Listening, Learning & Improving Quality

At Kinark, quality starts with listening and grows through learning. 

We recognize that the most meaningful insights come from those who directly experience our services. The voices of children, youth, families, and caregivers are essential in shaping how we design, deliver, and improve care. By listening closely to their perspectives, we strengthen the systems that support them and ensure our services remain responsive, respectful, and effective. 

In 2025/26, Kinark continued to build a culture where feedback and data drive action. By combining lived experience with evidence-based insights, we deepened our understanding of what works and where we can do better. This ongoing cycle of listening, learning, and responding is central to our commitment to continuous quality improvement and safety. 

This year, that commitment was reflected in several significant achievements. 

Kinark is fully accredited by Accreditation Canada and we successfully completed all follow-up requirements, including commitments to health and safety and comprehensive review and update of our Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) manual. This work demonstrates our strong and sustained commitment to quality, safety, and accountability and reinforces the strength of our systems and the standards across our programs and services. 

We strengthened our internal practices through active participation in the QUEST Quality Improvement Program. This work enhanced our Mandatory Training Quality Improvement Plan, ensuring that staff across the organization have the knowledge and skills needed to deliver safe, high-quality, and consistent care. 

We also created new opportunities to embed client and family voices in system-level change. The launch of the YSAN Client Experience and Quality Table brought together families and service providers to share perspectives, identify service gaps, and improve transparency across the autism service system. This collaborative approach is helping to build stronger, more connected services grounded in real experiences. 

To support informed decision-making, Kinark implemented program and regional scorecards across the organization. These tools provide clearer insight into service utilization, enabling stronger monitoring, system planning, and funder reporting. They also create a shared understanding across teams and communities, helping ensure resources are aligned with needs. 

As Lead Agency for Child and Youth Mental Health (CYMH) in Durham, Haliburton Kawartha Lakes–Peterborough, and York Region, Kinark continued to lead collaborative efforts to strengthen the system and improve outcomes for children, youth, and families. Key achievements included redesigning our community-based crisis supports, enhancing service coordination through a review of Durham Central Intake, training 247 clinicians through the Regional Training Program, including the introduction of a family therapy-focused practice, and advancing numerous quality improvement initiatives across the regions. 

At the front line of care, we also advanced innovative, trauma-informed practices. The rollout of Safety Pods across all 24/7 programs is supporting emotion regulation, reducing the need for restrictive interventions, and has reinforced our commitment to dignity-focused care. An evaluation is currently underway to investigate the extent to which the pods reduce injuries to create a safer therapeutic environment. 

Together, these achievements reflect that when we listen closely, learn continuously, and act with intention, we create better outcomes for the children, youth, and families we serve.