Does My Vision Count?

Three years ago we were updating our annual plan at Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority here in Michigan. I felt that I wanted to share my vision of what things should be like in 3-5 years in the future. Here's what I came up with.

Mark A. Jones (09/03/2008)
Each Year we go through the same process of developing an annual plan, and each year I never get to the point where I express what I feel I might have to contribute. To look at a plan for the next year with everything pretty much set doesn’t give me room to really comment on what I generally think about when I consider what I believe OCCMHA can do for the people we serve and the region we live in.

The goals each year are getting more tangible. They are stated in such a way that you would think that we played a more tactical role than a logistical role. When I think about things, I tend to focus on the theoretical and/or catalytic role of OCCMHA. From my view, these are the most important. We have delegated the logistical and tactical aspects of meeting our mission to the Core Provider Agencies. I look at the realms that are less obvious, but have a significant impact.

I see OCCMHA primarily as an agent for facilitating the development of individuals, organizations, communities and cultures that work together towards our mission and vision.

For persons dealing with serious mental illness, I see us facilitating recovery, growth and transition through our own efforts, but more so through the efforts of the Core Provider Agencies and with collaborations of entities in a variety of different communities.

For persons with developmental disabilities, I see us more focused on growth and transition and sometimes recovery.

For families, whether with children with developmental disabilities or serious emotional disturbance, I see us facilitating resiliency and the healing in the family.

For substance abuse, we facilitate the integrated recovery with other disabilities and challenges.

We also have a direct influence on individuals as they interact with us as advocates and stakeholders.

3-5 years from now(2008) - in 2012-2014 – what would I want to see?

• A place where positive growth and healing are the norm for all involved parties (Persons served, persons serving, persons collaborating)
• Not just agents of quality of life, but agents of healing at all levels (Being part of our system should be a means of healing all the way around. If someone volunteers or works in the system, their participation should beget healing in their lives and the lives that they touch - example: applying gentle teaching, motivational interviewing or building on elements of recovery in various areas of our lives and in the community).
• An Oasis – a city in the desert – refreshing and life-giving in an environment that is often toxic. (A sense of arriving at a place where you will be able to get refreshed and re-energized).
• Collaboration at a whole new level with community, stakeholders and staff (Some sort of catalytic changes).
• To discover and advocate for models that will weave the dis-articulated segments of our system into coordinated and effective movements towards a community in good health – physically, mentally and spiritually. (Things need to be tied together. We need to recognize and use the models that will enable us to function well together. We already have been educated on Person Centered Planning. This is based off of Appreciative Inquiry - started at Case Western in Ohio. We need to be able to apply it beyond the individual application of PCP).
• Despite trauma & illness, one enters a culture of active and realistic hope that assists people on their journey of wholeness and meaning. (This has to do with the accessibility of Hope).
• A place where you can’t help but to stumble upon it – where treasures are not hidden, but the keys to access them are out in the open and available to all. (Once again, people are able to readily access the people, processes and resources needed for positive growth).
• A place where positive stories are being written all the time and bad things can be transformed into positive outcomes for those who seek them out. (We are dealing with some pretty bad stuff. I yearn for a place where people who have to deal with some pretty bad stuff have some sort of positive story that is coming out of their journey - consumers, staff, etc..)
• Like a vineyard – for nourishment, health and enjoyment – an organism that provides health and well-being to its inhabitants. (There is a story how the Missouri vineyards saved the French wine industry by grafting disease resistant branches from the Missouri vines onto the French vines and it made it that the French vines became resistant to the fungus that was killing them. I can see this working at a couple levels - one where it applies to peers working in the system and also to the system bringing elements of healing to the broader society).
• Where there is congruence of thought and communication in the region and with the other positive cultures in the state, the nation as well as internationally. (I have an over-sensitivity to it, but I feel like we are often scattered in our foundational beliefs or there is not ready evidence that the foundational thought is widespread or spreading fluidly enough between people and throughout the region. I have seen recent progress with the Anti-Stigma Team and the Metro-AMI chapter transversing boundaries that have traditionally kept us segmented).
• Moving beyond the limitations of hierarchical top down organizational development into some of the more effective sideways organizing. (To remain viable in our mission, we need to take advantage of more sideways organizing. Some of the aspects of seeing things only in terms of top-down structure create limitations on how well appropriate sideways organizing works).
• A place where positive things emerge spontaneously and catch on easily. (Some things take a lot of effort and planning and need to be "rolled-out" like a new line of cars. At other times, you want to work at cultivating the soil, so when a new plant comes along, it can be easily propagated).
• A place of broad intelligence and wisdom in dealing with ongoing problems faced in route of our mission. (It would be nice to have a "business intelligence" that others would look to and that we would utilize well towards achieving our mission.
• A place to where there is a natural dynamic towards effectiveness – where people know how to solve problems and get things done in new more effective ways. (All the way from the highest executives down to persons working on their own or in small collectives, there would be a knowledge of how to effectively do things).
• Is a place where what we do as a system is relevant to a wide realm of civic life. (Our scope of influence would go beyond the people officially part of our system)
• Has a culture where deep anticipatory listening is the norm. (Where, at all levels, people have a firm understanding of the story "Horton Hears a Who". We need to anticipate hearing things we don't expect to hear and then know how to respond).
• A place where solutions are developed and shared and made available to those who need them.
• A place where, I among many, fit in and function well – and where my family is happy and healthy despite mental health challenges. (A place where my family, including myself integrally, can get and give the help we need).
• A place where thinking about those who need services is realistic and coherent – where ridiculous thought is challenged readily and replaced with more logical, healthy attitudes.
• Is a place where meaning and purpose is clear to all, tangible and easy to access by anyone who needs it.
• There are fluid and comprehensive communication systems and methods – both physical & electronic.
• There is a balanced focus on the person as well as the task at hand.
• There is maturing leadership that includes more and more of those being served and who have been served and have a deep concern for those being served in the growth and leadership, decision making and policy setting.
• A place where my coworkers (particularly consumer stakeholder peers) are able to utilize their strengths to contribute their best to the vital operations in the system (at all levels with a broad scope – not just in clubhouses, drop-ins and with peer support specialists)
• A place where appropriate teams are assembled with the necessary people of a variety of types and interaction styles to get things accomplished as desired.
• A place where heavy burdens and concerns do not get lumped up on top of an individuals back, but is split up logically and in a manner that increases the capacity of those carrying those concerns.
• A place where ‘consumer’ is used at appropriate times in our language and a broader understanding of how peers are all the persons you work side-by-side working towards the same aim.
• A place where common misunderstandings are quickly aired and resolved, so productive communication can resume promptly.

It is nearly 3 years later and I wonder how much closer we are to some of these things. I guess there really is a good purpose for metrics, but some things are difficult to quantify.


"Not everything that counts can be counted
- Not everything that can be counted counts"

- Albert Einstein