In September, we were re-accredited by the Council on Quality and Leadership. After an assessment, which included meeting with staff and people in service, we received a three-year accreditation. We are incredibly proud of the results of our assessment and look forward to working with CQL to continuously improve the services we provide.

What is CQL?

CQL was formed in the late 1960s in an effort to stop the abuses and inhumane treatment of people with disabilities living in large public institutions. For almost five decades, CQL has taken initiative in developing progressive measures of quality in services and supports, quality of life, and community life.

Why is CQL important and what does it mean for JCDS?

CQL gives us the tools we need as an organization to really focus on what matters most: the people we serve. Traditionally we have focused more on compliance-based strategies in our service delivery, making sure that the check boxes are checked.

But we have since realized that this really doesn’t tell us about a person’s quality of life, nor does it tell us what impact our services are having on the heart of our organization: the people we serve.

One of the tools that helps us determine quality of life and service impact is CQL’s Personal Outcome Measures®, or the POM. The Personal Outcome Measures® embodies CQL’s philosophies and beliefs about what is important for quality of life and quality of services, but it also gives us data, hard evidence we can use to evaluate our services and evaluate people’s quality of life.

It looks at things like Human Security, Community, Choices, Relationships, and Goals. It’s about finding out what really matters to people, what their hopes and dreams are for their life, and how they want things to be. It’s also about looking at how we provide services and supports and whether those are aligned with what the person wants for their life.

“Learning about the Personal Outcome Measures® has really changed the way I think about how I support the people I work with.” -Lucy Johnson, Residential Sr. DSP

After participating in a POM interview, Lucy realized she could be doing more to support people to self-manage their own health.

“I started helping them learn about what medications they are taking, what they are for, and how many pills they should have at each medication time. Now they count their pills and do not take them if the number doesn’t match what it should be, and they are able to tell their staff that something isn’t right.”

Lucy is also working with someone to learn how to manage their own catheter.

“Privacy is very important to them, and I realized that learning how to manage this part of their life would really benefit them and their sense of dignity and privacy.”

Each of us self-manages our own health, selecting interventions that are best for us based on what our own personal definition of what healthy means to us. We also choose our doctors and other health providers based on our own personal values and beliefs. Supporting people to manage their own health is just one aspect of CQL’s philosophy and beliefs.

Looking ahead

It’s not about what we think people should do and what we think is best for them. It's about what they want and what they need. It’s about choice. It’s about self-directing your own life and defining how you want your life to be. And for JCDS, it’s about providing services in a way that supports people to live their best possible life.