Our goal to transform lives at JF&CS never changes, but our methods always evolve as the needs of our community grow. Over the last year, we’ve seen an influx of referrals to Frances Bunzl Clinical Services and the Horwitz-Zusman Child & Family Center. To meet these needs, we’ve hired some uniquely skilled leaders and clinicians. We’ve also streamlined our internal processes, all to improve the experience for our clients.
We recently welcomed Keith Myers, PhD, LPC, ACS to the team as the Managing Director of Clinical Services. Keith has worked in the clinical mental health profession for nearly 22 years. Before joining JF&CS, he helped launch a community mental health clinic in East Cobb. Keith has a passion for leading and supporting clinicians, and we are thrilled to welcome him to the team.
Keith Myers, PhD, LPC, ACS, Managing Director of Clinical Services
In addition to Keith, we’ve welcomed new clinicians to our team to see a wider range of clients. As JF&CS’ scope of clinical offerings has grown over the last few years, so did the need to modernize our processes.“Fall ’23 was a transitory period for us,” said Nicole Weinstein, Director of Clinical Programs. “We started using a new electronic medical records system. Since September, we’ve been focusing on streamlining the process of referrals.”
Because each referral is unique and the goal is to be client-centered, “We created a task force to make sure our referral process is sustainable,” said Nicole. “Clinicians and staff members came together to determine what is working well and how we could improve. Through that task force, we saw that we needed to update the intake process. With the help of clinicians and staff, we hired Audra Laraque-Louie, who has a Bachelor’s in Social Work and many years’ experience as an Intake Specialist, to fill the expanded Clinical Intake Specialist role.
When a potential client reaches out to JF&CS for services, Audra will complete an intake questionnaire over the phone or direct them to an online form. The team will call the client to let them know the information is received and go over the information provided, discussing things like insurance or private pay, reason for wanting services, and assessing for level of care. This helps ensure we are able to best meet the needs of the client. They also let them know the current waitlist time and provide the client with a point of contact for every step of the process.
The clinical team has also improved the forms that are used to gather the data, including an online option. The website has been improved to not only have the clinician bios, but also categorize by service area, and listing pertinent information like their specialties, age populations, accepted insurance, and private pay fees.
“Now we can see how long the person might wait for services, depending upon the various factors of when they want to be seen, their insurance, and any potential risk factors,” said Nicole. “We have quicker information to provide people and people can make better decisions on whether they want to wait or not. That helps improve our process and makes it all more transparent.”
“The length of time people are on the waitlist has definitely improved from where it was before,” said Nicole. “We’ve hired new clinical and support staff and streamlined processes, and that’s allowed us to continue seeing more people. We have a better idea now of how long people are waiting, what they’re looking for, trying to match them more quickly with the clinician who would be best for them, and we’ve been able to improve that process as a team.”
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