Assessments

Using a thorough assessment, we identify areas of growth and provide concrete recommendations necessary to build a culture of inclusion within your workplace. We assess multiple aspects of your organization, including:

• Staff and Client Experience
  • Conduct surveys and stakeholder interviews.
    • Assess baseline attitudes and knowledge. Gain insight into the experiences of LGBTQ+ staff/clients.
  • Observe sessions with clients.
• Physical Environment
  • Perform a physical walkthrough of the space.
  • Assess aspects of the environment such as:
    • Lobby/waiting rooms, wall art, bathrooms, client spaces, signage
• Policies
  • Review policies and procedures, such as:
    • Nondiscrimination, dress code, harassment, accessibility, code of conduct, cultural competency, reporting complaints.
• Internal and External Documents
  • Review documents for staff and clients, such as:
    • Intake forms, orientation curriculum, employee/client handbook.
  • Review marketing materials, such as:
    • Website, newsletters, advertisements.
• Training
  • After assessing, we apply what we’ve learned to design custom training for your staff.

Phase 1: Research and Discovery

Our staff will do initial research by assessing websites, marketing, and any publicly available information. We will tailor our assessment tools based on our Phase 1 findings (to be utilized in Phase 2) to customize our plan for assessing LGBTQ+ inclusivity.

Phase 2: Assessment

We will collect information on the current practices and policies. A few of the things we look at are the physical space, the intake process, information management, staff training, an assessment of current staff comfort and competency, program development, clinical practice, and policy language.

Each organization is unique in its structure and mission, therefore the specifics on how inclusion should be achieved is up to the organization to decide using our recommendations as a foundation for change. Rainbow Health assessors help to find out why people have chosen to do things the way they do and what other options have been considered. We aim to transition from achieving excellence to excellence becoming a standard practice.

Phase 3: Training and Technical Guidance

Utilizing the information gathered in Phase 1 and 2, our team of expert trainers will create tailored curriculums for the identified areas of improvement. Likely, a training will be created to support clinical staff, one for support staff, and then a general competency training for all other personnel (including janitorial, front desk, accounting, etc.).

The Phase 1 and 2 findings will inform the technical guidance needs, which may include (but not be limited to) policy updates, intake process changes, and suggestions for the physical environment.

Phase 4: Follow-up and Ongoing Support

Supporting LGBTQ+ clients and becoming a welcoming space is an ongoing project. Some of our recommendations may include annual trainings, new staff trainings, and consultations for specific events. We plan to include surveys to re-evaluate staff comfort and competency, evaluate changes made in response to our findings, and be a source of ongoing support.