Within the next two years, the Warren A. Kimbro Reentry Project (WKRP) aims to help 320 individuals rebuild their lives after being incarcerated. This is an intensely complex task with many moving parts.
Each participant has a unique story, a particular combination of services they need, and different people working with them. Veoci provides WKRP the tools to collect and aggregate data, share information real-time, and coordinate services with other case managers or individuals from other programs.
WKRP has been utilizing Veoci as a case management tool for a year now. Mary Loftus acted as our main point of contact for the program before joining the Veoci team. Through the transition, she has gained a deep understanding of just how valuable the Veoci platform can be in the realm of social services. We’ll take you through several ways Mary and WKRP have been using the Veoci platform to reduce recidivism in New Haven.
Data Collection
Mary pointed to Veoci’s data collection capabilities as a particularly useful feature in reentry services. Each WKRP participant has their own individual virtual Veoci room where all of their information is securely stored. This makes it easy for all important stakeholders to be able to review the necessary data
It’s not only the data aggregation, it’s what you can do with that data that makes Veoci unique. “As long as the data is in there, you can run a report based on anything,” Mary says. This kind of data will help change lives – it’s not meant to sit, untouched, in a manila folder or be buried in an excel spreadsheet on someone’s laptop. Instead, with Veoci, each data point is an individual’s story, linked with others’ stories, creating a larger picture that allows patterns to be seen. The reporting allows WKRP to connect the dots and see with numerical evidence how the program is helping people.
“We can coordinate services, keep track of the program, make sure everybody is getting what they need, and ensure deadlines are met. I think it’s a fabulous tool.”
Real-time Sharing
Communication is key in reentry services. Mary says Veoci is “the best way to share things with everyone working with a client in real-time.” In a Veoci communication room, a team of people can communicate in the same system that houses all of the essential data, documents, and information about their clients. It’s all right at their fingertips.
“The mobile app is especially useful. You get an immediate response. You can put out a message in Veoci and it’s pushed out to everyone who needs to see it, instantly,” Mary says. “It’s been great, being able to keep everything together. Through Veoci we can coordinate services, keep track of the program, make sure everybody is getting what they need, and ensure deadlines are met. I think it’s a fabulous tool.”
“It’s good to keep all the information together so everybody in the program can see it. We’ll be able to see where the program is working and where it can improve.”
Service Coordination
One of the exciting things Mary is working on is the ability to coordinate services among a number of different agencies through Veoci. Soon, case managers will be able to share information with all the people working with an individual. There will be virtual side rooms within Veoci where a particular agency will have a dedicated space to see just what they need to in order to contact and meet clients.
The agency will also be able to give case managers feedback: did the client show up to the appointment? How is the client doing? Did they successfully complete the programs they were supposed to? Case managers will be able to not only refer someone for mental health counseling but also track how the counseling is going. “It’s good to keep all the information together so everybody in the program can see it. We’ll be able to see where the program is working and where it can improve,” Mary says.
What’s Next?
Currently, Mary is working to streamline the WKRP reporting in Veoci. She is identifying and collecting missing data from case managers, doing mass data inputs, and parsing through to find the most vital information. “We’re getting some really useful reporting as far as what’s going on in the program,” she says. Mary, along with the rest of the Veoci team, is excited for what the future holds for the WKRP and Veoci partnership.
Stayed tuned for the next and final blog post in this series: Mary’s most notable case management success stories.
Learn more about Veoci and its capabilities by clicking here.
