Shared Planning and Strategic Plans

Strategic planning for ACEs, suicide, and overdose prevention is a process that allows organizations to create priorities, review internal and external partner roles, and define short- and long-term goals and outcomes. Planning enables organizations to determine strengths within their program, as well as gaps that need to be addressed. Strategic and shared planning allows organizations to review communication strategies, agency and partner priorities, funding levels, and resources to achieve formal written goals. The Suicide, Overdose, and Adverse Childhood Experiences Prevention Capacity Assessment Tool (SPACECAT) can be used to determine the existence of strategic plans within your organization and the level of coordination and shared planning for ACES, suicide, and overdose priorities occurring. SPACECAT also assists organizations with determining priorities and challenges. Below is a list of beginner, intermediate, and advanced actions your organization can take based on your SPACECAT results.

Beginner Action Ideas

• Strategic priorities are ranked organizational objectives and goals. Internally discuss your organization's priorities, objectives, and goals for ACEs, suicide, and overdose prevention.
  • What are the overall and specific programmatic priorities and goals of your organization and/or program?
  • Create a table of organizational or program priorities and determine the timeline for each priority. The list can contain long- and short-term objectives and goals.
• Determine the level of internal coordination across programmatic areas in relation to planning and creating an organization-wide strategic plan.
  • Do other departments have a strategic plan or priority list? Are there current or potential partnerships that can be built upon?
  • Are there other departments or agencies that need to be brought in for the creation of the strategic plan?
  • Are there barriers to coordinating the development of a strategic plan?
• Use tools such as the Haddon Matrix and Safe States toolkits to determine the levels of prevention that are occurring across your programs. Describe how programs can work together to create a comprehensive program. Then, use the results for strategic planning.
• Create a strategic plan outline for your program or agency.
  • Examples of strategic plans: ASTHO, North Carolina, Tennessee.

Intermediate Action Ideas

• Design or update a strategic plan for your section, unit, or organization that outlines coordination within your agency across ACEs, suicide, and overdose.
  • If a strategic plan is in place:
    - Are there timelines within the document?
    - Are goals and objectives being met?
    - Do any priorities, goals, or objectives need to be revised?
• Engage with your team in stakeholder mapping, both internal and external stakeholders. Stakeholder mapping is an activity that allows organizations to identify stakeholders and categorize their influence and interest in a project.
• Review the strategic plan with internal and external stakeholders in order to ensure coordination and receive feedback from those who are connected to the plan
  • Is there coordination among internal and external agencies? Across sectors? If not, what might be a first step toward coordinating or coordinating more effectively?
• Use the Building Safer States Core Components of State Public Health Injury and Violence Prevention Programs to facilitate the creation or modification of shared planning and strategic planning.

Advanced Action Ideas

• Design an implementation plan for the strategic plan to determine how priorities, goals, and objectives will be implemented. This includes a description of the intended audience, goals and objectives, proposed activities, evaluation components, timeline, and resources.
• Design a measurement plan for strategic plans and/or priorities.
  • Are there standard performance or outcome measures identified for your strategies? An example includes the Title V block grant.
  • Consult an epidemiologist to determine the most effective way to measure progress on your organization's strategies and goals.
• Review strategic plan and implementation plan periodically for continuous quality improvement.
  • Are the identified strategies effective?
  • Have your agency's priorities changed sufficiently to warrant adjusting the plan?
  • Has your agency received new funding that should be reflected in plans?
  • Has your agency established new partnerships that should be added to the plan?
• Revise the strategic plan based on outcome and performance outcome results.

Resources

• About the Strategy | Overdose Prevention Strategy | HHS
• Take action. Save lives. | ACEs Aware
• Adverse Childhood Experiences: A strategic approach to prevent ACEs in Ohio - Health Policy Institute of Ohio | healthpolicyohio.org
• APHA - ACEs, Overdose, and Suicide | Urgent Related Preventable
• Core Competencies in Injury and Violence Prevention | Safe States
• Developing a Local Health Department Strategic Plan: A How-To Guide | NACCHO
• Preventing Suicide: Guidelines for Administrators and Crisis Teams | NASP
• Strategic Plan and Department Implementation Plan | Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment
• Strategic Planning | Suicide Prevention Resource Center
• Strategic Planning Guide: Guidance and Resources to Assist State and Territorial Health Agencies in Developing a Strategic Plan | ASTHO
• What is Theory of Change? | Theory of Change Community
• World Health Organization Suicide Factsheet | World Health Organization

Health Equity Questions to Consider

• Does your program or agency currently utilize a strategic plan? Is health equity currently a priority in your program or agency’s strategic plan?
  
  • Review the report, “Foundational Practices for Health Equity.”
  • Review Oregon Public Health Division’s strategic plan.
• Do your strategic plans address community-level shared risk and protective factors for suicide, overdose, and ACEs? 
  • Learn more about the social-ecological model and risk and protective factors.
  • Review the “Guide to SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework.”
• Do your suicide, overdose, and ACEs prevention strategies accurately reflect the diversity of your jurisdiction's communities?
  
  • Review the document, "Prevention with Purpose: Considering Culture Throughout the Strategic Prevention Framework.”
• Do your current partners share similar implementation or strategic plans? Are these partners willing to revise and improve plans collaboratively to ensure shared priorities?
  
  • Review the document, “Health Equity-Oriented Strategy Selection, Design, and Implementation.”
• How is your agency working with partners to share and coordinate data that represents all populations within your communities?
  
  • Learn about community information exchanges.
• Have you convened with your partners to address individual and shared priorities among your focus areas?
  
  • Learn more about identifying overlapping priorities.
  • Review the roles in strategic visioning/planning worksheet.