RUNNING HEAD: AGENCY REPORT 1

Agency Report

Dolores J. Thackrah

Wilmington University
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MISSION

The agency I am reporting on today is the Psycotherapeutic Meditation

Center(PMC), which is an agency that mixes therapy where at the end, closes with

meditation. The mission of PMC is, to integrate the most effective psychotherapeutic

interventions where meditation can be an integral part of the overall healing process.

In addition to traditional psychotherapy, PMC utilizes creative approaches to penetrate

to the roots of problems and utilize powerful interventions to promote the most

effective treatment (pmcdel.com, 2017). The agency fills a demand of the times, in my

opinion, both meditation and psychotherapy seem to be household conversation these

days.

DEMOGRAPHICS

The target population for PMC varies greatly; there are prevention and early

intervention services that target children and their families and then there are

individual psychotherapy clients from all ages and races. There does seem to be a

heavy presentation of Indian Asian decent and I believe this is because Dr. Sachin

Karnink, himself, is of the same decent. Otherwise, there are seniors, young adults,

middle aged, male and female; it is a very diverse practice. The general feel of PMC

is welcoming to everyone.

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The major policies and procedures are still being worked on, as I stated in my

Learning Plan, PMC is currently developing the policy and procedure manual and that

is one of the things I am going to work on, with the COO, Mary Fennimore. At the

present moment, there is no actual manual for me to see or report on. I do know that
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some of the main components will include, confidentiality, which are included to

protect both the client and the clinician. The manual will also include the mission

statement, an organization chart, an employee handbook and financial policies and

procedures.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The organizational structure of the agency is the board of directors, then Dr,

Sachin Karnik at the top as the CEO and Mary Fennimore, COO. Under the CEO and

the COO of the organization are the clinicians themselves; Caitlin Grant, MSW,

CADC, Paulette Wakefield, MSW, LCDP and Debra Goth, CAADC. There is also a

credentialing specialist, Linda Persaud and an administrative assistant, Christina

Maloney. The organizational chart is attached on a separate document. The

governance of the organization is the board of directors, all major decisions to be made

and budgets set, are approved or denied, by the board of directors.

FUNDING

Funding for PMC comes in various forms. Insurance is the main contributor to

the funding for PMC. PMC deals with various insurance agencies; United Health,

Aetna, Medicaid, Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Clients that have insurances

that cover only some of the cost or none at all, are self-pay clients. PMC bills

insurances for services rendered and depending on the type of sessions and the lengths

of the sessions, determines how much the insurance company or the client will pay.

SOCIETY RELATIONSHIP

The relationship the PMC has with the society and with other agencies is unique due

to the fact that they are mixing meditation and psychotherapy. PMC receives referrals
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from other therapeutic agencies, like Brandywine Counseling, for clients they think

will benefit from the meditation piece of the therapy service. There are a number of

other agencies that make similar referrals, like the Oxford Houses and Friendship

Houses.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

PMC has many strengths as an agency; the staff is very close knit in their vision

to help the clients. PMC is very loyal to their clientele and really believe that their

unique approach to therapy will greatly benefit each client. When an outsider, like

myself walks in to PMC, you can feel the compassion and genuinity. The weaknesses

of PMC are due to the fact that it is a young company, there is a feeling of

disorganization in the office on the administrative level.

The administrative assistant seems to have too many duties, for instance, there

is no billing or insurance department, its just an additional duty for the administrative

assistant. The administrative assistant also schedules all appointments, orders all

supplies and other administrative duties. The fact that the policy and procedure manual

is not complete yet also shows a level of disorganization, in my opinion. I think getting

these weaknesses sorted out and getting a policy and procedure manual will remove

the challenges they face in this area and will create an overall peaceful and organized

office.

MY ROLE AS AN INTERN

My role at PMC has been a little disorganized so far; I have been helping with

administrative duties, including verifying insurance, making appointments, making

appointment reminder calls and answering the phone. The plan for my role continues
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to develop and is going to include observing psychotherapeutic meditation sessions

and learning more about meditation in general. I will also be spending time with the

COO as she finalizes the policy and procedure manual, and will learn what is important

in creating the manual and what the policies really mean, to the clients and to the staff.
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References

Psycotherapeutic Meditation Center website. (2017). pmcdel.com