Posted on December 19, 2022

By Mary Kay Rizzolo, CQL President & CEO

We talk to our partners about this all of the time! Of course it’s essential to identify opportunities for improvement within your organization, but it’s equally important to celebrate your successes and reflect on all that you have accomplished.

That’s exactly what our December edition of Capstone is all about. Every year, we take a moment to reflect and highlight something that stands out each month. It’s a great exercise for us to ‘practice what we preach’ and look back at all that has happened throughout the year. In this Capstone, we go on a journey through 2022 and share some memorable moments and significant experiences!

January – Releasing Quality Research

CQL’s Director of Research, Carli Friedman, publishes numerous studies and associated research articles each and every year. In 2022 alone, there were nearly a dozen articles published to our website. But the most popular research article from 2022 was released in January, titled ‘Provider Quality Improves the Personal Outcomes of People with IDD.’ This study looked at the relationship between the quality of human service providers and the quality of life of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

February – Aaaaannnd, Action.

Our staff works hard to create a lot of resources that are useful for the disability services sector. This includes guides, reports, articles, webinars, etc. Over the years, CQL has created numerous animated videos about topics important to organizations and people supported. This includes the video ‘The Three E’s: The Foundation for Informed Choice,’ which was officially released in February 2022.

Here are some of the other videos that have been created by CQL:

• Appreciative Inquiry in Human Services
• Presuming Competence
• Your Services Should Be All About You
• Dignity of Risk
• Rights Restrictions & Modifications
• Hats Off To Support Coordinators

March – Let’s Celebrate!

We love highlighting the achievements of our partners! One example of this is the accreditation success stories that we produce. Our first article released in 2022 was titled ‘MMI Residential In Indiana Promotes Independence, Empowerment, And More!’ and came out in March. This was just one of many success stories we shared during the year.

April – Connecting Organizations To Best Practices

Our monthly Capstone articles take an in-depth dive into one specific topic that’s relevant to our field. Capstone shares information, research, resources, tips, and more! One of our most popular editions of the year, ‘Increasing the Social Capital of People with Disabilities,’ was sent out in April 2022. Other Capstone articles this year have covered transportation, DSP workforce issues, Personal Outcome Measures® interviewing skills, and policy development – just to list a few examples.

May – ‘My New Windows’

All of us at CQL were just blown away when we read ‘My New Windows,’ which we shared in May 2022. It was an inspirational metaphor about experiencing accreditation for the first time, written by Pam Sams-Cox of Dawn of Hope. It is well worth the minute or two it will take for you to read it!

June – Supporting Black Graduate Students

A couple years ago CQL established the ‘Disability Research Mentorship Program for Black Graduate Students’ to support Black students in their disability research and provide guidance during the publication process. In June 2022, we announced that Sarah Jerome would be the student selected for our third cohort of the program.

July – The POM: A Nationally-Recognized Quality Measure

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Quality Measure Set in July 2022. CQL’s Personal Outcome Measures® (POM) was listed in the CMS guidance as one of the nationally-recognized tools that the disability services system can use to evaluate and improve quality. States are being encouraged by CMS to use the HCBS Quality Measure Set for monitoring and enhancing supports for people who receive home and community-based services.

August – Ch-Ch-Changes

We’re always talking to our partners about the importance of ongoing transformation. But we also ‘walk the walk’ too! In August 2022, we made some organizational changes, including adjustments to the roles of our executive leadership team and added new director positions. This was all intended to better meet the needs of our partners and strengthen our operations. Throughout the year our team also grew quite a bit! We added 6 part-time Quality Enhancement Specialist positions, 3 full-time Quality Enhancement Specialist positions, a full-time Special Projects position, and a full-time Communications Specialist position.

September – Addressing DSP Workforce Issues

As we have in the past, in 2022 we partnered with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) on an annual campaign during National Direct Support Professional (DSP) Recognition Week, which takes place every September. We highlight organization-wide programs and initiatives that have a meaningful and long-lasting impact on DSPs, taking on topics like recruitment, turnover, career ladders, and more.

October – Illumination Of Best Practices

Certainly one of the highlights of the year was our 2022 CQL Conference: Lightbulb Moments, which took place in October. It was both an in-person conference and a fully virtual event with all sessions livestreamed on Zoom. The conference included hundreds of attendees, nearly 60 presenters, 30+ sessions, and more than a dozen sponsors and exhibitors. We were delighted to bring everyone together to share so many lightbulb moments!

November – Attend A Workshop, Wherever You Are

As a result of the pandemic, we launched Virtual Personal Outcome Measures® (POM) Workshops, which really took off in 2022. We were so pleased by how much interest there is in spreading person-centered practices across the human services field. Throughout the year, we held a dozen workshops which included more than 140 participants! In November 2022, we released our full listing of 2023 Virtual POM Workshops, with a workshop taking place each month of the year.

December – A Spotlight On Our Staff

This year we kicked off our Monthly Staff Spotlight series, where our partners are able to learn a little bit more about the CQL team. So far we’ve featured 7 staff members, with our last article being published in December. Along with information about work experience and professional backgrounds, the CQL team is sharing details about their favorite TV shows, hobbies, passions, and personal lives. We’ll be continuing these ‘spotlights’ throughout 2023. We hope you’ve enjoyed this series as much as we have!

Looking Ahead To 2023

This is a great time to reflect on the past year and acknowledge the accomplishments that make you proud! We encourage you to do the same. Share these moments with your staff, people supported, families, and other stakeholders. In taking that Appreciative Inquiry approach, you might find some lessons learned from these achievements, and apply them to areas where there is an opportunity for improvement.

We wish you Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!