Nancy Chamberlain says achieving full accreditation for the sixth time in about 30 years shows the commitment to excellence at the Thunder Bay Counselling Centre.
Chambelain, TBCC’s executive director, said the arduous and just-completed process was also a chance for the organization to take a top-to-bottom look at its operation and practices, and tweak where necessary to better serve its growing clientele.
“This represents about 30 years of where we’re always making sure we’re leading-edge and making sure we’re on top of what clinical practices should look like and how we should be taking care of people in our community,” Chamberlain said on Thursday.
The process, for the first time conducted through the Canadian Centre for Accreditation, a not-for-profit organization, also allowed the centre to look at its financial responsibilities.
“It will reassure our funders that we’re right on top of all the processes that need to be in place,” Chamberlain said.
“We primarily have public dollars, and so looking at those public dollars our funders can be reassured that we’re handling them not only responsibly, but efficiently and effectively,” she said.
It often takes months and years to prepare for such an audit, which covers a four-year period.
Chamberlain added issues and life changes are constantly changing and the accreditation process allows them to be responsive.
There were more than 500 standards to comply with throughout the process, she added.
Not that there was anything to worry about, at least according to several partners involved with the centre.
“Thunder Bay Counselling Centre has been a tremendous partner in the Northern Ontario Post-Partum Mood-Disorder Strategy Project,” said Alan McQuarrie, executive director of Nipissing Community Counselling.
“They are so well-integrated in the service system in Thunder Bay that we were able to draw on their extensive connections in the community.”
Diane Walker, CEO of Children’s Centre Thunder Bay, said good partnerships are like good gardens.
“You plant, you water, you fertilize and nurture the variety of flowers and shrubs,” she said in a release. “Over time and through the seasons, the partnership, like the garden, is able to weather the elements, tolerate new species, grow and weed out things that are not working.”
Thunder Bay Counselling Centre, celebrating its 48th year in existence, also held its annual general meeting on Thursday.
