Indian Rivers Mental Health Center

1. a.      Introduction

            The principal objective of this piece of work is to examine an array of Indian Rivers Mental Health Center organizational issues which have an impact on its performance. The Indian Rivers Mental Health Center is an all-inclusive mental health center. They offer services which are dedicated to offering mental health treatment as well as prevention to citizens in Pickens, Bibb, as well as Tuscaloosa counties. Their mental illness division offers various residential services which range from short term crisis residential unit to supported apartment living. They provide outpatient services, for instance, psychotherapy as well as psychiatric care in different locations across their service area. They provide case management as well as skill training services to individuals working towards recovery but continue to call for support in order to continue independent living status in the community (Gottlieb, 2006).  They also offer crisis intervention services which are always available for patients in psychiatric crisis. Their mental retardation division offers residential services to 62 individuals who live in a supervised setting.

            There are several individuals who contributed towards this research, for instance, the director offered information about the mission as well as the vision statement. The President provided vital information regarding Indian Rivers' plans for the future. Its employees also offered an array of information regarding the organization. There are several challenges it encounters, for instance, lack of good quality affordable housing this has resulted in tension in the whole community. This does not only affect the stability of the patient, but also individuals who are trying to help the patient. Secondly, there is a high criminalization of patients with serious mental illness. The situation does not only result from inadequate housing, but also from inadequate stable home environment which can result in irregularity when taking prescribed medication. This results in other crimes such as harassment of friends as well as family members. The topic for the research will be: how best can Indian Rivers Mental Health Centre apply strategic management initiatives in meeting its desired operational efficiencies while considering its non profit making business environment?

1. b.      Vision, Mission and Challenges

            Vision statement: To deliver an array of behavioral health services to West Alabama society. It will provide outpatient, inpatient as well as residential care as the main service to patients with substance abuse, mental illness as well as intellectual limitations to Pickens, Bibb, and Tuscaloosa counties. Its services will be consumer driven, accessible, and sophisticated while depicting a clear and obvious advantage to the society. It will continue to build up through organic development as well as acquisition of interconnected market segments. Mission statement: their mission statement is to prevent as well as provide medication for behavioral health disorders. It offers a full range of services to the society at large. Their goal is offering accessible services which promote recovery of all the individuals. They are accountable to their consumers, families, advocates, their prayers as well as to the society at large.

            The organization faces issues of insufficient funds to be utilized in development projects. The development projects can involve construction of buildings which can be used to house the patients. This therefore, implies that patients are exposed to external conditions which affect their healing process. If, the patients could have adequate housing they would be able to recover quickly. Furthermore, they would not be bothering the society at large. 

            Inadequate funds can greatly impact on an organization normal business planning period. This can also impact on any organizations planning period since the organization will not be in a position to plan adequately for its operations. This can be solved by ensuring that an organization assesses its economic strength. This should therefore, prompt an organization to seek external sources of funds, for instance, bank loans. Secondly, unexpected occurrences greatly affect how an organization operates. Emergencies take different forms, for example, some employees may quit job, calamities can also affect how an organization plans, high-patients turnout can also affect how an organizations operation since they will strain the resources available (Gottlieb, 2006). 

1. c.        Market Trends and Opportunities

            Hopefully, embracing technological advancement and understanding of cultural issues will result in high profits. This can be an essential tool which can be used by the organization to enhance its financial strength. The legal system encourages criminalization of patients who are under medication. This is will significantly affect the organizations economic status since it will discourage patients from seeking medical services since it experiences housing problems.  

            These trends can offer an opportunity since advancement in technology presents the organization with an opportunity to embrace changes in technology (Gottlieb, 2006). This will help the organization to amplify its income levels therefore it will stand out against other organizations which offer mental health care services. For instance, Glenwood Inc. will soon be partnering with the organization to offer telemedicine for grave mental illness, autism, substance disorders, as well as other intellectual disabilities in schools and health centers. Cultural understanding is also vital in understanding root causes of patient’s illness. This will enable the organization to tackle most of the mental cases issues easily (Indian River, 2011).

