2017 CDMHC Employee of the Year & Kirby Bond Distinguished Service Award Honoree!
Whitney Reafler is nothing short of amazing. Whitney is a hardworking, dedicated, and outcome oriented employee. She manages many job duties and responsibilities as so many of us do. However, as the need for program and Center efficiency and comprehensive data reporting has increased, so have Whitney’s considerable responsibilities. Whitney acts as a QI/PI Specialist and Volunteer Program Director and is always able to juggle the many duties of her position and complete tasks on time and with accuracy. Whitney is responsible for a large number of reports, which she both creates and analyzes for QI/PI and the volunteer program.
Whitney does an excellent job of creating tracking spreadsheets for staff and management, reports to monitor productivity, troubleshooting issues with staff, teaching managers and staff about how to account for productivity. She also updates staff productivity information promptly in staff and manager spreadsheets, as well as the DMH staff registry. She tirelessly runs many reports monthly for staff and managers to help manage caseloads, QI needs, productivity, etc. She created 40+ individual productivity logs for staff, not to mention the master individual logs and the manager logs this year on time and she does this with a smile on her face. Whitney ‘s experience as both a therapist and productivity/ report guru allow her to clearly understand the implications of various situations involving staff productivity and service provision. She is always willing to help anyone who comes to her with creating new reports, understanding old ones, etc. and teach staff how to better understand data to make their jobs easier. She tracks outcomes for the Links 2.0/Trident United Way grant quarterly. She tracks various other outcomes monthly, quarterly, and annually and does an excellent job not only reporting the data but also analyzing the results making it easier for management to understand trends and progress. She serves Senior Management and the whole Center as needs arise with reporting, training, and outcomes with often little to no notice with pleasure and professionalism every time. Whitney assists managers in their annual staff evaluations (EPMSs) by developing reports, which assist them in measuring the various requirements of their team’s annual benchmarks. She spends time with new managers helping them understand the various sources in which they receive data regarding their teams, so they can better manage their staff and help them meet their goals.
Whitney is a valuable member of the QI team. She continues to serve as the team historian, helping keep the team consistent in application of the ever-changing rules associated with QI. Whitney prides herself on keeping track of all of the many changes that occur in the QI world and helps the team ensure auditing is based upon the rules for that quarter. Whitney participates in quarterly audits with exceptional attention to detail and helps other team members with questions in the QI Director’s absence. She is meticulous in her auditing and takes a fair, practical, real world stance when making decisions as to the appropriateness of services and frequencies, needs of the patient, and the clarity of CSNs. She creates and interprets Center QI data and other needed reports to assist management with understanding patterns/trends/compliance with Columbia requirements on an on-going basis. She tracks Corporate Compliance and QI yearly requirements and assists in developing presentations for the CDMHC Board on these subjects.
For half of this calendar year Whitney supervised the AmeriCorp VISTA Volunteer Coordinator, which involved ensuring the volunteer program was run properly, while also complying with the contract to house an AmeriCorp VISTA. However, after our Volunteer Coordinator’s contract ended, Whitney has run the program single-handedly with no Coordinator. She does all the recruiting, hiring, training, and matching of volunteers to the various parts of the Center in which they work. She oversees their placements to ensure the volunteers are getting the needed support they require to be successful. As this program is likely the largest volunteer program in the state, this is no small job. CDMHC’s volunteer program currently has about 25 active volunteers who work regularly in the Center doing a variety of jobs. For FY17 and FY18 (July-Nov), there have been over 7500 volunteer hours worked at a cost savings of approximately $188,650 if these positions were paid! For FY18 alone, there were also 46 one-time volunteers, which she coordinated for various events, for example the Day of Caring sponsored by the Trident United Way.
On top of everything she has part of her ”real job”, Whitney is an integral part of our Lowcountry Mental Health Conference committee as she helps manage some of the toughest conference jobs of all – 1200 registrations prior to and during the 2017 event and the 25+ volunteers required to successfully work the event! Whitney manages all this with a super positive attitude while problem solving the numerous glitches that arise during an event with 1200+ people in attendance. This includes many twelve-hour days with a positive attitude to ensure our registrants’ needs are met.
Whitney’s ability to multi-task, analyze data, create reports, and teach staff continues to be exemplary. She is always willing to help all staff with any request, despite the numerous job responsibilities she holds. She is flexible and a team player. She is always looking for ways to improve processes, data reporting, outcomes, etc. It is a pleasure to work with her always because she is strength focused, patient, hard-working, and always focused on the Center’s mission. Her genuine kindness is appreciated by front line staff and managers alike.
CDMHC is fortunate to have such a dedicated, talented staff member.
