Overview of The Consumer Satisfaction Team, Inc.

About Us...

Overview
When the Consumer Satisfaction Team, Inc. (CST) was created in 1990, it was the first organization of its kind in the country. Staffed entirely by mental health consumers and family members, its goal was to ensure quality assurance from the perspective of the user of services. The impetus for its creation was the closure of the state-run psychiatric hospital, Philadelphia State Hospital, and the desire of consumers, family members, advocates as well as the City of Philadelphia that not only the needs, but also the preferences of people discharged from the hospital, be considered in the design and delivery of community services.

CST's success in fulfilling its initial mandate has resulted in a greatly expanded role and now includes all of Philadelphia's public mental health and substance abuse services provided to both adults and children including those authorized by the City's Medicaid managed behavioral health organization.

CST's Mission
The mission of the Consumer Satisfaction Team, Inc. is to ensure that specific publicly supported and funded services meet the expressed wishes and needs of the consumers of those services and that they promote maximal recovery of persons served. This mission is accomplished through active solicitation and reporting of those wishes and needs from recipients and family members, through feedback to service providers and funders, and through training consistent with findings and best practice.

CST Staff
CST is staffed entirely by consumers or family members. This has been invaluable in establishing relationships with consumers based on honest and trusting communication. As CST's role has expanded to include substance abuse treatment as well as children and adolescent programs, CST staff has also grown to reflect these new responsibilities. CST staff now includes people in recovery as well as adolescents. CST has undertaken another initiative with the Department of Human Services. Consistent with CST’s approach to quality assurance, present and former recipients of DHS services have been recruited to implement this program.

CST staff is paid competitive salaries and does not function as volunteers. Before making site visits, new staff must participate in extensive training in CST values, interviewing techniques, report writing and record keeping, as well as how Philadelphia's Department of Behavioral Health and Department of Human Services works. Ongoing training is also provided throughout the year.

Making Site Visits
CST staff makes unannounced visit to mental health and substance abuse sites every day of the week. They visit consumers' places of residence, day treatment programs, drop-In Centers, Clubhouses, detoxification, rehabilitation and recovery programs, outpatient sites, inpatient facilities, crisis centers, and children's residential treatment facilities and schools. Approximately 1,000 site visits and more than 9,000 consumers are talked-to annually.

The staff generally visits in teams of two and promptly follows up each visit with a written report that is sent to both the provider and the funding authority. These reports follow a prescribed format which identifies needs, strengths, areas requiring special attention, consumer concerns and consumer satisfaction. The reports do not include the opinions, assumptions or interpretations of CST staff.

Accountability: the Key to CST Effectiveness
The effectiveness of the Consumer Satisfaction Team is dependent upon all the stakeholders being accountable. CST meets regularly and frequently with the senior staff from Philadelphia's mental healh and substance abuse treatment funding authorities (Office of Mental Health, Office of Addiction Services, and Community Behavioral Health). At these meetings, each report is reviewed and general issues are discussed. In addition, the funding authorities submit written reports to CST documenting how each consumer concern that was identified at the previous meeting has been addressed. This ensures a prompt response to issues.

Relationship With The Provider Community
From its inception, CST has been committed to a collaborative approach in working with the mental health and substance abuse treatment system. CST sees itself as part of a problem-solving team that includes the funding authorities, the providers of services as well as consumers and family members. This approach has been successful in dispelling initial provider resistance to the organization and has won CST provider support and accolades.

Participating in System Change
CST staff, representing consumer and family perspectives and values, has played an increasingly important role in system-wide policy and program decisions through participation in a wide variety of City and State committees. In addition, CST has been invited to provide training and consultation to groups across the country about its model of quality assurance.

The Importance of CST
In Philadelphia, the mental health and substance abuse treatment system has come to recognize the importance of being responsible and accountable to the consumer and family voice. While consumer satisfaction with what is provided will not always result in the desired outcome, it certainly helps in bringing people one step closer to a successful recovery. And changing systems one person at a time is what CST is all about!