CARF Accreditation

In 2007, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), an international nonprofit organization focusing on human services, awarded FREE accreditation for meeting superior standards of care and excellence in Employment Services, Community Services and Psychosocial Rehabilitation Programs. In addition, Saddle Rock Ranch and the Bethpage Theater Arts Day Habilitation program received special recognition by CARF for exemplary services.

Click Here to View 2009 CARF Satisfaction Survey Results.

In 2007, the CARF Surveyors noted:

• "The community employment services department develops work sites that offer a variety of opportunities for persons served, with sites matching persons’ identified references, strengths, and needs."
• "The FREE respite program provides an individual service to families of persons with disabilities, with scheduled availability as well as availability on an emergency basis."
• "The day service location has a well-developed program, and staff members are dedicated to providing programming that enriches the lives of the persons serves."
• "The Snoezelen® (sensory program) has expanded from day services into community housing. The use of sensory stimulation rooms in some homes has given the persons serves a place to relax and reduce stress."
• "The mental health community housing program is designed to create a family environment for the persons served. Each home is a reflection of the person who lives there."
• "Persons served with chronic and persistent mental illness are thriving in a well-integrated neighborhood setting. The programs are structures to facilitate maximum independence."
• "The Day Service Islandia program has been diligent in developing innovative ways to ensure that persons served understand their rights. A grievance procedure is posted in a pictorial format to assist persons served in understanding how to report a grievance and the chain of command to follow."

"Family Residences and Essential Enterprises demonstrates exemplary conformance to the standards.

The CEO of FREE (then Barbara L. Townsend) has given the organization over twenty years of nurturance and remarkable development and has seen it through incredible growth. The organization clearly offers a variety of community life experiences and opportunities for community access and integration as demonstrated by the Saddle Rock Ranch programs and the theatre arts program, The FREE Players."