Listen for Good : Closing the Loop on Round 1

In 2017, Palomar received support from The Inasmuch Foundation and Listen for Good to get systematic client feedback to improve how we serve and support our clients. Read more about the Listen for Good grant here.

Read on to hear how we are responding to YOUR feedback:

Here's what our clients told us:

Hint: hover over the purple boxes to read more!

They want more legal services

Currently, Palomar proudly partners with Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma (LASO) who provide 4 full-time attorneys. They represent clients in VPO proceedings, as well as with a number of other civil legal services, including: divorce, paternity, child support, housing issues, and more.

Despite our LASO partners working tirelessly and going above & beyond, they are sometimes unable to represent all Palomar clients in need of legal services due to the high volume of requests, professional conflict of interests, and attorney availability to accept new clients.

Through the L4G feedback, we have learned that there is a much greater need for legal services than LASO is able to provide.

To address this need, we have actively begun the process of hiring a Legal Director. The Legal Director will oversee the development and implementation of Palomar’s Pro bono/Lo bono Legal Clinic and Attorney Incubator Program. These programs will greatly increase the capacity of civil legal services available to clients.

If you or someone you know is an attorney and you would like to donate your services to clients in need on a pro-bono or sliding fee scale, please click here!

Palomar supports LASO’s efforts to expand services and we regularly encourage donors and grantors to support their invaluable programming. To donate to LASO, click here.

They want more counseling services

Currently, Palomar has 3 therapists on site. These include one full-time therapist from A Chance to Change, 1 full-time therapists from YWCA OKC, and one part-time therapist interning with Palomar through a partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. We also have therapy groups through partnerships with HALO Project, Northcare, & Pivot.

While the therapists on-site work very hard to meet the needs of our clients, there simply aren’t enough of them to meet current demand, and wait lists have, at times, been in the range of several weeks to several months. Such a wait time can be especially difficult for clients in immediate crisis or who have very recently experienced trauma.

Many of our clients are in need of either immediate crisis counseling, or long-term therapy services that exceed our current capacity. Many clients would prefer to meet with therapists closer to their home or place of employment, or have scheduling constraints that are difficult for our on-site therapists to work with. Specific client requests also include Art Therapists and Child Therapists.

To address this need, we have partnered with ODMHSA to improve the integration of services with Community Mental Health service providers, train other mental health service providers on domestic violence and other trauma, and build out a network of experienced, trauma-informed therapy partners to better meet the needs of our clients.

They want more economic empowerment & financial assistance

Currently, the financial resources at Palomar are limited addressing emergent and short-term needs. The YWCA also offers an Economic Empowerment Program that helps clients get back on their feet financially by providing one-on-one career planning, job searching, interview preparation, and money management classes.

Through the L4G surveys, we learned that clients are seeking assistance beyond what we can provide to ensure their long-term financial stability in addition to some short-term/immediate needs. These included: moving services and moving trucks, long-term housing and transportation, and education and employment resources.

We would love to partner with home builders and landlords to help identify housing options in clients’ preferred neighborhoods (like in their current school district). Specifically, we hope to find partners willing to provide discounts, waive deposits, or come up with other creative solutions to help clients relocate to stable, affordable, long-term housing options for themselves and their children.

We would also love to partner with local colleges, technical and trade schools, and other education or employment agencies who would like to help our clients get the education they need, or find better employment opportunities with the education they already have, so they can build a stronger financial foundation. Additionally, in the spring we will launch a code school for survivors!

Other things we learned:

Overall, we learned that Palomar clients are very satisfied with the services they have been receiving.

Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) for this round of surveys was 75.

By comparison, the nationwide benchmark for all L4G participants was 62.

When asked what Palomar was good at, clients used phrases like: "providing resources" "caring" "counseling" "meeting needs" "explaining" "helping with paperwork"

Additionally, 7 of 50 respondents stated that Palomar was good at "Everything."

Other areas where we can improve:

When asked what we could do better, over half of respondents said "Nothing."

Other common requests were for additional staff and service providers.

Other items we'd like to clarify in the future:

In future surveys, we plan to clarify with our clients which specific services and service providers they would like to see more of, and in response to surveys requesting additional classes, to clarify what types of classes and times they would like to see them offered.

Here's how we did it:

Surveys were collected at Palomar through a variety of methods, including: links on the computers in our computer lab, an iPad at the front of the building for clients to use as they are leaving, and in some cases, client interviews. Surveys were provided in English and Spanish. However, the collection method did not appear to dramatically alter the content of the responses. While data was initially analyzed when we received 50 responses, we have left the survey collector open to receive more data.

To see the complete results, click here.

Thank you to all the brave survivors who shared their experience with us. We hear you and strive to provide the best services possible.