2024-2025 ANNUAL REPORT
Staff-Led Quality Improvement Initiatives
Quality Improvement Success Stories
Employee Engagement and Empowerment Lives at Banyan
“Anything that we can do, let’s do better!” seems to be the collective mantra at Banyan when it comes to quality improvement. Continuous learning, innovation, and experimentation is encouraged through Banyan’s Quality & Performance efforts. Learn more about our Quality Improvement Plan.
Banyan strives to build a culture of continuous improvement by investing in staff training and support, empowering them to contribute to improvement efforts, and fostering a collaborative, inter-professional team approach. During 2024-25 Banyan committed to it’s LEAN Six Sigma initiatives in the following ways:
White Belt LEAN Six Sigma Training
A PowerPoint training program was created to provide a White Belt Orientation to all new staff.
Green Belt Quality Improvement Project Initiative
The Peninsula Youth Centre (PYC) Pilot New Hire Training Program pairs new hires with a consistent trainer. To ensure reliability, a standardized new hire training checklist is used. At the end, trainers use a tool to evaluate job readiness of new hires, and a meeting is held to debrief strengths and address areas for improvement. To evaluate the pilot project, trainers and new hires are asked to complete a survey. Feedback from both trainers and the new employees has been positive, indicating more opportunities to engage in programming and hands-on practice. This has allowed both new hires to begin their roles with confidence. The trainers felt that the time frames for training were sufficient, giving them enough time to review all components of the training guide. Quarterly meetings with trainers are ongoing to make necessary changes and improvements to the program before introducing the project at the other two Banyan youth justice sites.
Banyan’s All-Staff Breakfast meeting was held on February 13, 2025 at the Sandman Hotel in Hamilton. After a brief Strategic Plan | 2026 update, the remaining focus highlighted quality improvement with a presentation titled, “Excellence, Quality & Engagement” by Anil Gupta, LEAN Six Sigma Consultant.
To further reinforce Anil’s messaging about how quality improvements inspire employee engagement, the following program staff presented their quality improvement projects:
Parent and Adolescent Conflict Program (PAC): Aneesa Mohammed and Brooke De Koning, Counsellors
Created a consistent process for engaging families interested in participating in the program.
Self-Understanding and Regulating Emotions (SURE): Dane Bott, Coordinator and Anastasia Sapko, Support Worker
Redesigned a program module to help youth and parents identify signs of and how to copy with anxiety and/or anxiety related to behaviour.
Creation of a self-study workbook with additional activities and information to support group material.
Stop Now And Plan (SNAP®): Anisa Dasigan and Kally McAlpine, Child & Youth Workers
Revamped the client discharge process improving staff time management and team cohesion.
Grocer-Ease: Jamie Muise, Coordinator Community Services
Partner Assault Response (PAR): Matt Bury, Facilitator
Improved the client attendance tracking process resulting in decreased missed sessions and improved client, staff and Probation and Parole communication.
Created a “real-time” system for client intakes and program sessions.
Nursing/Clinical: Louise Palciauskas, RPN
Created a more efficient system for managing the increased demand for booking youth an appointment with psychiatry.
Young Parent Program: Jade Muir, Clinician and Daniella Matos, Navigator
Created a team approach to eliminate the need for a client to explain their situation multiple times to internal and external supports.
Developmental Services: Keston Roberts and Krystal MacCullam, Adult Protection Services Workers (APSW)
Created a process to efficiently provide clients with up-to-date relevant community resources tools specific to a client’s needs
Provided the resources and means to help clients and their families live independently