Kevin's Blog

 Posts Tagged ‘Efficiency’

Be on the look out for Therap User Groups meeting near you.  We know it is not always feasible to get over to one of our many Conferences, although I hope you have blocked out time for our big California Conference down in San Diego in early December.  I’ll keep you updated.

So we also will continue doing local User Group meetings to help keep you in the loop, and now that we have lots of folks using Therap all over California that means lots more stops for myself and our team.

User Groups are like mini conferences.  For current Therap users it a chance to get updated on new things Therap is doing, get some higher level training, and best of all have discussions with other users in your area to share and learn.

For folks that are getting ready to use Therap or want to learn what this is all about, it is a great way to get up to speed fast and learn why Therap is much more than just an amazing, fantacular electronic system that solves all your problems today and has already solved some of your future problems you don’t even know about yet. 

So get yourself in the loop, block out a little time to become more awesome and join in a User group when it comes your way.

User Group Meeting

Date: Monday March 12, 2012
Location: San Jose, CA
Contact: Kevin Dierks if you would like to participate

For Local Users and Interested Agencies from the surrounding area including:
-Golden Gate Regional Center
-East Bay Regional Center
-North Bay Regional Center
-Valley Mountain Regional Center
-Alta California Regional Center
-San Andreas Regional Center

User Group Meeting

Date: Wednesday March 14, 2012
Location: Fresno, CA
Contact: Kevin Dierks if you would like to participate

For Local Users and Interested Agencies from the surrounding area including:
-Central Valley Regional Center
-Valley Mountain Regional Center
-Kern Regional Center

User Group Meeting

Date: March 29
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Contact: Kevin Dierks if you would like to participate

Date: March 30
Location: Orange County, CA

Contact: Kevin Dierks if you would like to participate

For Local Users and Interested Agencies from the surrounding area including:
-Orange Regional Center
-Inland Regional Center
-Westside Regional Center
-East Los Angeles Regional Center
-South Central Regional Center
-Harbor Regional Center
-Lanterman Regional Center
-San Gabriel Pomona Regional Center

I greatly enjoyed meeting many of the members of the DSN yesterday.  A very active and effective group in supporting people with developmental disabilities.   Their recent meeting was held in Ontario and for those of you not familiar with the Inland Empire that is the Ontario in California and not in Canada.  (although you can find Therap in Canada, but that is another blog)  There are a lot of critical issues facing providers in California right now and DSN is right at the forward edge of addressing these.

I was also able to look around the area and was reminded that alothough Califronia isbest known for its big cities there really is a lot of undiscovered and rural beauty in this massive State.  Less than  30 minutes from Ontario I stumbled across this scene up in the surrounding mountains:

That’s right a ski slope just minutes from LA.  Not sure the last time this was used for skiing but the surrounding area was beautiful.  Always lots of surprises in California.

As of my current calculations, I estimate just under 50% of the people with intellectual disabilities that are supported by Alaska’s Waiver for these individuals are being supported in an agency that uses Therap.  I love our ability to support quality lives….both of the people receiving services as well as those delivering those services.  Your staff should not be abused by their paperwork, they are too valuable a resource.  I was talking to someone last night who got out of the field because she did not want to be a paperwork processor it was not her passion and not why she chose this career path.

I love looking around Alaska it is so beautiful, the mountains and the ocean are a constant part of the view here, and you can drive and drive towards the mountains and you never seem to get any closer.  I do want to fully disclose so I will let you know it is cold here.  The locals say that’s what keeps it from becoming Los Angeles.

Therap is very committed to helping everyone here in the State of Alaska.  We have had Therap folks out here at different times this year.  I am looking forward to presenting at the AADD meeting and connecting with all of those great folks.  Quality is on everyone’s tongue here in Alaska and their actions are backing up those words. Very wonderful to see and be a small part of this.

One of the many advantages Therap has in our industry is the large number of agencies we get to interact and learn from.  I personally find this to be one of the favorite parts of my work.  And one of the things I find in my travels is agencies with some amazing forms.  These are truly artisans of the 8 1/2 X 11 inch blank white sheet of paper.  The amount of data that is contained within these sheets is mind boggling and truly an art form.  I am not being at all sarcastic, truly the form has evolved to its highest point in the history of mankind.

I will now ask you to raise your head from the beauty of the form and look around.  You have great forms because you have mastered the only tool you have had to date.  Compare with me for a moment the form as a stone tool.  States and agencies have become the finest artisans and can create the most amazing different variety and forms of stone implements very useful and very effective, until metal is discovered.  Therap is the next evolution.

The age of electronics is upon us.  Please feel free to share this with the folks you work with who become enamored with their their paper creations.  I too respect and understand the beauty and work that went into these creations, however I prefer a tool that is supremely more effective and useful, helps me get more done with less energy and time.

Perhaps we should create a museum where all of the most amazing forms can be housed for perpetuity.  People can stop by occasionally to marvel at the skills it took to create these…then leave and go back to truly better tools.    A sign over the door on the way out will read…Let it Go, Let it Go.

