To successfully develop and introduce a community-based mental wellness program, some relevant steps should be followed to build a sustainable plan of action.
Step 1: Data Collection
To begin with, a data collection mechanism should be organized. Through surveys or other tools, information from the member community will be obtained. This activity allows for highlighting general and individual resilience factors and identifying current needs (Morton Ninomiya et al., 2020). Interaction with different stakeholders can be performed. The identification of priority areas for work depends on these activities.
The mental wellness program requires sincere feedback from the target audience. The relevance of the work should be communicated to the members of the community and the potential risks described (Kristman et al., 2019). Otherwise, biased data may be collected. Personal information must be combined into a common database. After that, the received data should be implemented in the workflow.
Step 2: Data Implementation
The collected information should be used as an intervention background. Professional staff can work on creating an interaction framework. The identified trends in responses should be the basis for targeted activities. Experienced psychologists and social workers can identify the most pressing issues (Morton Ninomiya et al., 2020). This is to narrow the scope of the program’s impact.
Mental wellness should be promoted as an integral part of life. The community members need to be aware of the range of applications of the acquired knowledge. Both home and workplace mental safety are significant (Kristman et al., 2019). Otherwise, little effect can be gained from the intervention. After communicating the principles of interaction to the target audience, the knowledge-sharing phase should be developed.
Step 3: Knowledge Sharing
Compiling guidelines for the population is an essential step. Relevant data should be reflected in special manuals and brochures. Engaging social media is a relevant initiative (Morton Ninomiya et al., 2020). The community members can share data on their experiences. This activity may expand the scope of the program’s application.
Knowledge-sharing procedures help maintain the program in the community. The participants can share their challenges and improvement ideas (Kristman et al., 2019). Based on this data, psychologists and social workers can enhance some details of the program. In addition, given the information collected, objective ideas about the success of the work performed can be obtained. The evaluation phase can be included in the same step.
References
Kristman, V. L., Lowey, J., Fraser, L., Armstrong, S., & Sawula, S. (2019). A multi-faceted community intervention is associated with knowledge and standards of workplace mental health: The superior mental wellness@ work study. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1-11.
Morton Ninomiya, M., George, N. P., George, J., Linklater, R., Bull, J., Plain, S., Graham, K., Bernards, S., Peach, L., Stergiopoulos, V., Kurdyak, P., McKinley, G., Donnelly, P., & Wells, S. (2020). A community-driven and evidence-based approach to developing mental wellness strategies in First Nations: A program protocol. Research Involvement and Engagement, 6(1), 1-12.