Planning for Change

Planning for change

YMHAC is a multi-partner model, which means that getting started requires:

• the buy in of local public health units and school boards/schools
• identification of local participants for key roles on an implementation team
• identifying community partners who can have a major influence on your program’s success and recruitment of youth champions to help with the program.

Making the effort up front helps provide long-term sustainability.

While you may already have some participants in mind, take the time to understand all different components of the YMHAC model first. Also, building out a program plan that includes objectives, deliverables and timelines will ensure a thriving, successful program.

The YWC logic model and implementation model provide an overview and visual description of the YWC Program, including an explanation of the relationship between the main components of the YMHAC model (below), their activities, and subsequent outputs.

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We have developed a detailed logic model, work plan with objectives, major deliverables, target audience and timelines for each stage of YMHAC model implementation. You can use it as a sample template to help you implement this approach at your local site.

Download a one-page flyer showing how the YWC Program outcomes align with implementation science.

DOWNLOAD YWC MODEL   DOWNLOAD YWC INFOGRAPHIC 

At the heart of the YWC Program is teamwork. You’ll depend on motivated partners who each bring a unique perspective and voice to the program—especially youth. Here’s a step-by-step guide to finding and organizing passionate team members.

What?

Your implementation team is a core team that is responsible for leading the planning, implementation and evaluation of the YWC Program. This can be either an internal team comprised of staff from your organization, or an external team comprised of staff from your organization, local school boards, schools and community-based organization members.

To determine whether your implementation team should be internal or external to your organization, you will need to consider your context and local community factors.

Who?

A common element among effective implementation teams is good representation from each sector. So, members of the internal or external implementation team should include leadership from management (e.g., direct supervisor, principals, superintendents) and front-line staff (e.g., public health nurses, health promotion officers, School Mental Ontario Health Leads and teachers) and Youth Champions.

Why?

The role of the implementation team is to provide support in YWC implementation. Roles may include reviewing the logic model and work plan and signing up for responsibilities, recruiting participating schools and youth,  training, supporting youth in leading youth- led health promotion initiatives, evaluation, etc.

After you have recruited an Implementation Team, your next task will be to work with your Implementation Team to identify and develop a comprehensive list of key partners in the YWC Program. Partners — individuals, groups, and/or organizations that have a vested interest in YWC —play an essential role in the change process and need to be involved throughout all phases in order for the program to succeed.

It is important to identify all types of partners to understand who may have a vested interest in your initiative. The RNAO Leading Change Toolkit has a variety of resources and tools to help you identify stakeholders and understanding when to engage them in your initiative. Work with your implementation team to collect information that helps you understand your stakeholders.

For more information, review the Leading Change Toolkit’s Core leadership structures section.

Consider developing surveys, focus groups or individual interviews with key influential personnel to help you identify stakeholders who would be supportive to implementation.

Here are potential questions to ask:

• What are the school board local strategic directions we should be aware of and how do they align with the YWC Program?
• What is the local strategic mental health plan in your school board? How do we ensure alignment and safeguards?
• What other strategic plans should we be aware of?
• Do you have suggestions on how to align the YWC Program to these plans?
• Who are other key influential stakeholders in the local health unit, school boards, school and community we may want to connect with?

Preparing a script and/or promotional materials to use when recruiting partners also helps ensure consistent information about the YWC Program.

A partnership analysis should be conducted after you’ve identified your team. The goal of a stakeholder analysis is to maximize congruence between partners’ interests and the goals of the implementation, in other words, minimize risks associated with lack of partner support.

Build a collaborative change team which provides a variety of skills and perspectives:

Types of partners:

Your partnership analysis should consider the vested interest of individual stakeholders, their level of influence and support for the proposed YWC Program initiative, and the factors that may facilitate buy-in. Partnership analysis can also help in minimizing risks of non-support; they can provide the Implementation Team with knowledge about factors that might impede implementation progress.

Using the data collected in your partnership analysis, you can develop effective engagement strategies.

A partnership analysis should be conducted after you’ve identified your team. The goal of a partnership analysis is to maximize congruence between partners’ interests and the goals of the implementation, in other words, minimize risks associated with lack of partner support.

These will serve as reminders to ensure greater youth participation.