The Complexities of Implementing a Wraparound Approach to Service Provision: A View from the Field

SUMMARY

The authors offer the perspective of several service providers on the benefits and barriers encountered in implementing the wraparound model within the context of a federally funded project to enhance a local system of care. The Pitt Edgecombe Nash-Public Academic Liaison project was instituted in three rural counties in Eastern North Carolina. A hallmark of this program was the role of families as treatment partners with the emphasis on collaboration among agencies, families and service providers. The actual process is organized by a service coordinator and led by an individual service team. While implementing the wraparound model, benefits and barriers were encountered at all levels of intervention. The authors suggest that quality-monitoring efforts should include the task of assessing implementation on an ongoing basis with an emphasis on analysis of the barriers and benefits encountered and subsequent midstream corrections to improve the wraparound model for each individual community.

KEYWORDS:

• Wraparound model
• systems of care
• quality improvement