            The organizations economic outlook is incredibly remarkable since it has high revenues levels compared to its competitors. Furthermore, the expected partnership with Glenwood Inc. will boost its economic strengths. Since, it will be able to get high returns from various services it will provide. The market is expected to enlarge basing on the fact that it will be partnering with Glenwood Inc. which principally aims at embracing of telemedicine. Telemedicine is lacking among its competitors. However, their competitors may attempt to embrace, but it might not be easy since it requires a lot funds (Gottlieb, 2006). If it happens that they manage to embrace telemedicine, this will lead to reduction in the amount of funds that Indian Rivers will acquire.

1. d.       Internal Assets Inventory

The organization has several core competencies. It provides numerous social services. The Indian Health board has developed technologically –focused youth mentoring projects with several organizations. It has increased revenue sources since it has established cash reserves, has diversified funding sources, has added 20 medication-observation –meals apartments, has continuous as well as improved partnerships with community agencies which aid it to improve funding opportunities. It also has a service expansion program which involves the addition of non-residential community help, implementation of clinical treatment teams; it intends to add 20 medication-observation-meals apartments. It also has improved public awareness agency. This is thorough partnering with different healthcare providers. It has an active role in the local Community Mental Health Task Force. The Indiana Rivers has an enhanced collaboration with Federal Qualified Health Centers (FQHC). It makes maximum use of community publications in order to raise levels of public awareness as well promote reduction of inappropriate Mental Illness stigma in the community.

Staff acquisition and retention are competencies which ought to be developed. This will improve Performance Appraisal System, continuity in improving salaries as well as profits as funding permits. The employees should be surveyed regarding supervision as well as retention. The organization ought to address the residential care gap. The residential care involves individuals who have been discharged from state mental institution. Even though the aim of the program is to ensure that clients acquire latest skill, as well as advance to higher levels of independence. The residential care is not fully established since there is inadequate housing as well as poor transport which in most cases exposes their clients to harsh condition and makes them vulnerable to criminalization.

 Several factors promote innovation efforts. The director and other leaders take seriously new idea or opinion from the employees. They are also fast at implementing innovations; for instance, they will soon be implementing telemedicine which is a recent development in the medical field (Gottlieb, 2006). Advancement in technology which entails embracing telemedicine is a big step which the organization has taken so far.

1. e.       Organization Strategy

            The short-term compelling opportunity is that the organization has less competition. The mid-term compelling opportunity is that the organization has an efficient public awareness agency this helps it to make partnership with other healthcare providers. It has also made collaborations with the Federal Qualified Health Centre (FQHC). The long term opportunities within its current markets are that it made technological advancements, for example, telemedicine. These factors will enable it to have a large customer base. Telemedicine and efficient public awareness agency will aid the organization to develop beyond its current market-levels.

Other organizations are also likely to embrace telemedicine even though it is very expensive. Their competitors are also likely to develop public awareness agencies which will aid them in solving several public issues. They can counter this moves by fully embracing telemedicine and make use of high quality video conferencing machines. They can also develop unrivaled as well as efficient public awareness agencies. The Indian Rivers can be a driver of the projected market trends by having well informed and aggressive leaders who will help transform the organization and at the same time a good example to competitors (Hudson, 2005).   

1. f.         Conclusion

Indian Rivers Mental Health Centre has a lot of potential to improve its operational efficiencies by maximizing on its opportunities to decrease the impact of threats and weaknesses. There are several additional questions which emerged as I developed a strategy plan for my final assignment topic. For example, how can an organization make use of its competitors in the same business setting to achieve its goals? How relevant is a public awareness agency? How can technology be used by an organization? Several resources such as government ministries, population census statistics, internet, medical journals and books and among others need to be considered in order to accomplish my strategy plan.