Allison's Blog

 Posts Tagged ‘California’

70, sunny, and windy…

I’m with Brent in Sacramento with users from a bunch of California agencies like NorthStar, InAlliance, and California Community Opportunities. We are talking about the regional centers, about how the users are all doing their Therap documentation and discussing their standards and requirements.

Pictured above is an ISP built by Mark at Alegria that is a nice QA tool based on California rules but useful for lots of you out there…Have a look at it in the Global ISP Template Library.

More later.

Allison

Summer is the FIRST certified trainer from California, representing California from top to bottom, side to side with her awesomeness. We will surely have to find some more California friendies for her so she doesn’t get lonely (I’ll get Kevin on that RIGHT NOW!)…

Summer started her career in the field of developmental disabilities 10 years ago as a psychology student at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.  She started working for the Autism Society of North Carolina as a day program instructor and in-home support staff.  After graduating with her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology she moved to San Diego, CA, and became a QMRP.

Summer presently works for Independent Options, Inc., in Riverside, CA, as program director and administrator of a behavior modification day program. She also sits on the board of a local non-profit, Independent Choices and Options, whose focus is to enhance the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities in the community.  Independent Options became part of the Therap family in July of 2012 and Summer has taken the lead on implementation and training for her agency.

Summer shares her passion for helping others with her husband, Jason, who also works in the field of developmental disabilities. As a mother to Brady (her VERY energetic five year old son) and stepmother to a beautiful sixteen year old daughter, Alexis, Summer’s life outside of work is currently spent between karate classes, water polo games and sharing a love for football with her husband.

I plan on seeing Summer quite a bit this year as I’ll be headed to California for two conferences and a host of user groups!

Allison

When you are SUPER SMART, INNOVATIVE, GOOD LOOKING (remember that all Therap users are perceived as better looking by the general public; it is their aura of progressiveness that they wear like a nerdy shroud), and have SUPER HERO powers (really!), and then there is a group of likeminded and talented individuals within your general area, you have the glorious seeds for a USER GROUP, my friend.

This is what a user group is: A user group is when we invite all Therap users from a state or region to get together and discuss how they are doing with implementation, discuss any issues, as well as troubleshoot. This is often done online but we also like to do them in person when we can and when there are a good number of providers. We have found them to be good networking tools and they tend to help agencies who may be dragging in their implementation to move ahead, as they feel more supported by their local colleagues. (I wrote that so I know…)

The first of a bunch of user groups I have put together (and am putting together–it is a PROCESS you know!) is Alaska and it is tomorrow at 10AM AKDT. Sorry for the short notice but I’ve been a little busy over here!

There is also one for Washington and another for Oregon coming up on April 24. Watch for Arizona, Utah and Texas any minute…and then some California stuff, too. Some of them will be online and some onsite too…so watch for a glowing group of people descending on a local agency soon.

If you want information, get in touch with me: Allison DOT Dudo AT TherapServices DOT net. Got that? I can repeat it if you need….

Heading to Salem…yesterday was Eugene…Today, will catch up eventually. You guys have been blowing up my email and phone the past few days. If you are hunting for me, I’ll find you later today. Promise.

Hugs and Tlogs,

Allison

Hello Therap Nerds,

You have a new toy to play with for the holidays. Early, I know, but fun nonetheless. The Beta is the working release of the impending new version due out in mid January 2012. You can use the login portal to use your own Therap system to play, as it is not real and is only a snapshot to allow testing.

You will login using the link below as normal but you will be in the Beta system (so you will need to enable new roles and such).Also, let me know if there is anything else you have wanted to experiment with and I can enable it for your agency’s Therap system at no cost, as it is not in the “real” or production database. This includes the MAR, for example, and new features such as Individual Care Plans.

Login here: https://beta.therapservices.net/g/login

Review release notes here: http://support.therapservices.net/display/support/Release+Notes+for+Therap+2012.0

And please let me know if you need help. We are looking for suggestions, questions and feedback from all of you super smarty pants out there SO DROP US A LINE with anything notable–good, bad or indifferent.

PS: Check out the new live help system in 2012.0…it is shiny and right out of the box. We will be staffing it as much as we can for testing purposes as well!

***********Happy Holidays!

Allison

Sunny, chilly…sparkly ceilings and Christmas carols.

Day One: Busy, busy, busy…with about a hundred of participants and many sessions. This is the first California conference and we have many new agencies here meeting one another, networking and learning about implementation. Home of Guiding Hands is here in force and have been very vocal about their work with Therap, as has California Community Opportunities which has gone entirely paperless!

Day Two is starting up right now with Kevin going through some new things in Therap.

And then we’re off!

Allison

I got home last night after a long (and slightly scary) day of travel. The hobbit-sized plane from Kenai hit some serious winds around Anchorage and was tipping, rolling, plunging, wobbling, all the way until we landed. I was surrounded by a bunch of giant guys in Carhart and hunting jackets. And they looked scared. So, needless to say, I almost died.

I slept for a long time and am coming down with something so some coughing and sneezing…and my voice is squeaky so I have to lay low until the San Diego conference on Wednesday. I think that I’m probably going to have to say a few things so am drinking tea already…

From the cold to the California…

Allison

“I left my heart in…San Francisco…”

It’s been awhile. A lot of driving, training and not feeling all that well. San Francisco was lovely as usual–Fisherman’s Wharf, North Beach (including City Lights Bookstore for the Dharma Bum in all of us!), and Treasure Island.

I spent the majority of last week with Toolworks, training their managers to turn around and train their staff in the basics of Tlogs and SComm. Steve and Dave were very hospitable and I hope to see them soon!!

I drove 11 hours back from San Francisco on Saturday and am now heading for the finish line with Albertina Kerr. Myra and I are back with the Clackamas County staff and the entirety of Kerr will be up and running within September!

Today, it is cool and showery…very autumnal here in Portland!

Allison

and heading down the highway…Yesterday, I drove to Sacramento from Portland. Ten hours EXactly. It was better than flying (and cheaper with the astronomical cost of a rental car!!).

This morning, I hung out with Diana DeRodeff and a bunch of her management team at InAlliance. They are using ISP data to the max and getting a little hungry for some more Therap treats. It looks like we will unleash Tlogs, GERs, SComm and Health Tracking pretty soon and it may call for a serious monster training to hit Sacramento…

And now I’m in San Francisco, headed to visit David and Steve over at Toolworks for the next several days. And Kevin is lurking around too–we crossed paths this morning and he will swoop in on us tomorrow as well (probably wearing the shirt with orange flowers again!!).

Right now, I’m reading emergency instructions. Eek! “When ground begins to convulse, and the building starts to shake, just stay cool…”

Allison