Horizon House of Illinois Valley, Inc.: Eager To Learn, Share, And Grow 

Posted on November 18, 2024

By Rebecca Kasey, CQL Director of Personal Outcome Measures®

I had the opportunity to lead a CQL Accreditation earlier this year at Horizon House of Illinois Valley, Inc., a human services organization providing supports and services to people with disabilities and families. The team was extremely well-prepared for the CQL visit and was eager to learn, share, and grow! We saw this in our visits with people where they receive services, during discussions with people supported and staff, as well as in focus groups with different stakeholders! It was an absolute pleasure to experience and work alongside their team during this process! 

Brenda Weitzel, Horizon House Director of Programs & Services, led the accreditation efforts at the organization and was very organized to ensure the process was smooth for the CQL reviewers and agency staff. One aspect that stood out during the review was the great structure for their policies that includes a “What does this mean?” section. This section uses plain language and simple concepts to describe the policy, which is extremely helpful for anyone reading the documents. 

During this accreditation, we were also able to visit several of their programs. Horizon House’s community day services offer three distinct programs in life skills, supports for older adults, and community access. All three of these programs have community participation activities as well as an educational aspect incorporated. Staff of this program described how involved people were about participating in decisions. Older adults shared that some of the activities they liked to attend were festivals and parades. Two people stated that they love going to bars to see live music. 

The organization is moving to a new hub closer to downtown with an intentional, thoughtful design of the new space to accommodate people receiving services, including a yoga studio across the street and other places to increase community participation. These efforts will open up additional opportunities for the people they support and the town is incredibly supportive of the move! 

It is clear between our direct observations, conversations, and focus groups with everyone involved in Horizon House, including people supported, staff, leadership, and family members, that people here are passionate and committed to delivering truly person-centered supports. This is accomplished by advocating with people and creating a caring, inclusive environment to support individual needs, wants, and goals, all while promoting independence.

About Horizon House of Illinois Valley, Inc.

Horizon House of Illinois Valley, Inc., based out of rural Peru, Illinois, was founded in 1969 by a group of family members to provide sheltered work services to eight people. Since then, the agency has grown in size and scope, adding residential and community support services. Today, they support over 200 people with a variety of services that include Day, Residential, Employment, Personal Support, Respite and Home-Based Self-Directed Assistance.

In their 50+ years of operation, Horizon House has steadily moved from a traditional site-based model to the more progressive and flexible agency they are today. At their core, Horizon House of Illinois Valley is committed to provide individualized services to meet the needs and desires of people. Their staff all work toward a common mission: “We are dedicated to providing high quality, effective supports with compassion, expertise, flexibility and creativity. The supports we provide are structured to allow the men and women we serve to have opportunities to live, work and play in the community.” 

Horizon House of Illinois Valley, Inc. recently achieved CQL’s Quality Assurances Accreditation. We asked Brenda Weitzel, Horizon House Director of Programs & Services, a series of questions about who they are as an organization, along with their experience with the CQL Accreditation process.

What are some notable changes in your organization over recent years?

There are three significant changes that Horizon House has faced in the last few years. 

The first is the substantial turnover within our executive and program leadership positions. 
 

The second is the redesign of our Community Day Services (CDS). Although steps were already being taken to move further away from traditional models of support towards more community-integrated service delivery models, COVID-19 provided an opportunity to focus on that transformation. As a result, we conducted a complete redesign of our day services and extensive expansion of existing community-based services like the HCBS Personal Support Worker Program, Group Respite Program, and Community Employment Program. 

The third change is the increased use of electronic systems for a variety of functions and determining how the separate systems should integrate. We want to ensure we have the necessary documentation for licensing and funding bodies readily available, while also providing an internal communication system to ensure we can focus on what truly matters to us – delivering “5 Star” responsive services that enable the people we serve to live their best lives.

What organizational values or practices are you most proud of?

