Parlan saves time for children’s mental health care and provider wellbeing with Copilot

Therapy and behavioral resources do not always lead to progress in a straight line. Improvement can come in fits and starts, especially for the young people and families that seek help from the Dutch nonprofit Parlan. But the patience, perseverance, and passion of psychologists and other trained experts can pay off. That was the case for one young woman[CG1] , who received guidance from Parlan off and on from ages 13 to 21. After ongoing therapy helped her get her life back on track, she told her psychologist, “If children come for therapy and don’t want to [do it], just like I did then, you should tell them it can really help. That they really need to persevere.”

Parlan provides specialized care for children and families in North Holland with complex needs, at no cost to clients. A dedicated team of psychologists, care providers, and other professionals help young people and their loved ones navigate behavioral, social, and emotional challenges that get in the way of living to their full potential. Parlan focuses on the most vulnerable clients, from unaccompanied minor refugees to young people whose families are in crisis.

Unfortunately, these challenges are growing among families. With an increasing demand for Parlan’s services amid static funding and rising costs, Parlan sought greater efficiencies so it could not only continue its vital work but gradually expand. In addition, a high administrative burden for frontline workers to create documentation puts pressure on workers who already faced stress from supporting complex, emotionally taxing cases. 

“We needed to find other solutions to get things done, to do our work more simply,” says Ron Ploeg, IT and Facility Manager at Parlan. 

With the help of Microsoft partner e-office, Parlan is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to summarize and synthesize client records, draft content that supports operations, and translate client-provider conversations so children and their families can get more complete care, faster. “With AI and Copilot, we can reduce the administrative work for frontline workers so they can have more time for clients,” Ploeg says.

About 180 Parlan staff are currently actively using Microsoft 365 Copilot. The organization is focusing its rollout of the tool on frontline workers who provide direct services to clients. Parlan is gradually increasing the number of licenses, socializing successful use cases, and offering training to improve the efficacy of users’ prompts. 

“Efficiencies gained using Copilot help me handle administrative tasks more effectively, allowing me to spend more time on direct client care and less time on paperwork,” says Linda Bruins, Directing Practitioner at Parlan. “When I can delve deeper into client cases and provide more personalization, clients have better outcomes.”

Streamlining record keeping and reporting

At Parlan, licensed psychologists and other experts support children and families with high needs, such as young people who have witnessed violent atrocities and those who have survived trauma. Thorough and accurate record keeping ensures clients’ provider teams are fully informed and provides reference for future needs. In short, documenting client information keeps the nonprofit running.

While this essential practice can be time-consuming, Microsoft 365 Copilot is helping ease the administrative burden of client documentation. 

Providers already record many client sessions for both internal training and family treatment purposes, so it was easy for staff to incorporate the Microsoft AI assistant within their workflow. Now providers direct Microsoft 365 Copilot to draft reports of client meetings, saving an hour or more per session. “I experience enormous time savings using Copilot, and it improves the quality of my work,” says Petra Snip, Lead Practitioner at Parlan. 

Microsoft 365 Copilot’s summaries cover topics discussed as well as next steps. Mental health care providers quickly check the draft for accuracy and add their own observations, such as cues from body language that the AI assistant cannot infer. They then upload the documentation to the organization’s electronic record system.

Providers sometimes need to create multiple versions of session reports, for example when they need to omit sensitive information before sharing the summary with a parent. Parlan staff can now prompt Microsoft 365 Copilot to filter out confidential details, shortening a formerly time-consuming administrative step to just a few minutes.

They also use the AI assistant to craft a therapeutic fictional story based on a child’s background. This narrative, which used to take 4 to 12 hours to write, can provide a make-believe character clients can relate to. As the character faces and overcomes obstacles, clients can begin to see a path forward in their own lives. With the assistance of Microsoft 365 Copilot, mental health providers can more easily incorporate this valuable approach into therapy. 

“This AI tool helps us better prepare for our sessions and focus more on the quality of interactions with clients,” Snip says. “It allows us to tailor our approach and provide even more personalized care.”

Providing much-needed care, faster

The children who come to Parlan are in difficult, often delicate situations. Many have histories of trauma, from fleeing conflict and becoming refugees to enduring bullying. Parlan aims to reduce wait lists as much as possible so children get the care they need, faster. 

