Connections

Standard 49 read “There shall be timely and regular (at least monthly) documentation (i.e. progress notes) which provides the nature and progress of each student.” In my reviews, I often find many centers several months behind on this type of documentation. It is designated a “shall” so the ministry has to maintain compliance as per the affiliation agreement. The standard allows the program to do the documentation in any way it wishes. However, many centers that get constantly behind in documentation are trying to do way more than is necessary to be compliant with the standard. As a reminder, Teen Challenge is a discipleship program, not a drug rehab or medical program. Your progress notes do not need to meet any state licensed or Insurance company requirements. The only exception would be those few Teen Challenge organizations that are state licensed.

The other misconception is the idea each progress note is based on a monthly session with their spiritual advisor. Every day you talk with the students about this or that issue he or she may be dealing with. There is not enough time in a day to document every conversation that you may have with each student. What this standard requires is that at least once a month, the designated staff person documents in a few sentences what progress (or lack of progress) they have seen with a particular student. Things like a student’s attitude towards work, class, church and how they’re relating to other students and staff can be described in just a few sentences. Maybe a comment or two about any improvements that may have been seen when family visits would be appropriate.

I’ve also seen these categories listed individually and rated on a 1 to 5 scale. The point is to keep it simple. The simpler it is, the easier it is to keep up with.  Some directors will try and do a couple of these each day. By month’s end, all the student progress has been documented for that month. You can be as detailed as you wish on these notes. You can base them on a single monthly meeting with the spiritual advisor if you wish, but each center is obligated to get documentation done monthly. If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to email me at dougl@teenchallengeusa.com.