Dana (She/Her/Hers) joined the iCarol team in 2013 after 12 years of direct service and administrative duties at a blended 2-1-1/crisis intervention/suicide prevention center. As the Communications and Social Media Manager at iCarol, you'll find her presenting Webinars, Tweeting, Blogging, Facebooking, and producing other materials that aid helplines in their work.
After fifty years of serving the sector as the Alliance of Information & Referral Systems (AIRS), the organization has rebranded the organization as Inform USA to better reflect its commitment to its mission and members. The change was announced at its 50th Anniversary Celebration on the evening of July 31 at the organization’s annual conference in Orlando, Florida.
Among the reasons for the name change, Inform USA more closely aligns the organization with its Canadian counterpart and frequent partner and collaborator, InformCanada. The chat bubbles seen in the new logo visually represent the exchange of information its membership provides to the consumers and constituents they serve.
In the announcement, InformUSA explained the balance of the need to preserve the legacy and good works of the organization over the past 50 years, with needed changes around technology, access, and modernization. The organization’s overall mission remains the same, however members are promised greater ease of access to membership benefits, networking, and information via the new and improved website and Member Compass.
The iCarol team is very excited to see our friends at Inform USA take these steps to build a bright future for everyone in the I&R industry. We can’t wait to see what’s next, and offer our sincere congratulations and support!
iCarol is proud to sponsor the upcoming Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS) Discovery Conference in Orlando, Florida from July 31 through August 2, 2023.
The conference is extra special this year because it will mark a milestone 50 years of AIRS. This is a huge accomplishment definitely worth celebrating. So much has changed in the field of Information and Referral in the last 50 years! What constitutes information and referral services has greatly expanded, as have the types of needs communities experience and request from service providers. The industry started with virtually no technology usage, with organizations managing resource databases and records mostly on paper. Today these agencies have access to technologies, databases, and other tools available both to curate resource and referral information, as well as connect with consumers and document information about their needs both met and met, service gaps, social determinants of health, and much more! iCarol is delighted to be a solution that these organizations use to carry out their work.
And of course, a recent challenge the I&R industry faced was COVID-19. Not only did information and referral agencies encounter an influx of inquiries from an anxious community desperately seeking reliable information and guidance during a scary time, but these agencies themselves were living it, too — pivoting their services and staff to work remotely while facing higher volumes than ever. Clearly, this industry and AIRS as leader in it has seen and done a lot in 50 years, and deserves a moment to pause and celebrate this incredible achievement. We’re excited to be in Orlando celebrating alongside them.
Attend iCarol’s Customer Conference on Sunday
For us, our time in Orlando will start just before the conference officially kicks off, when iCarol hosts our own Customer Conference on Sunday, July 30. Starting at 9:00am we’ll welcome both current and prospective customers to join us for a day of learning and discussion, as well as a full user group session that will help influence iCarol’s development roadmap in the coming years. For information about our customer conference and to register, please visit this page.
Come see us in the Exhibit Hall!
Once the conference officially kicks off, iCarol will be present at our booth in the exhibit hall. Please stop by to chat with us; we’d love to hear about what’s going on at your organization, what projects you have in the works, and if there’s anything we can assist you with. We’ll have some fun giveaway items to share, along with material that shares information on iCarol and the solutions we provide.
Join our main conference session co-hosted by 211 Maryland!
Finally, we are extremely excited to co-present one of the workshop sessions at the conference on Monday, July 31 at 11:30am. Join iCarol’s Senior Product Manager, Crystal McEachern, and President and CEO of 211 Maryland, Quinton Askew, will share “No One Left Behind: A Case Study of Maryland’s Care Coordination Program.” The workshop will explore how 211 Maryland worked with their Department of Health and iCarol to create a process where those visiting emergency departments for mental or behavioral health reasons could access care coordination through 211 Maryland to better connect them with resource that will address the mental or behavioral health needs as well as their social determinants of health.
We wish everyone heading to Florida safe and easy travels, we we look forward to seeing you at AIRS Discovery!
We wanted to post a friendly reminder that iCarol’s Customer Conference is just 10 days away!
The team is excited to provide existing iCarol customers, as well as those who don’t yet use iCarol but would like to learn more about us and our software, with a day of discussion and training related to iCarol capabilities as well as industry-specific information. We’ll share information on:
Data and reporting
Resource management
Care coordination
Closed-loop referral
and iCarol’s future development in a User Group session
This year’s conference will be held at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld on Sunday, July 30. We will be in the Tarpon room located on the second floor of the hotel. Refreshments including coffee, iced tea, water, and donuts will be served at the start of our day. While any travel and lodging costs will be your responsibility, there is no cost to attend this event. We do not plan to record any portion of the customer conference, however we will hold a virtual user group session later this year.
iCarol is the technology provider for the National Council’s 24 hour 1-800-GAMBLER hotline services offered through Chat and SMS/Text. Through the use of NCPG affiliates, this national hotline is staffed 24/7/365 with all calls, chats, and text messages being routed to an affiliate organization serving the help-seeker’s region. Using iCarol’s common messaging queue, all chat and SMS/Text messages are routed to the designated center so that the proper affiliate organization can answer, respond, and provide assistance to those in need.
This industry has experienced a number of changes due to the proliferation of sports betting since 2018 when the United States Supreme Court struck down a law that had prevented most states from allowing sports betting.
Those treating compulsive gambling say calls to their hotlines seeking help have increased significantly in the five years since sports betting was legalized and made available on cell phones. Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, says calls to the 800-GAMBLER help line have increased by 15% over the last five years as “states began the fastest and largest expansion of gambling in our history.”
