Cathy Connolly Co-Authors Paper & Presents on Transforming Residential Treatment

St. Charles President Cathy Connolly co-authored a paper with Bruce Kamradt, the Director of Wraparound Milwaukee, entitled Re-Engineering Residential Treatment: Challenges and Opportunities for Purchasers and Providers. The paper details lessons learned through Milwaukee County's system-wide shift away from longer-term residentially based treatment in favor of a more holistic community-based strategy. Cathy also presented on How St. Charles Embraced the Wraparound Philosophy & Transformed Itself.

Both the paper and presentation were commissioned by the Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc., an organization dedicated to promoting high quality health care for low-income populations and people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. The Center, which directs national health care initiatives on behalf of such leading philanthropies as the Robert Wood Johnson and Annie E. Casey Foundations, hosted Re-Engineering Residential Treatment to Enhance the Continuum of Care for Children with Serious Mental Health Needs.

The two-day workshop provided technical assistance to governmental officials from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania seeking ways of serving at-risk youth more effectively. St. Charles was one of only four non-profit agencies selected nationally to present at the workshop and lead related discussion groups.

St. Charles Selected to Present at CWLA National Conference

St. Charles Vice President of Organizational Development Scott Carpenter and Program Supervisor Jim Hickey presented at Child Welfare League of America's Annual Finding Better Ways 2003 Conference . Scott and Jim led a workshop, Changing the Paradigm One Step at a Time: A Reality-Based Approach to Reducing Restraints , that reviewed the strategies St. Charles employed in simultaneously cutting "hands-on" interventions by 60% and increasing staff and youth safety in just one year.

Each year, the CWLA Walker Trieschman National Center for Professional Development hosts its Finding Better Ways conference to highlight innovative and proven approaches in child welfare, behavioral health, and juvenile justice. The 2003 conference focused on Best Practices in Behavior Management: Preventing and Managing Behavioral Crises. St. Charles' workshop proposal was selected based in part upon its format, style, originality, ability to be replicated, cultural competence, and relevance to the target audience.