The first contact with a service provider (or "initiation") is a critical moment in any intervention plan. Consistent with the treatment standards of the Washington Circle Group initiation in the Reclaiming Futures model is defined as at least one service contact within 14 days of a youth's initial AOD assessment. Initiation can be measured for the entire intervention plan or for each component of the plan. Service initiation should be monitored whether or not the intervention plan includes formal AOD treatment.

The communities that served as demonstration sites for the Reclaiming Futures initiative learned important and sometimes painful lessons about service initiation. Tracking actual performance across bureaucratic boundaries led to one particularly important revelation in Dayton, Ohio. Once they began to monitor the movement of youth out of the court process and into the treatment process, juvenile probation officials in Dayton discovered that under previous practices, more than half of the youth referred for substance abuse treatment never appeared at their assigned treatment provider, and that information never found its way back to the referring agency.

McCorry, Frank, Deborah W. Garnick, John Bartlett, Frances Cotter, Mady Chalk, for the Washington Circle Group (2000). "Developing Performance Measures for Alcohol and Other Drug Services in Managed Care Plans." The Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement, 26(11): 633-643.

Of all youth who agree to complete an appropriate service plan, how many (as a percentage) initiate the services as designed?

Community treatment systems should track individual outcomes for all youth who are referred for a service coordination plan, whether or not they initiate services.
Of all youth who agree to a service plan but fail to initiate services as designed, how many (as a percentage) are successful for at least one year?*

* Note: Success may be defined in various ways, including the absence of new arrests or new court referrals, no new drug use, reduced drug use, no subsequent referrals for drug or alcohol treatment, or some combination of these measures.