Heather Distin, PCC-S
COE Project Director Center for Innovative Practices (CIP)
The Ohio CANS assessment tool has been developed for broad application across multiple systems, including youth involved in child protection,developmental disability, department of youth services, and mental health and addiction. This ensures youth only need to go through one assessment across multiple providers. The tool gathers all dimensions of the youth and family story to determine needs and strengths and integrates multiple storytellers capturing the voice of the youth and family to produce a full consensus-based assessment. The CANS is updated routinely over the course of treatment to continue ongoing care planning.