We are a person-centered organization. Long ago, we implemented Personal Outcome Measures® (POM) training before CQL Accreditation, to align all staff in person-centered thinking and to enable data-based decision-making focused on the POM outcomes. Paying attention to what people are asking for and understanding what they want and don’t want, guides organizational development and needed adjustments. 

When we learn of requests from people we support, we dive in and find creative ways to respond. For example, our Alternative Day Services (ADS) program was developed as a result of questions from people about when they can retire. 

We are a learning organization. One of our biggest strengths is ensuring we are well informed, stay ahead of the industry trends, and begin transitions early. We seek and obtain training and technical assistance on best practice topics within the industry through various sources.

This allows us to proactively and confidently create systems that remain aligned with our mission and values well in advance of licensing and funding body deadlines. This approach also ensures that the people we serve and the direct support professionals (DSPs) who work with them understand, can offer input, and make transitions more comfortable. 
 
An example would be our transition away from sheltered work. Our transition began years ago. We quit accepting new contract work, created job clubs, and developed a community-based pilot project. We also expanded some existing programs and developed new systems and practices for replacing sheltered work and site-based day services. We utilize employment discovery as a primary component of CDS and are currently seeking a customized employment contract with the Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Services. 
 
We pride ourselves in being a person-centered organization that is flexible and proactive in our service delivery. We are not afraid of change. 

Why did you decide to pursue CQL Accreditation?

Significant organizational changes – while Illinois began to provide historic and long-overdue investments in the DD system – renewed our hope and vision of what might be possible. To continue to be the forward-thinking, adaptable agency that we have become, we decided that seeking accreditation from a person-centered organization like CQL was needed. We felt the return to the POM, access to CQL resources, and consultation would provide us with the tools to prepare us for our next era. 

How did you prepare for your CQL Accreditation?

To begin, each department completed the organizational self-assessment and then we aggregated responses. This prompted a discussion of our priorities with our leadership team. 

We purposely chose to use the accreditation experience to share and exchange knowledge and ideas. We focused coordination of the Basic Assurances® (BA) Factor discussions to ensure that as many people as possible (persons served, DSPs, supervisors, QIDPs, program and administrative staff) could participate. Some factor conversations were standing room only. To us, these conversations offered a perfect opportunity to re-focus on person-centered thinking system-wide. 

What is the impact of accreditation on your organization as a whole?

So many things have changed in our industry and within our organization, it was starting to feel overwhelming. The experience allowed us to step back and prioritize our actions using the BA framework. 
 
Since our accreditation, we have begun to revisit our policy and procedure system, restructure our staff committees, and expand access for our employees to robust educational opportunities. 

How have the Personal Outcome Measures® affected person-centeredness at your organization? 

When we implemented CQL POM training in the past, we used data to guide our actions. Some of the changes we implemented included the following. We look forward to reprioritizing systems like these into our decision-making process as a result of CQL Accreditation: 

• We developed a person-driven voting/political awareness program to ensure the people we served were able to make informed decisions during elections, learn the power of their vote, meet candidates, and practice using voting machines. We provided transportation, and if needed, staff support on election days.  
• As a result of people expressing their wishes to retire, we developed our current ADS program. 
• We began to incorporate persons served into committees and the Board of Directors. We developed a system to ensure they were able to actively participate in committee decisions.  
• We added “What it Means” statements to all our policies to make them understandable to persons served. 
• We developed a system to involve people in the interview and hiring process. 

How do you envision the future of your partnership with CQL?

We will have Certified POM Interviewers and will reimplement a POM-focused Quality Improvement (QI) committee. We will use the PORTAL Data System to assist in future program development and system changes. 

We look forward to continuing to develop relationships and accessing resources to cement our position for the future as a learning organization that remains steadfast in person-centered thinking and service delivery. 

Have questions about CQL Accreditation?

# # #

Since 1969, CQL | The Council on Quality and Leadership has been a leader in working with human service organizations and systems to continuously define, measure, and improve quality of life and quality of services for youth, adults, and older adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and psychiatric disabilities. CQL offers accreditation, training, certification, research, and consultation services to agencies that share our vision of dignity, opportunity, and community for all people.