In January 2018, Kinark was once again awarded accreditation by the Canadian Centre for Accreditation (CCA) for the next four years.
The voluntary accreditation process is an important component of our focus on continuous quality improvement. Accreditation enables organizations like Kinark to objectively assess the quality of their operations and services against industry standards and best practices, and identify their strengths, successes and opportunities for improvement.
Agency preparations for the CCA document review and site visit occur over an 18-month period prior to the on-site review, and are coordinated by Julie Ibbott, Manager of Quality Assurance and Risk Management. These preparations draw on staff resources and expertise across all programs and engage Board members, clients, families and volunteers. “The process is truly collaborative,” says Ibbott.
Kinark works with the CCA to identify the standards most appropriate to the services we provide. In 2017, Kinark was accredited using four different sets of standards or modules, two of which were new.
Kinark is very proud of its long-standing accreditation designation, and CCA’s determination, based on its most recent assessment, that the agency met 100 per cent of the mandatory standards and 98.7 per cent of the leading practice standards applicable to our organization.
“Accreditation is about families having confidence in the services we provide and our accountability to ensure that those services are of high quality,” says Cynthia Weaver, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives. “Quality is a choice that we make daily in all aspects of our work to better support children, youth and their families.”