Purpose

The Clinical Leadership Council is the central leadership structure coordinating clinical services across disciplines at School of Imagination and Happy Talkers.

The council ensures that speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral therapy, and infant development services operate as a coordinated developmental care system — not as separate programs.

Through structured collaboration and leadership alignment, the council supports the organization's mission of providing integrated early childhood developmental services for children and families in the Tri-Valley and across the East Bay.

The council also provides a forum where clinical leaders develop shared processes, address coordination challenges, and strengthen leadership accountability across all clinical programs.

02

Guiding Principles

Integrated Care

Children benefit most when clinicians collaborate across disciplines to address communication, behavior, regulation, social development, and learning as part of a coordinated developmental plan.

Respect for Clinical Expertise

Each clinical discipline contributes specialized knowledge and perspective. Effective collaboration recognizes and integrates these perspectives in service of the child and family.

Family-Centered Care

Clinical discussions prioritize the needs and goals of children and their families above all else.

Operational Consistency

Strong clinical programs depend on clear processes and consistent expectations across teams. The council helps establish operational frameworks that support coordinated care.

Leadership Accountability

Council members share responsibility for strengthening collaboration, addressing operational challenges, and supporting a positive professional culture across programs.

03

Council Membership

The Clinical Leadership Council includes leadership representatives from each of the organization's primary clinical disciplines. Core members are:

Behavioral Therapy leadership (BCBA supervision)
Speech Therapy leadership
Occupational Therapy leadership
Infant Development Program leadership
Clinical administration

Additional participants may be invited when appropriate to support specific discussions or initiatives. Members participate not as representatives of individual departments, but as leaders responsible for the success of the integrated clinical system as a whole.

04

Responsibilities of the Council

Strengthening Interdisciplinary Collaboration

The council promotes collaboration across clinical disciplines to ensure that children receiving multiple services benefit from coordinated treatment planning and communication. This includes identifying opportunities for improved collaboration and ensuring alignment across clinical programs.

Supporting Clinical Quality

Council members share insights and experiences that strengthen clinical practices across programs — including service coordination, communication practices, and clinical consistency.

Addressing Operational Challenges

The council identifies operational barriers that may affect coordinated care and works with organizational leadership to develop solutions. Examples include:

Scheduling coordination across disciplines
Communication workflows between clinicians
Documentation practices and CentralReach standards
Service coordination for children receiving multiple services

Establishing Operational Processes

The council develops and refines standing orders — operational frameworks that support consistent clinical leadership. Examples include:

Referral coordination processes
Interdisciplinary communication expectations
Service coordination protocols
Leadership response guidelines for common operational issues

These frameworks prevent leaders from reinventing responses every time a problem surfaces and create consistent practices across programs.

Supporting Leadership Development

The council provides a forum for clinical leaders to share experiences, discuss challenges, and strengthen leadership skills as clinical programs expand. This supports emerging clinical supervisors and reinforces a collaborative leadership culture.

Advising on Program Development

As clinical services evolve, the council provides input on new service offerings, program improvements, opportunities for expanded collaboration, and infrastructure needed to support integrated care.

05

Rules of Engagement

These rules are stated explicitly at every meeting. Without them, councils drift into turf protection.

1

We Lead the System, Not Our Discipline.
Council members are not advocates for speech, OT, ABA, or IDP. They are responsible for the success of the entire developmental care system. The question we answer is: What is best for children and families receiving integrated care? — not: What is best for my department?
2

Integration Comes Before Efficiency.
Sometimes integration requires extra coordination, more communication, and scheduling adjustments. Those are acceptable tradeoffs if they improve developmental outcomes.
3

Problems Must Produce Solutions.
Council meetings are not for reporting problems. If an issue is raised, the expectation is: What should we do about it? The council exists to solve system problems, not just identify them.
4

Leaders Own Follow-Through.
If the council agrees on a change, the responsible leader implements it and the council reviews progress at the next meeting. No discussion loops.
5

Speak as Leaders, Not Supervisors.
This is a clinical leadership meeting — not a supervision meeting. Discussions focus on system design, integration, and program alignment — not individual employee performance.

06

Meeting Structure

The council meets monthly. Meetings are designed for collaborative leadership discussion and coordinated decision-making — not formal reporting.

Standard meeting agenda:

Program updates from each clinical discipline
Discussion of interdisciplinary coordination needs
Review of operational challenges affecting clinical services
Development of shared processes or leadership frameworks
Identification of action steps and follow-up items

01

Establish the Integrated Model

Goal: Create shared understanding of the system we are building

Charlene explains the transition: SOI is evolving from preschool + therapy programs to an integrated early childhood developmental care system. The council is the leadership structure that makes that system work.
Each member maps their discipline: services provided, referral pathways, current coordination challenges.
Identify where services currently operate in silos.
Select the top 3 coordination challenges — these become Meeting 2's agenda.

02

Build the Integrated Care Infrastructure

Goal: Begin solving the coordination problems identified in Meeting 1

Review and confirm the top integration challenges.
Design solutions: interdisciplinary case conference structure, communication protocols, shared treatment planning approach.
Define standing orders: When a child receives multiple services, who coordinates? How do clinicians communicate about shared goals?

03

Strengthen the Leadership System

Goal: Make the integrated model sustainable

Evaluate progress: What improved? What still needs attention?
Align on supervision structures and cross-discipline collaboration expectations.
Plan the next stage: diagnostics program integration, ABA growth, referral partnerships.

07

Decision-Making Approach

The council operates through collaborative discussion and shared problem solving. When recommendations or operational changes are identified, they are shared with organizational leadership to support implementation.

The council does not replace existing clinical supervision structures. It strengthens coordination and alignment across programs.

08

Strategic Context

The Clinical Leadership Council is the leadership backbone of the organization's strategic transition — from a preschool-centered organization to a regional early childhood developmental services hub.

For many years, School of Imagination was perceived primarily as an inclusive preschool. What has actually been built is something much larger: an integrated early childhood development system. The council is what makes that system function as one — ensuring that speech, OT, ABA, and infant development operate in coordination rather than as parallel silos.

This positioning directly supports the organization's ability to:

Increase qualified referrals from pediatricians, school psychologists, and community partners
Correct outdated market perceptions — preschool-only, Kaiser-only, at capacity
Communicate expanded clinical services and insurance access clearly
Establish School of Imagination and Happy Talkers as the first place families and providers turn when developmental concerns arise

The council ensures that the clinical reality matches the external positioning — and that both continue to evolve together.