NIATx: Promising Practices to Increase Engagement in Treatment

Maureen Fitzgerald
Great Lakes ATTC/NIATx

NIATx Principle 1, "Understand and Involve the Customer," comes alive when a change team conducts a walk-through of their agency or one of its processes.  For many change teams, the first walk-through focuses on the customer's first contact with the agency: the intake and admission processes.

A walk-through of first contact can start with a member of the change team can pose as a customer calling the agency for information.  This simple activity can uncover previously unnoticed barriers:

• an out-of-service phone line
• an endless loop of voicemail prompts
• a grumpy phone receptionist 

• Is the entrance marked?
• Are clients welcomed by a friendly staff person or a uniformed security guard?
• Is the waiting area comfortable and inviting? 

Waiting area, Above and Beyond Family Recovery Center

A welcoming environment that reflects clients' cultures and interests can have a big impact on engagement in treatment. Mark Sanders, LCSW, CACD, cites Above and Beyond Family Recovery Center in Chicago as a great example of an agency that's committed to creating a welcoming environment, as part of a strategy to improve engagement for all of its clients, but in particular for African Americans seeking treatment. Mark recently interviewed Dan Hostetler, executive director of Above and Beyond, for more insights on this agency's commitment to its diverse client population. Read the full story here.