Counselors don’t know to what extent their clients continue in treatment.
Keep track of clients’ no-show rates and continuation rates by counselor and provide feedback to counselors on a regular basis.
Daybreak Youth Services in Spokane, Washington increased the show rate from 72 percent to 84 percent by providing counselors with feedback about clients’ attendance rates. For more information see the case study and the Daybreak Activity Log.
Palmer House in Tulsa, Oklahoma increased the total number of direct service hours for adolescent outpatient services from 39 hours a week to 84.75 hours a week and increased the average number of direct service hours from 5.5 hours a week to 14.12 hours a week for each counselor. First, they required counselors to submit a detailed report of direct services provided in place of a timesheet; this provided baseline data on counselor performance and also helped reveal and adjust for the uneven distribution of caseloads. Then, they shared productivity reports for all staff at weekly staff meetings, which helped motivate and challenge staff to improve. Next, they provided individual feedback to counselors about their performance. In these sessions, a supervisor met with a counselor to discuss the week’s caseload and expectations, and brainstorm ideas about how to increase client attendance and reduce noshows. Counselor reaction to this change was positive, as it allowed them to discuss their own performance and set goals. These changes increased the total program revenue from $1,901 per week to more than $4,924 per week and increased average revenue per counselor from $271.57 per week to more than $820.66 per week.
Cycle Measure
No-show rate for treatment sessions
Data Collection Form
Plan
Do
Study
Act
Repeat this series of steps until you have refined your approach to giving counselors feedback about their clients’ no-show and continuation rates. Give feedback to all counselors. Continue to experiment with different ways for counselors to exchange ideas about how to increase continuation rates.