ABOUT THE TOOLS
Working closely with City staff, providers of NYC Administration for Children’s Services and NYC Health Department contracted therapeutic and prevention programs, and caregivers across the City, the Family Pathways to Care project team conducted human-centered discovery research to understand how families connect with and experience publicly-funded mental health and family support services.
Over the course of two years (2020–2022) during the COVID-19 pandemic, PPL co-created and piloted a series of service delivery and operational tools intended to improve trust and coordination across families’ service journeys.
ABOUT FAMILY PATHWAYS TO CARE
Family Pathways to Care is a multi-year collaboration between the Public Policy Lab (PPL), the NYC Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) Division of Prevention Services, and the NYC Health Department Bureau of Children, Youth, and Families. This effort was funded by a Collaborative Innovations Initiative grant awarded to ACS by the NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYCO)
The guides are designed to enhance and increase the provider staff’s capacity to provide quality care for families and youth that is holistic, collaborative, and reflective of their needs and experiences.
THE GUIDES
Intake Guide
The Intake Guide helps staff to lead transparent, family-centered intake conversations and build trust with caregivers during initial conversations by ensuring they receive accessible program information.
It includes a checklist with talking points for staff to prepare to conduct intake and a family-facing one-pager which serves as an agenda, FAQ sheet, and conversation tool.
Intake Guide (English) ↓
Intake Guide (Other Languages) ↓
Intake Video ↓
The Feedback Guide helps staff operationalize feedback processes and set clear expectations with families about how their feedback will be addressed.
It includes a user-centered framework for responding to feedback which can be adapted and implemented incrementally by provider organizations, as well as a family-facing illustration of the “five commitments” that providers will make to the family and youth their programs serve.
Feedback Guide (English) ↓
Feedback Guide (Other Languages) ↓
5 Commitments Framework ↓
Feedback Video ↓
Feedback Guide
Referral Guide
The Referral Guide helps staff facilitate referral conversations, collect the information they need to search for appropriate programs, and ensure successful referrals are made and sustained.
It includes a three-step process for making referrals drawn from best practices across the system, a tip sheet to help staff better leverage existing resource directories like NYC Well and NowPow, and a family-facing worksheet (see left) to ensure youth and family service preferences are accounted for.
Referral Guide (English) ↓
Referral Guide (Other Languages) ↓
Referral Video ↓
“The Pathway to Care Guides were very helpful and served as a reminder tool for Advocates to use during an Intake. Families shared that explaining step by step of an Intake Process from start to finish using the guides was more informative and clearer for them. The guides helped staff to stay on track [and] ensure that the Intake Process was a smooth process.”
—Vibrant (Queens Family and Youth Peer Support Alliance)
“We see the feedback forms we were able to create with Family Pathways as an excellent tool when making sure we are hearing the caregiver’s wants and needs. Also, it helps to keep the therapeutic relationship attuned and can address any ruptures that may happen while in treatment and how the therapist, with the help of the supervisor, can repair these ruptures.”
—Jewish Board
“These intake tools not only provided clarity and understanding for the families and communities we serve; but provided our staff (especially newer staff) an increased sense of confidence to organize their thoughts and ensure no details were missed when initially meeting with families. This allowed there to be no surprises during the course of treatment. Also the referral guide was so helpful to allow young people the empowering autonomy to clearly state their preferences and needs when it came to referrals for a long-term provider. Young people often don’t know it’s okay—and encouraged—to voice their preference on the providers’ identity if this would influence their treatment. Our team found it helpful to provide young people the space to complete their choice worksheet and then make a (hopefully) more successful referral.”
—University Settlement
HOW TO USE THE GUIDES
When used together, the guides enable provider staff to holistically improve how youth and families access and experience prevention and mental health services.
Introducing the Guides to Your Team
1. CHOOSE A TRAINING MODEL
There are multiple ways to introduce the tools to your team. Select the one that best fits your organization's capacity and needs.
MODEL 1
Self-Guided
Staff are introduced to the tools in a meeting or via group communications
(e.g., team-wide email).
MODEL 2
Structured Training
Staff are trained on tools through 1-3 remote or in-person sessions. Training sessions can be incorporated into existing staff meetings or onboarding curriculum.
MODEL 3
Hands-On
Staff are trained on tools through monthly remote or in-person sessions. Training and troubleshooting team provide real-time support and ongoing training to new staff.
Roles & Recommended Tools
PROGRAM ADMIN
Promotion of Guides
Roll-out support and troubleshooting
Tools to Use
Shareable graphics
Instructional Videos
TRAINING LEAD
Train staff on the guides
Update workflow to incorporate use of guides
Tools to Use
Training Guide
Training Slides
Instructional Videos
FRONTLINE STAFF
Use guides with family and youth
Tools to Use
The guides
3. PREPARE TO INTRODUCE THE GUIDES TO THE STAFF
Use this Step-by-Step Training Guide to determine the best way to onboard your team. The training guide includes:
Project Background & Outcomes
Improving Quality of Care
Introducing the Guides to Your Team
Recommended Training Options
Troubleshooting
4. PROMOTE & SHARE THE GUIDES
Announce and promote the use of the guides on different communication channels with these shareable graphics.
5. TRAIN YOUR TEAM
The following slides and videos can be helpful when introducing these new tools to your team. Use whichever best fit your team’s needs and learning styles.
Facilitator Notes & Training Slides
Provider organizations can use these to aid in training frontline staff on the tools in a step-by-step manner.
Overview Instructional Video
This overview instructional video provides a general understanding of the three guides and their functions.
How to Use the Intake Guide Instructional Video
This video gives a more in-depth view on the function of the intake guide, which can be used to provide clarity and match needs of families and youth.
How to Use the Feedback Guide Instructional Video
This video gives a more in-depth view on the function of the feedback guide, which can be used in collaboration with families and youth to provide better support.
How to Use the Referral Guide Instructional Video
This video gives a more in-depth view on the function of the referral guide, which can be used when referring families and youth to a better service fit for their needs.