The National Council on Problem Gambling does not take a position for or against legalized gambling, according to its mission and values. Instead, it serves as an advocate to mitigate gambling-related harm — advocating for those who are effected by problem gambling, promoting collaborative action of a broad range of people and organizations, treating those affected by problem gambling with respect, and striving to be an objective, accurate and reliable source of information for those who are concerned about problem gambling.
We look forward to the opportunity to support NCPG’s efforts and mission by attending the conference next week. iCarol is always happy to invite new NCPG affiliates to join the 1-800-GAMBLER network. If your problem gambling advocacy organization would like to learn more, please speak to us during exhibition hours at the conference, or schedule a meeting with us!
iCarol is very proud and excited to be an exhibitor at the upcoming USAging (Formerly known as n4a) conference and tradeshow from July 16-17.
This will be iCarol’s fourth year in attending USAging. We are excited to once again celebrate the work of Area Agencies on Aging, Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs), and other organizations providing services to older adults and their caregivers. In a now post-COVID world, these organizations are readjusting their services and offerings. Many services that quickly adapted to the needs of these populations during COVID-19 have now found that older adults and caregivers want to continue accessing services in the ways they did during the pandemic – virtually or through other new communication channels. And as always as the generation entering adulthood shifts, so too are those expectations from the population in how, when, and where they access services or information. Clearly, we are in a very interesting and exciting time in this industry.
At our booth we’ll have information to share about how iCarol empowers ADRCs, AAAs, and Senior Information Lines, and other services for older adults, individuals with disabilities, and their caregivers to:
Provide social connection and ease loneliness through Telephone Reassurance Programs
Collaborate with Community-Based Organizations to address Social Determinants of Health
Participate in Health/Community Information Exchanges and No Wrong Door initiatives
Provide comprehensive I&R, Closed-Loop referral and collect outcome data
Document information included on reimbursement requests
Meet people on preferred communication channels
Integrate with other software and systems
If you’re attending the conference, be sure to visit the iCarol booth to learn more, download the resources we have available, and contact us with your questions! We invite you to schedule a meeting ahead of time using our convenient online calendar here.
July Is Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, which is also known as BIPOC Mental Health Month.
July was first recognized as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month in 2008, and was created to bring awareness to the struggles that underrepresented groups face regarding mental illness in the US.
Who was Bebe Moore Campbell?
Bebe Moore Campbell was an American author, journalist, teacher, and mental health advocate who worked to expose the mental health needs of the Black community and other underrepresented communities.
Each year Mental Health advocacy organizations launch their public education campaigns dedicated to addressing the mental health needs of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
Mental Health America‘s chosen theme for BIPOC Mental Health Month in 2023 is “Culture, Community, & Connection.”
Our lives are deeply intertwined with our environments, and these surroundings impact our mental health and overall wellness. Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) populations are faced with disproportionate amounts of historical trauma and displacement that can challenge their ability to thrive in their environments. However, culture, community, and connection are pillars that support and uplift BIPOC individuals in the face of oppression and systemic racism. Learn more in these resources about how BIPOC communities have thrived.
You can download Mental Health America’s free BIPOC Mental Health Month Toolkit here.
Thanks to everyone who recently completed our survey about topics of discussion for our Customer Conference to be held in Orlando, Florida on July 30, 2023 at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld ahead of the AIRS Discovery Conference. After reading through your feedback and finalizing our sessions, today we’re announcing our agenda!
Our session titles are:
Shining a Light on Resource Data and Reports Coordinating Care: A Team Expedition Uncover Your Data’s Potential Adventure into the Horizon: iCarol User Group Discover iCarol
Read the full schedule and session descriptions here. Space is limited, so register now!
This is our second year participating in the event and we look forward to engaging with professionals working to prevent suicide in Texas. There are numerous exciting projects and initiatives happening in the state. Texas has an impressive suicide prevention collaborative made up of nearly 40 community centers working to serve the entire state, including many who operate 988 as a primary or backup center.
We encourage you to visit our virtual exhibit booth using the Whova app. At our booth you can download several materials about how iCarol is serving suicide prevention centers including 988 centers, and the tools and technology available when you work with iCarol. Our virtual booth will be staffed during conference hours – please chat in with your questions and we’ll promptly respond! If you’d like to meet with us another time to learn more, please schedule a meeting at your convenience.
iCarol is currently seeking a candidate to fill the role of Solutions Expert on our Business Development Team! This is a remote work position open to anyone in the United States or Canada.
We are looking for someone who is a self-starter, charismatic, and highly motivated to hunt for, identify, qualify, and closing high quality business opportunities. An ideal candidate will have an understanding, passion, or experience working with not-for-profits, and experience using iCarol Software.
To read the full job description and apply, please visit our Careers Page.
In recent years iCarol has welcomed several new customers who are Child Care Resource and Referral agencies. These agencies curate a comprehensive database of child care providers in their state, province, or region. This includes all sorts of information that parents and caregivers need when researching their options and making decisions — hours of operation, current openings, languages spoken, pre-school or educational programs offered, voucher acceptance, locations, and much more.
Child Care Resource and Referral agencies using iCarol have found that iCarol’s resource database offers the ultimate flexibility for their needs. Further, iCarol helps them document and track their interactions with parents, caregivers, and others who are inquiring about available care in their community. iCarol is also helping them send child care referrals by Email and SMS/Text, allowing them to accept online inquiries using Public Web Forms, and keep their listings updated while using less staff resources to do so with Automated Resource Verification.
If you’re going to the conference, please stop by and visit Veronica at our booth, which will be located at the entrance to the exhibition and registration area. We have lots of great information to provide, and you can also download our new eBook. We’re excited to see you in Arlington!
