Public Health Pronto: Module 5.3

1. How to Advance Yourself as an MCH Leader (Self-Reflection Strategy). Identify your personal strengths and areas of growth by taking Domain 5 of the Competency Assessments for Public Health Professionals developed by the Public Health Foundation. You can take the assessment related to your professional position (front-line and entry-level staff; program managers and supervisors; or senior management and executive level staff).
2. How to Find and Use Tools to Help You (Information Strategy). Our daily lives offer many opportunities for negotiation - between parents and children, friends, co-workers, etc., - and as a result, you probably already have a variety of effective strategies for resolving minor conflicts. But for more serious conflicts, and conflicts between groups rather than individuals, you may need some additional skills. The Community Toolbox, a service of the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas, provides training resources that describe conflict resolution and why, when, and how you should resolve conflict. The toolbox is available in Arabic, English, and Spanish. Use the case studies, checklist, tools, and presentation to prepare you to brainstorm possible resolutions.
   
3. How to Activate Your Organization (Organizational Strategy). Leverage the resources of your colleagues and organization by reviewing Contra Costa Health Services' Ladder of Community Participation for approaches to engage communities around both traditional and emerging issues. It can be used as a tool for internal dialogue as programs are being planned, and may be particularly helpful as a trigger for discussions about which strategies to use, and how to manage expectations, clarify roles and delineate responsibilities. It can also be a useful framework for discussion with community partners about how to maximize their participation and to jointly determine which strategies will be most suitable to achieve a particular public health goal.
   
4. How to Incorporate Partners (Systems Strategy). Use the Community Services Locator to develop a deep, working understanding of available services in your state or community. Use the links to national searches to identify education, health, mental health, family support, parenting, child care, and other services that can help children and families right in your area. Use Where to Seek Help: A Bright Futures Referral Tool for Providers in conjunction with the Locator to help build a customized directory of community-based resources. Encourage families in your community to use these tools to learn about services that they can use.
   
5. How to Engage Your Communities (Community Strategy). This model of local (county) coalitions, along with a statewide learning collaborative, is helping to develop interagency solutions to improve communication and interaction across agencies serving children in California. Check out the slideshow and tools developed by member coalitions and others, as well as key literature on family-centered care coordination.

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Click for Discussion Form

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Tell us how you will use what you have learned:

• I explored activity 2--I really liked the toolbox for creating community partnerships--it provided step by step instructions that could be really useful for me.
• I will be able to engage others from my community in discussions and have tools to handle negotiations and conflict.