Made it back to San Francisco where I started this nearly two week tour.  Checked the odometer and calculated that I traveled over 1,000 miles round trip.  Thanks to all our current customers in this wide expanse for being so hospitable, letting me go on and on about all the possibilities Therap provides, and letting all your friends know how Therap makes so much sense.   Also thank you to all the agencies who let me stop in an generously gave me some of their time to learn more about Therap.   I will be back soon, and continue to support including those new folks just getting started.

Off to San Diego for more of the same and to spend some time at the Essential Learning Conference.  Hope to see you there.

I am spending time in the Heartland of California meeting great people from Fresno to Modesto to Stockton.  Spent some time yesterday with the amazing folks at Our House helping them to become even more advanced Therap users.  So great meeting people who get it and get it done.  They are providing high quality services in Madera, which is just 30 miles from the geographic center of California.  There is a lot going on here in the Heartland, I will be back here soon.

My next stop is San Diego to join the folks at Essential Learning, I am excited to learn more about what they are doing.  Before I go though will be meeting with lots more folks up and down the CA-99.

Was very happy today to have a chance to head over the bridge and hang out with some folks in the East Bay area.  Got to spend some time in Berkeley and had a little time to walk around the UC campus there.  Very beautiful check out these pictures

I also managed to find the Berkeley CIL a very historic place in the Disability Rights movement.  I hope everyone knows this important part of our history.  I think it was under renovation, but I still felt the spirit of the place.

I also stopped by downtown Oakland to see how the great folks at Alegria Community Living are doing.  I am reminded of what a privilege we have here at Therap to be able to be a part of so many great organizations.

Off to the East tomorrow…..putting on lots of miles on this trip.

We know California has budgetary challenges.  It is a very, very hard time to be a service provider agency right now.  Here at Therap, we know the struggles you face first hand.  In many ways Therap has anticipated and planned for this new reality, and it was this foresight that caused Therap to be undertaken 10 years ago.

In the face of this economic reality, Therap has doubled in size in California since last year, and we continue to grow.   Therap is not the fancy toy to get for the agency that has everything (although your friends will think it is).  Therap is a practical, experienced, documentation solution that will allow you streamline the amount of time you spend dealing with documentation and increase the amount of information you can get out of it.

You may not have caused the budget problems we are facing today, but you sure are going to have to figure a way out of it.  Now is the right time to take a look at Therap, and as you consider ways to keep your organization not only fiscally sound, but also delivering the high quality service that got you to where you are today.

Therap is not the only solution for the challenges we face today, but it a huge part of it.  Contact me today to find out what we are doing to help people with disabilities and the agencies that support them in California.  See why other agencies in California are saying…..

Thank you to all the wonderful people and agencies of CSLN (California Supported Living Network) for putting together such a great conference, and letting Therap be a part of this.  If you would like to learn more about their work advocating for the systemic development of quality community living services for Californians with developmental disabilities, go to their website at:

http://www.supportedliving.com

I greatly enjoyed meeting so many folks working so hard to support supported living services.  With Therap some of you are already finding your documentation and reporting does not have to be the “hard” part.  I look forward to helping more of you achieve this.

P.S. Their Annual conference is right on the bay in San Diego and it was absolutely perfect San Diego weather the whole time.  Put next year on you calendar right now. 

A familiar scenario is playing our in California right now in relation to services for people with developmental disabilities.  Proposed cutbacks to services along with increased reporting requirements.

Specifically:  “The Governor’s Budget includes a system-wide reduction of $750 million General Fund in 2011-12 through additional federal revenues, increased accountability, expenditure reductions and cost-containment measures, with the intent of maintaining the Lanterman entitlement to community-based services for individuals to avoid more costly institutionalization.”

This scene has been playing out all across the US.  The only solution for this is technology, and Therap is 10 years ahead of the curve on this problem.  Having to do more with less is a challenge that many industries have faced, and good technology has been a key part of the long term solution.

Please take the time to look at Therap, Right Now!  Your staff and the people you serve need you to look toward the future.  There is little value to waiting when this is part of a long term, National trend.

I also encourage you to express your opinion and let the Governor know how these cuts will affect the people you know.  The Department of Developmental Services (DDS) is launching a community survey to solicit input and feedback from those who will be impacted by statewide POS Standards.

There are three options to participate in the survey:
1.  Go to the DDS Online Survey at http://www.dds.ca.gov/survey/
2.  Submit comments through email to DDS at survey@dds.ca.gov
3.  Postal Mail-send a letter with your ideas to:
Service Standards
Department of Developmental Services
1600 9th Street (MS 3-24)
P.O. Box 944202
Sacramento CA 94244-2020

Participants will have an opportunity to comment on eight different sections: Behavioral Services; Day Program, Supported Employment, and Work Activity Program Services; Early Start Services; Health Care and Therapeutic Services; Independent Living and Supported Living Services; Residential Services; Respite and Other Family Supports; and Transportation Services.

Responses are ANONYMOUS and must be received by TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15.