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A Seal of Approval
Since 1998, the non-profit Community Organizational Health Inc. (COHI) has been fostering learning and quality in community-based health and social service organizations through its Building Healthier Organizations (BHO) Accreditation Program.
BHO is a process for organizations to evaluate their services and systems against acknowledged standards that support sustainability and learning.
BHO is known as the trusted option for community based accreditation.
WHAT IS A HEALTHY ORGANIZATION
COHI believes that healthy organizations are those prepared to manage change in creative, innovative, productive ways without sacrificing quality. Healthy organizations:
• Are client-centered – respectful of and responsive to immediate concerns and to how clients are affected by the wider context in which they live.
• Support optimal outcomes for individuals, families and communities.
• Promote client and community participation in the organization – from governance to planning to service delivery.
• Create a positive work environment – one that supports continuous learning and improvement and encourages innovation.
• Are accountable to stakeholders including clients, communities and funders.
• Actively address barriers to service and ensure quality regardless of client characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, race, geography and socio-economic status.
Article published in Catalyst Magazine, Summer 2010 issue
Earlier this year, Community Organizational Health Inc. (COHI), an accreditation body that supports organizations to evaluate their services and systems against rigourous standards of practice for not-for-profit organizations, accredited Family Service Toronto (FST). The accreditation, which is valid for a period of four years, is the culmination of two years of work within our organization.
FST was the first non-community health centre to use COHI’s Building Healthier Organizations (BHO) accreditation program as its accreditation tool. In 2006, we set out to find a new accrediting body that was better aligned with our values. "We selected BHO because it had standards covering more aspects of our work than others did," says Janet McCrimmon, director of research, evaluation and planning, who led the process for our organization. "Beyond evaluating our clinical work, BHO also had the community capacity building aspect and some measures that related to advocacy and social reform," she adds.
BHO touches on all aspects of a community organization’s life, including governance, management, administration, programs and services and work with communities. The process goes beyond auditing systems and processes. "BHO’s perspective is that organizations should be evaluating themselves and learning on an ongoing basis," says Janet.
The process is intended to promote learning, improvement, excellence and innovation within the organization. "To make it a positive learning experience, we put a lot of emphasis on designing inclusive processes so that people across the organization would be involved in accreditation preparations," explains Janet. "For example, we had eight forums in which staff were invited to give feedback on new policies and two events where the final policies were reviewed with staff. We got an enthusiastic response to this approach."
There are two levels of measurement for the BHO accreditation: Standards of Mandatory Practice and Standards of Good Practice. Organizations must meet all 32 standards of mandatory practice and 29 of the 38 standards of good practice. "We were really fortunate that we received all of the standards of mandatory and good practice," says Janet of an achievement that was not overlooked by the reviewers.
"The fact that FST met all the standards of Good Practice is a significant accomplishment," they noted in their report. "The commitment of the organization’s board, staff and volunteers to its clients and community is impressive."
BHO reviewers interviewed FST staff and board members, surveyed community and educational partners and conducted an audit of our human resources records. Under the "core capacity" umbrella, they commended the organization for our commitment to cultural diversity on the board, our efficient and effective operating systems and our communications. In terms of programs and services, accessibility was noted as a strong suit, as well as coordination, continuity, collaboration and integration across service areas. BHO praised our community responsiveness, particularly recognizing the organization’s capacity as a change agent and advocate.
The survey of FST’s educational partners garnered unprecedented results. "We’ve never had an organization receive 100% positive response to every question," noted JoAnne Doyle leader of the review team. "It demonstrates that FST provides excellent student learning opportunities and is a valued educational partner."
Noted one partner organization in its survey response: "Overall, FST is one of our more successful organizations in the city, in terms of community responsiveness, leadership and client services." In the spirit of continuous improvement championed by BHO, the reviewers suggested that FST continue to implement the Outcome Rating Scale/Session Rating Scale (ORS/SRS) evaluation system that we recently piloted in our counselling programs; and that we continue our research activities and our work to influence the broader social agenda. FST has already taken steps to further develop in these areas.
Like so many of the activities within the organization, achieving accreditation is not an end in itself. "BHO found FST to be a healthy and dynamic organization that continues to reach out and grow in support of our changing community," says Janet. "This is a great affirmation of our work, and we have every intention of continuing our development as a leading organization in Toronto’s community sector."
