Leading a change initiative to meet accreditation standards for a mental health care organization in eastern North Carolina

In recent years the mental health care system of North Carolina has experienced significant changes. In the past, the state of North Carolina in conjunction with area programs, assumed the responsibility for delivering mental health care services to thousands of North Carolinians. However, in 2001 the state initiated a plan to establish a client-focused system. This new plan would allow the citizens of North Carolina to receive services from the Private, community based provider of their choice instead of from the responsible area program, and it would also require private providers to meet new state and national accreditation standards. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to answer the question "How can leaders of a small mental health care agency in eastern North Carolina lead a change initiative that will prepare the agency to meet state and national accreditation standards?";The author reviewed current literature to demonstrate that change initiatives begin with leadership and that multistep change initiatives can facilitate improved organizational performance. Selected biblical texts were also analyzed to identify characteristics of successful leaders and how they led change. Qualitative research methods were utilized to gauge the success of the initiative, and the project culminated with the leaders of Uplift Comprehensive Services leading a multistep change initiative based upon the techniques for leading organizational change advanced by John Kotter in the book Leading Change. This change initiative led to the organization obtaining both state and national accreditation.