Vol. 13 (2022): Disrupting a Broken System: What the Future Could Look Like for People with Complex Needs

					View Vol. 13 (2022): Disrupting a Broken System: What the Future Could Look Like for People with Complex Needs

Dear Reader,  

We are pleased to announce that Woods Services, our partner organization, has joined us to curate and launch our May 2022 edition, “Disrupting a Broken System: What the Future Could Look Like for People with Complex Needs”. 

People with complex medical and behavioral healthcare-needs face challenges in accessing services that are integrated and coordinated. Integration of services and systems needs to be improved in order to meet the unique needs of individuals with intellectual disability and mental health issues. 

We find solutions first by asking questions. Challenging ourselves with hard quesitons opens our minds to identifying barriers, but more importantly, helps start the journey to finding solutions and innovations. The five essential questions we asked ourselves for this edition include:

1) How can we learn from the past and improve on best practices? 

2) What could the future look like if we had model programs and best practices for integrated care that were fully-funded, or if we could widely replicate those models? 

3) What could the future look like if we brought together payment systems, workforce systems, global human services, child welfare, and criminal justice systems with the services and systems that support individuals all along a continuum and across these aforementioned silos?

4) What happens when we abruptly close an institution or discontinue funding a particular service model with no viable replacement at hand? 

5) What if we knew more about the stories of those who have experienced both the benefits of model programs and the tragic consequences of systemic failure, to better inform the work that we do in the health and human services sector? 

The articles in this edition are grouped under four sub-themes:

1) Complex Medical and Behavioral Needs Models and Impact of COVID

2) Global Human Services and Child Welfare Challenges

3) Education Models 

4) Workforce Challenges and Innovations 

This edition of the Social Innovations Journal responds to the questions posed above, highlighting themes, trends and innovative approaches to improving systems and services in the broad mental health, human services, and intellectual disability sectors which affect all stakeholders – individuals receiving services, families, providers, policy-makers and government agencies. We invite you to explore a range of articles, case studies, policy recommendations, innovative approaches and solutions, and testimonials by families who have experienced the best and worst of the systems and policies in place now.  

Sincerely,

Tine Hansen-Turton, Woods Services, Guest Edition Curator and Editor 

Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder, Social Innovations Journal 

Published: 2022-05-18