Staff use Microsoft 365 Copilot to more efficiently navigate lengthy patient documentation, which can be hundreds of pages long. These necessary compilations include notes on family dynamics, past experiences, previous diagnoses, and more—critical information that informs every step of the therapeutic process. 

“Copilot helps summarize large dossiers into more manageable stories or timelines, which is very useful when dealing with extensive client files,” Bruins explains. AI-generated summaries include linked footnotes so providers can refer to the original documentation for greater detail. This capability enables providers to get up to speed efficiently and prepare to meet with clients without delay. Bruins adds, “This thorough understanding enables us to address specific needs and challenges more effectively.”

Many of the children and families Parlan serves do not speak Dutch as a first language, and the communication barrier can delay support. The nonprofit uses human interpreters, but the service is expensive and in some cases must be scheduled weeks in advance, Ploeg explains. What’s more, sometimes it is difficult to find an interpreter fluent in the needed language or dialect. Parlan is now experimenting with using Copilot in Microsoft Teams as a stand-in for interpreters.

During tests of this use case, care providers and clients take turns speaking while Microsoft Teams runs. Copilot translates, enabling everyone to understand and respond. The solution is not perfect, but “it is helpful in the moment when there are no other options available,” Ploeg says. “We see big potential in this solution. It allows us to start giving children help earlier.”

Parlan is investigating the possibility of developing a translation solution using Azure AI. In the meantime, Copilot in Teams is helping clients and providers communicate when children simply cannot wait. 

Crafting content in a fraction of the time

Essential but manual work such as creating presentations and documenting meetings keep Parlan running and funded, but the nonprofit wanted a way to minimize administrative duties. Microsoft 365 Copilot is helping office staff streamline these time-consuming tasks.

Parlan board members often create PowerPoint presentations for webinars, board sessions, and meetings with external partners. The communications team supports this content creation, which used to take hours. Now staff direct Copilot in PowerPoint to create new presentations, eliminating the lengthy step of starting from scratch. After reviewing the draft and adjusting where needed, staff have ready-to-present content in about a half-hour—an eighth of the time this work used to require. 

Other Parlan staff have used Copilot to translate content, widening the reach of their educational materials. For example, the organization recently created a French version of a PowerPoint presentation on education for families of children with autism. While it took a few tries to craft the right prompt, it translated the materials and duplicated the presentation in mere minutes. “This capability is very helpful for reaching audiences who do not speak Dutch,” Bruins says. “Translating documents and presentations into a client’s native language helps bridge communication gaps and ensures both clients and families fully understand the therapeutic process.”

Staff also use Copilot to take over meeting documentation. Microsoft Teams records and transcribes meetings, then Copilot in Teams generates concise summaries to help staff quickly review key points. These records help staff revisit past decisions and keep those who couldn’t attend up to date. The AI assistant also captures action items and who is responsible for following up, helping teams stay on top of time-sensitive tasks. 

Supporting frontline workers’ wellbeing

 Although Copilot has saved time, that efficiency hasn’t yet translated into frontline workers being able to take on more clients. While that remains a valuable goal—one that would help Parlan serve more children in need—it’s not the nonprofit’s only priority. “Keeping workers satisfied is just as important,” Ploeg says. “If you reduce burnout and sick leave while improving quality of service, you will gain more business and improve financials—and that all starts with work happiness. Copilot is helping us improve the employee experience.”

By reducing the administrative burden on frontline workers, Copilot gives them valuable breathing room throughout the day. Instead of striving to complete paperwork and write reports in brief windows between client meetings, they now direct Copilot to draft documentation in minutes. “This reduces the pressure of administrative work,” Ploeg says. “They have the time to collect themselves, talk to colleagues, and reduce their stress. It helps them find more balance at work.” Therapists also use this time to prepare for upcoming client sessions. 

Ploeg believes that reducing administrative work and freeing time through Copilot use may reduce turnover. “It’s really a challenge to find good workers and keep them,” he says. “It is stressful, difficult work for those on the front line. Copilot is helping us make a solution that really supports care.”

 [CG1]https://www.parlan.nl/ervaringsverhaal/een-aap-met-een-missie