A message from the

President and

Chief Executive Officer,

Dennis R. Jacobs, Ph.D.: 

As an important partner in providing the “best” community based Behavioral Health and Rehabilitation services, I would like to share with you New Passages’ exciting journey of transformation.  Over the last five years, New Passages has experienced significant growth resulting in dramatic changes in the way we do business.  Just a mere five years ago New Passages served a little over two hundred consumers; in 2005 New Passages served over 7000 consumers in over 60 Program sites across 14 Michigan counties.

As part of its strategic plan, New Passages set out to develop a wide range of Behavioral Health Services.  We have worked hard to provide high quality Behavioral Health Care wherever it is needed.  And while we are extremely proud of the services we provide, we know that in order to stay competitive and continue to provide these services, we need to continually adapt to a rapidly changing environment. It is no longer good enough to do things the way they were done in the past.  We know that if we are going to go from “good” to “great” we will have to undergo a significant paradigm shift.  To accomplish this “shift” we have begun a journey which will ultimately affect everyone involved with our organization. 

To accomplish our transformation we have agreed to pursue four significant initiatives.  These initiatives are designed to push the organization toward greatness.  As our partners, I would like to share them with you.

The first initiative is focused on adopting a strategic perspective.  We have set out to flatten the hierarchy of the organization, putting the emphasis on line managers.  We have developed a Business Model which organizes the Agency into three Business Units.  Within each Business Unit there are now three levels of management, each level of management responsibility is specifically defined by performance targets. 

We are also adopting a Project Planning methodology. We will be training all management staff in Microsoft Project Planning software so that they can begin to use these tools to better perform their jobs.  It is our belief that by taking a planning approach, they will be more effective managers.

The second initiative will take New Passages current state of technology to a new level.  Five years ago we purchased a fully integrated software program that is designed specially for Behavioral Health Organizations.  Over the last five years, we have networked our entire organization.  All programs are linked to our network, but we have continued to depend upon paper to document and communicate our work.  Under this initiative it is our goal to become as “paperless” as possible.  Our ultimate goal is to develop an electronic record within the next year.   

The third initiative puts greater decision making into the hands of line managers.  We are in the process of developing an electronic budget tool which will allow managers to track revenues and expenses in real time.  This tool will allow them more control over the line items for which they are responsible.  With gas and utility prices at an all time high, it is imperative that the resources we do have are used as efficiently as possible.

The fourth initiative will use the concept of Recovery to give us a common language and approach to our work.  We are calling this fourth initiative “The Road to Recovery”.  Using a best practice approach we are focusing on the whole person, including their natural support system.  This approach will involve the further development of our Liaison Program.  It is the Liaison’s responsibility to engage with the consumer’s family and circle of friends on an ongoing basis.  To date, we have received tremendous positive feedback from this program.

We believe that by focusing our resources on these four initiatives, we can shift the culture of New Passages and provide an even greater service then before.  We know that in order to achieve the success we are striving for we need your support.  Together we can do great things.

Thank you for all of your support in the past and we look forward to working collaboratively with you in the future.