Who We Are
Touchstone
innovaré
(TI)
responded to the call of Grand Rapids, Michigan and surrounding Kent County
communities for a local behavioral health provider to deliver services that
would help persons who struggled with the effects of serious and persistent
mental illness.
In the last
35 years, TI has indeed pioneered treatment models based on the best practices
available at the time: Assertive Community Treatment (the first in Michigan
and the state-sponsored model for the statewide community mental health
system); programs for Psychosocial Rehabilitation; (including one of the
first Clubhouses in the state); shared clinical care management of chronic
illnesses with the local Community Health Center (FQHC/CHC); facilitating
Consumer Empowerment and Education through peer-run organizations; and more.
Touchstone
has served as model, mentor, partner and colleague to community mental health
providers throughout Michigan.
Where We Are Going
In
the last four years, Touchstone realized that advances in brain science
—coupled with newer evidence based treatment practices—meant there could be
more effective ways of helping those with serious mental illness. We took a
step back to reconsider the work we were doing.
Quite
simply: we started over. We looked at reams of clinical research regarding
which treatments worked and which did not; we rethought every program and
practice in the light of these new understandings; we tried and retried new
or different approaches; and we built solid staff competencies in these tested
evidence-based practices. We changed the basic assumptions,
the organizational language, the systems of care, and the definitions of what
we do.
The
fundamental change is that we offer (and hold ourselves accountable for) the
delivery of a clear-cut product: psychiatric well-being. Our
clear commitment: helping our consumers actually recover.
We do not
have all the answers. But we do have the process and culture that will lead
us to the answers. We have the performance systems that will objectively tell
us whether or not our consumers get well. We believe we have begun the move
into the 21st Century Behavioral Healthcare for which our consumers and
families have dreamed: treatment that works.
We wish to
share our experience with the industry--on behalf of those persons
suffering from the effects of serious mental illness.
They deserve
the best we can provide.
We are
obligated to provide the best we know.
