Fiscal Year 2010

GCB provided services to 4,139 people from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010. The agency offers psychiatric care, community support, residential services, vocational services and day programming. Every client works with staff to develop a comprehensive individualized plan.

Client Satisfaction With GCB Services:
GCB seeks ongoing feedback from clients and other stakeholders about their experiences with the agency.  In Fiscal Year 2010, we piloted a new satisfaction survey on behalf of the Ohio Department of Mental Health.  Over 338 clients completed these surveys.

Reducing Symptom Distress:
Table 2 shows that GCB clients’ mental health symptoms decrease over time. Clients complete an extensive outcomes survey at intake, 6 months, 12 months, and then annually. The survey includes questions about the severity of symptoms. A summary of scores at different points in time for GCB clients shows that GCB clients have less severe symptoms over time.

The symptom distress score is a sum of the clients’ ratings from 15 questions about issues like feeling afraid to go outside of your home alone; feeling tense; feeling lonely; lack of interest in things; or feeling nervous or shaky inside.

GCB staff works with clients to identify the ways in which the symptoms of their illness and their life situations cause them distress. Once those issues are identified, we work to help clients decrease their distress by assisting them in understanding and managing symptoms of their illness; increasing coping skills; increasing relationships skills; increasing employment and independence; and assisting clients in accessing a wide variety of supports and assistance.

Improving Quality of Life:
Table 3 reflects changes in Quality of Life and shows a similar pattern of improvement. As services continue at GCB, our clients increase their own rating of their quality of life.

The Quality of Life Score is an average score of 12 questions clients are asked at intake, 6 months, 12 months, and annually thereafter. The questions address areas such as the client’s satisfaction with the amount of friendship in their life, the amount of money they get, the meaningful activity in their life, the amount of freedom they have, their neighborhood, their personal safety, and their health.

GCB staff assists clients with symptom management, increasing independence, increasing relationships skills, finding employment, and accessing community resources in order to support clients in feeling better about their lives.

Employment, Independent Living, and Community Tenure:
GCB clients maintained an overall employment rate of over 13%, which is lower this year than last year, due to changes in the economy. Over 78% of GCB clients live independently. Our staff works proactively with the state hospital, local psychiatric hospitalization units, and our local criminal justice system to keep hospitalization and incarceration episodes as short and infrequent as possible.

Most people come to GCB for service when they are referred by the Mental Health Access Point for care management (513-558-8888), or when another agency refers them for one of GCB’s specialized services such as vocational services, day programming, and community support.