October 17, 2024

Originally published on October 3

We would love to see more people participate in the FOCUS online survey!

FOCUS Accreditation surveys are now open, and we invite anyone who would like to participate in these online surveys to do so by October 18th.

All Full-time and Part-time employees were sent invitations to participate in these surveys from our Quality Assurance (quality@karis.org) email address, but all survey responses will be sent directly to FOCUS. If you receive a survey invitation, you are invited to participate in our FOCUS review by completing a survey.

Invitations have been emailed to other identified people (e.g., some people using services, family members, volunteers, community partners, host families).

We invite direct support teams to invite and support people using services and family members to participate in these surveys as they choose. Invitation posters were emailed to all “program emails” on October 2nd. These invitation posters include links and QR codes that will open the appropriate survey (i.e., the family survey, or one of two versions of the survey for people using services / service users). For people using services, each person should access and complete either Version A or Version B, not both versions of the survey.

If people using services and/or family members would like to see survey questions in advance, to think about and/or to be supported in completing these online surveys, pdf versions of these surveys, specifically, are available on CH Connect under About Us/Accreditation (VPN required).

Please note that ALL surveys need to be completed in one sitting, as responses will not save automatically, or access to a survey may time out if left too long. Incomplete surveys will be removed by FOCUS. Supervisors are encouraged to allow employees who would like to participate in these surveys 10-15 minutes to be able to complete these surveys.

Stay tuned over the next several weeks as we will continue to share more about our FOCUS review.

FOCUS Accreditation Timelines:

Ongoing – October 18th – Online FOCUS Surveys

November 4th – November 22nd – Virtual Review FOCUS will conduct interviews with key leaders about specific standards, review some records and information online (available through our databases), and may meet with others (e.g., Our Voices Matter).

(tentatively) April 7th – April 25th – Onsite Review FOCUS will visit a small number of service locations in Ontario and Saskatchewan to talk to people using services and employees, to tour locations, and make observations and review any additional documentation onsite.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to learn more, please contact a member of the FOCUS Champions team or Justin Radstake, Manager of Quality Assurance, or Peter Wyngaarden, Director of Quality, Research and Practice Initiatives (QRPI).

You can also find out more about FOCUS and Accreditation on CH Connect under About Us/Accreditation (VPN required).