Calgary Counselling Centre is known throughout the human service community as an innovative service provider committed to research and evaluation. The Centre is currently involved in 18 research projects and is committed to growing its ability to produce meaningful and credible research results.

As a guiding principal the Centre applies program research to meeting the changing needs of our clients. In addition, the agency is a responsible custodian of funds for the community, and as such we have a mandate from the community to provide accountable, research-based (linked to literature and best practices) services and programs.

We believe evaluation is essential in order to be accountable to clients, funders, the community, the agency itself, and professional counselling bodies.

The Centre has developed the largest Domestic Abuse database in Canada and is a leader in North America regarding the development of Domestic Abuse prevention and programs. The Centre has also focused research initiatives and pilot programs in areas such as male victims of abuse, eating disorders, self-esteem, depression and the effects of divorce on children.

We realize the importance of measuring the success of our counselling services. Having a reliable, accurate and credible system of measurement ensures that clients receive the highest level of service quality we can provide.

The Centre's Outcome Measurement program is used to measure the degree of client progress, satisfaction and therapeutic success in all counselling programs.

Outcome Measurement is a client-oriented approach to evaluating existing program effectiveness, style and structure. Session by session, we are able to see how our clients experience counselling and how it impacts their lives.

Client's sense of their well-being are gathered before each session. This information is then used to monitor client progress and to improve the Centre's counselling services and programs. In this way, the Centre is able to ensure that clients are receiving the best possible treatment and that counsellors are continually improving their skills.

The Centre's Outcome Measurement program results support several important conclusions:

• Counselling experienced by clients at the Centre is effective in
       producing positive change.
• The model of counselling per se doesn't necessarily impact
       counselling outcomes.
• Good counselling promotes positive change; no matter what treatment model is
       used.
• Clients tend to move from being distressed to being non-distressed
       during the third and fourth sessions, a finding consistent with most other
       published data using similar methods, clients and questionnaires.

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One of our goals is to provide opportunities for learning based on research performed at the Centre. As of 2003, Calgary Counselling Centre established a research partnership with the University of Calgary, Social Work Department that promises to expand the Centre's research potential and forge a lasting relationship with students and faculty at the university.

In addition, the Centre maintains a relationship with RESOLVE Alberta, which is a tri-prairie research network that co-ordinates and supports research aimed at ending Domestic Abuse.

*In keeping with the Centre's Confidentiality Policy, the client's right to privacy is adamantly protected. Complete details regarding research will be provided to group members prior to enrollment in the program.

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