22 Feb Our Vision for 2016
by Vicky Couillard, Executive Director
2015 was a great year at Vail Place! Our outstanding accomplishments in the past year have been due to an amazing community of supporters, members, staff and board. Thank you all!
We transformed our physical spaces in Hopkins. Members can now take advantage of a beautiful, totally renovated Clubhouse, and case management and administrative staff work in a modern, fully-equipped office building.
Just as important, we transformed how we communicate. Our message was more focused and reached more people, resulting in greater and growing impact and influence.
We see the transformations we made in 2015 as stepping stones to further growth and greater achievements in 2016. We’re going to leverage our increased capacity and stronger “brand” to step into a more visible leadership role in our community and our industry. We’ll be working with our partners to expand the integration of physical and mental health services that we’ve always championed, focusing on the following initiatives:
- First and foremost, continuing to meet the changing needs of members. We’ll renew our emphasis on team training and the ongoing improvement of the quality of support and services we provide. Our goal? Make sure Vail Place is positioned and prepared to meet the needs of members and to respond to a rapidly changing mental health system.
- We’re going to help share the benefits of Clubhouse throughout our region. For the past couple years we’ve led the creation of a Minnesota Clubhouse Coalition (a dozen members strong!). And recently, Vail Place was designated a Clubhouse Orientation Site by Clubhouse International. Quite an honor. And quite a responsibility – which we relish. We’ll be helping develop other Clubhouses, and ensuring they meet the rigorous Clubhouse standards set down by Clubhouse International.
- We plan to step up our profile, regionally and nationally, to better serve our members. We’ll work aggressively to remove the stigma of mental illness and to promote integrated health care. How? Public presentations by members, a stronger focus on progressive and innovative leadership within the mental health system, and targeted communications initiatives.
And let’s not forget that 2016 marks the 35th Anniversary of Vail Place, which is really exciting. We look forward to celebrating with you the rich history that we’ve built together. A history of dedication to helping people with serious mental illnesses find individual recovery and full, satisfying lives.