County Agency Accredited and Joins Top 3 Percent

Two Prince William County Community Services programs recently received accreditation from CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) International. Community Services seeks accreditation from CARF every three years, and this accreditation is the second time in a row its Supported Employment and Prince William Clubhouse programs have been through the process without any citations.

In a letter to Community Services, Brian J. Boon, the president and CEO of CARF International wrote that the department’s accomplishment was one of note. “The CARF surveyors made no recommendations, which signify that they did not identify any areas of nonconformance to the standards. This is an extraordinary accomplishment, as only 3 percent of CARF surveys result in no recommendations.”

Beth Dugan, the County’s Community Services Vocational Services Program Manager, said she believes the accreditation shows that the agency’s programs are preforming properly.  “What it means to our clients is that we’re a quality service – that we provide the services in a manner that would be beneficial to them and hopefully help them achieve their rehab goals. I think for us it indicates a quality of excellence within the program for our services.”

CARF is an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services. Community Services is a county agency that provides mental health, intellectual disability, substance abuse, emergency services and early intervention programs for residents of Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.

Services the agency offers to its clients under its Supported Employment Program include employment planning, job development, employment support.

The agency’s Employment Planning service offers people help in identifying their strengths, needs and preferences related to employment. Dugan said the program offers the department’s clients the chance to meet with potential employers and “try out” a job for a couple of hours to see “how they like it and if it meets their needs, skills and abilities.”

The Job Development service helps people complete job searching activities such as identifying and contacting employers, completing applications and resumes and attending interviews. If needed, the department’s staff will work on its client’s behalf with all aspects of the job hunt.

Employment Support offers employment-related job training to agency clients that are tailored to the individual and the complexity of the job. Services can include everything from specific works skills such as helping people complete online trainings, locating the necessary clothing and tools needed, and learning how to access public transportation. The program also offers onsite coaching in soft job skills, such as as behaviors expected by employers, understanding the job culture, and how to advocate for things such as pay raises and increased hours. Employment support services are not time limited and can be provided for years after someone starts working, Dugan said.

Psychosocial rehabilitation and community integration are programs offered under the agency’s Clubhouse program.

Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Community Integration is the process of helping people understand how to function in the community and concentrates on the well-being of an individual with a serious mental illness.

Agency clients learn independent living skills that they may not have learned as young adults due to the onset of mental illness. Meal planning, shopping, cooking, housekeeping, completing hygiene and grooming money management, setting budgets, shopping for necessary items, medication management, setting and keeping doctors’ appointments, collecting prescriptions, getting medications filled and taking medications are part of the training.

Community Integration includes learning to utilize public trasnportation, becoming familiar with community resources, and being included community based leisure, spiritual and cultural activities.  . Additionally, a large component of integration includes helping people learn the interpersonal and communication skills in order to develop a social network and to get along while in the community.

Dugan said that by putting all of the services together the agency hopes to catch all of those in need of help. “We are doing everything we can to make sure that our service best meets the need of the community.”

For more information about Community Services, visit www.pwcgov.org/cs.