While community service organizations in Nova Scotia are not mandated to seek accreditation, Balsam has made the proactive decision to pursue it. Accreditation serves as a vital framework for organizations to assess, refine, and uphold systems and safeguards for those they serve. It fosters continuous quality enhancement and underscores our commitment of accountability to our stakeholders.

After thoroughly evaluating various accreditation bodies, we opted for CARF (the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities). Our choice was guided by CARF's extensive experience in the realm of community services and our determination that it sets the highest standards for compliance.

In the fall of 2024, after about 18 months of preparation, CARF surveyors from B.C. and Minnesota visited our programs and conducted their evaluation. We received a three-year accreditation, which is the highest level of accreditation that CARF awards.

Accreditation has motivated us to implement new and revamped tools and resources such as:

MyPlan (Person Centered Planning) meetings and goal setting for each person we provide support to.

Making a regularly reviewed policy manual available through our staff and manager SharePoint sites.

Emergency manuals, annual training and regular drills provide staff with easy-to-use information in the event of an emergency.

An enhanced employee training and orientation process.

Regular satisfaction surveys (individuals, families, employees, and stakeholders) which gives everyone who is familiar with our services the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience.

Increased emphasis on rights, processes, and information for individuals in resources such as the Person Served and Family Handbook, a Person Served Bill of Rights, and self-advocacy meetings.

Implementation and tracking of clear, measurable, person-centered outcomes across all programs at Balsam. These results are part of our annual Measurable Outcomes Report, which you can find here .

Producing annual reports in Accessibility, Cultural Competency, Strategic Planning, Risk Management, and Technology. These plans formalize our commitment to improving our performance in each of those areas through measurable goals.

The management team is primarily responsible for crafting all necessary documents and resources. However, ensuring compliance with accreditation standards is a collective responsibility shared by every member of the Balsam team. Through active participation in MyPlan meetings, diligent pursuit of set goals, adherence to policies, meticulous completion of data collection sheets, and offering real-world examples of how we meet accreditation standards in our daily operations, each member of our team contributes to maintaining accredited status.

To our knowledge, Balsam stands as the sole agency in the province in our sector who have successfully completed the CARF accreditation process. We received several recommendations from our CARF survey on ways we can improve, and we have since implemented those changes.