use of embedded consultants and supportive supervision. CASE STUDY

Stanley Street Treatment and Resources (SSTAR) in Fall River, Massachusetts, has used work-based learning to elevate the competencies and educational aspirations of its behavioral health staff, and through their example, they are renewing hope in a community hard hit by recession.CASE STUDY

Family Services of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh has built university, county government and managed care partnerships that have transformed case management and promoted careers of community mental health staff, both in their own agency and throughout Allegheny County. CASE STUDY   

Borinquen Health Care Center in Miami has skillfully prepared its multicultural, front-line substance abuse and community outreach workers to battle the spread of HIV in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. CASE STUDY

Hartford Dispensary in Connecticut has built a professional development program that meets the challenges of direct-care staff as they provide effective treatment for heroin addiction in a northeastern drug traffic corridor. CASE STUDY

2011 Programs of Merit:

Chesapeake Connections at Mosaic Community Services in Baltimore has carefully prepared a diverse staff group to provide assertive yet supportive services to people with severe mental illnesses in the city’s urban core. CASE STUDY