Making a lasting impact on the people who use CUPS' services goes beyond providing band-aid solutions.

It employs extensive research that gets to the root of the issues afflicting every client who reach out to us for help. Research that is possible because of community partnerships.

In our earlier years, we would see a lot of people come back time and again for more support and it became increasingly obvious we were helping people in the moment but not long term. Many people we would see again only six months to two years after help was initially provided, and often they were in the same situation or worse off.

In a recent podcast interview with the University of Calgary's Now Innovating Podcast, CUPS Executive Director Carlene Donnelly said it was a turning point to realize  in order to affect real change, we’d have to change our approach to care.

Partnerships for bigger thinking

Carlene Donnelly is fuelled by the notion that community partnerships change lives. By partnering with organizations that are doing bigger work, CUPS could think bigger and make more of an impact.

"I got down to the core of what's really going on," Donnelly said.

Enter the University of Calgary, Palix Foundation, and Alberta Family Wellness Initiative.

These connections led to a partnership with the Center on the Development Child at Harvard University.

It was the work of Dr. Karen Benzies with support from from the Palix Foundation which led to the creation of the One World Child Development Centre (now CUPS Child Development Centre), which opened in the early 2000s. Palix is a private foundation that focuses on childhood development, addiction and mental health. The centre helps determine how healthy brains develop in young children and what can derail it. The findings are now being used to determine how to prevent it, as it is far more humane and cost-effective to effect change in a child than in an adult. In an effort to cut down on the chance they will suffer from mental health and addictions and other significant health issues when they are older.

Integrated Care Tool: founded in research

The research work eventually led to the development of the Resiliency Matrix, now referred to as CUPS Integrated Care Tool.

This tool helps us facilitate conversations with individuals and families by looking at several different factors, including:

• Social and Emotional Well-Being

• Mental and Physical Health

• Economic and Legal Situation

• Child Development 

Each client is ranked on a score of one to five in each of the four categories, with one being in crisis and five is thriving. 

Donnelly says they get a number of ones and twos, but there are also many threes and fours.

"The clients have learned how to figure out some things in their life that's challenging and then other things they cannot."

She says this information can then be turned into a care plan and focus on what is important to the client and what they need the greatest help with.

This process has undergone rigorous testing by Dr. Benzies and her team and has shown tremendous results. 

They now share the Integrated Care Tool with the community and it’s being championed in partnership with the Palix Foundation and the Alberta Wellness Foundation Initiative.

Donnelly told the podcast this research has allowed them to enjoy many different partnerships, including ones with the O'Brien Centre in the Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Psychology. Still, their relationship with the Faculty of Nursing and its Dean, Sandra Davidson, really put them on the map.

Donnelly says this journey has taught her to look at everything they do and ask two questions: “What's the impact?” and “How do we get there?”

Research is a powerful tool when it comes to the social sector and there continues to be an opportunity for non-profits to step up and engage even more in the community.

"Research needs to be embraced as a means to have new evidence in the community."

To hear more about Donnelly's insight into how these partnerships affect real change in people, listen to the University of Calgary's Now Innovating Podcast by clicking here.