Impact

Because of the successful Strategic Plan Houston Recovery Initiative (HRI) was able to create through the facilitation process, our request to the Houston Endowment to fund the implementation of the plan was granted. The grant enabled HRI to hire two professional staff to help implement the Strategic Plan.

Context and challenges

HRI is a grass-roots volunteer coalition that seeks to achieve a system of support for long-term addiction recovery through education and empowerment of individuals, families, and communities. Recovery from mental disorders and/or substance use disorders is defined as a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life and strive to reach their full potential. With two employees, our foundation uses the Recovery-Oriented System of Care (ROSC) model, which focuses on substance use disorders specifically with goals of:

• safe and supportive housing
• a stronger relationship with the 12-step community and other peer recovery resources
• establishing Recovery Community Centers
• educating the community that addiction is a chronic condition that can be managed
• emphasizing best practices for treatment and long-term recovery support
• developing and implementing a ROSC model for adolescents
• increasing recovery resources by promoting recovery coach training.

Project objectives

Our goal was to develop a strategic plan to help create the appropriate structure for the HRI and to determine long-range goals and outcomes with which to measure our efforts. Two key areas of interest included:

1. defining the organizational structure that would best allow us to increase the breadth and depth of our reach
2. defining the impact we are collectively working towards with evaluation measures.

We wanted this plan to include a short-term/long-term timeline along with implementation strategies and tactics, as well as recommendations for organizational structure and needed resources.

Approach

In 2017 HRI engaged Prismatic Solutions to facilitate the creation of a three year Strategic Plan. A Public Input session was facilitated in May of 2017. Five workshops: Historical Scan & Trends Analysis, Practical Vision, Underlying Contradictions, Strategic Directions, and Implementation were facilitated in each of the following five months. In each of the next three quarters, a facilitated session was held to review what had been accomplished and plan for the next quarter. Finally, an annual review and a plan for the coming year was facilitated.