In September 2016, the Recovery Coalition of Dane County (RCDC) joined with consumers and other stakeholders to participate in a system scan examining the following issue statement:
Embarrassment and stigma create an environment where not all people seek assistance and support for substance use disorders and mental illness.
This exercise yielded tons of valuable data about the root causes of stigma and the barriers people encounter when accessing supports. The ABLe Change team examined all of the data points and sorted them by common themes and larger categories. The full data set is available here.
A survey is being distributed to the RCDC membership and beyond to help define strategies for the group to incorporate in its efforts to reduce the harmful effects of stigma and improve access to services for all. In order to develop powerful strategies, we must determine which barriers should be the focus of our efforts. When considering what to prioritize, please think about which items are both POWERFUL and FEASIBLE in the context of RCDC (not necessarily within the current or future political climate).
POWERFUL means
- addressing this barrier could have a big influence on the issue statement
- this barrier affects many different settings and/or individuals
FEASIBLE means
- this barrier is within our group’s scope of work
- people are motivated to address this barrier
Stakeholder input is an incredibly important element of developing effective change strategies. Please complete this brief survey. It should take no more than a few minutes of your time. Thank you for contributing to this effort!