THE J.W. MCCONNELL FAMILY FOUNDATION

Wellbeing  and  Schools:    A  Social  Innova4on  Lab  Approach  

DASH  BC  Healthy  Schools  Leadership  Symposium  -­‐  May  4-­‐5,  2015  

 

Vani  Jain,  Associate  Program  Director  

Agenda  

•  Background  •  Issue  &  Focus  Area  •  What  is  a  Social  Innova?on  Lab?  •  Key  Aspects  of  this  Lab  •  Projected  Rollout  in  BC  •  How  to  Get  Involved  

Background  

•  About  the  McConnell  Founda?on    •  Began  developing  an  ini?a?ve  in  child  and  youth  mental  

health  in  2013  –  saw  the  poten?al  in  schools  as  a  seSng  •  Highly  consulta?ve  process:  

o  150+  key  informant  interviews  o  Survey  of  1460  teachers,  students,  administrators,  parents  o  Policy  scan  –  reports  +  over  50  interviews  o  Literature  review  o  2  na?onal  convenings  o  Design  team  of  7  people  from  across  Canada  

•  Itera?ve,  responsive  approach  to  ini?a?ve  development  •  Approved  end  March  2015  

Issue  &  Focus  Area  

•  Driven  by  two  considera?ons:  o  Comprehensiveness  -­‐  addressing  the  en?re  school  popula?on  o  Integra?on  –  embedded  rather  than  an  add-­‐on  

 •  Role  of  philanthropic  sector  in  advancing  wellbeing  in  schools  as  a  

catalyst  and  convenor  

Ra4onale:  •  Interested  in  advancing  the  work  

of  schools  in  mental  health  and  wellbeing  at  scale.    o  15,000  schools  o  Thousands  of  programs  o  Dozens  of  different  topics  

Issue  &  Focus  Area  Scope/framing:  •  Began  with  the  term  “mental  health”  but  later  shiaed  to  wellbeing  

o  Social-­‐emo?onal  wellbeing  outcomes  influenced  my  many  factors  

•  En?re  student  popula?on/upstream  •  Focus  on  building  assets,  not  just  reducing  deficits  

o  Link  to  future  vision  for  Canada  

•  Schools  as  a  seSng  rather  than  “what  can  schools  do”  

Issue  &  Focus  Area  Focus  area:  •  What  we  heard:  

o  “What  does/can  your  school  do”  vs.  “What  do/can  you  do”  o  Rela?onships,  connectedness,  school-­‐community  connec?on,  family  

engagement,  student  leadership  all  influence  wellbeing  o  Not  simply  about  doing  “more”  –  need  to  do  “different”  o  School  environment,  culture  and  values  must  support  wellbeing  

•  Where  we  decided  to  focus:  Sustainable,  scaleable  approaches  that  o  Aren’t  dependent  on  many  addi?onal  resources  o  Build  on  assets  and  capabili?es  of  schools,  educators  and  partners  o  Can  become  part  of  the  school’s  DNA  

•  Increase  the  evidence  base  of  these  everyday  strategies  to  beher  understand  what  makes  a  real  impact  on  wellbeing  

What  is  a  Social  Innova?on  Lab?  

•  A  neutral  plaiorm/process    to  drive  collabora?on  and  change  –  not  a  new  en?ty  or  program!  

•  Engages  a  variety  of  perspec?ves    

•  Collabora?ve  approach  to  idea  development  and  implementa?on  

•  Longer-­‐term  ?me  horizon    •  Goal  of  systems  change  

CAPACITY-­‐BUILDING  

Key  Aspects  of  this  Lab  Different  from  current  approaches  such  as:  •  Networks:  Labs  are  about  surfacing  new  ideas  together,  not  

just  exchanging  knowledge.  •  Task  forces:  Labs  go  beyond  genera?ng  recommenda?ons  -­‐  

they  are  resourced  to  implement  ideas  quickly.  •  Gran?ng  programs:  In  a  lab,  projects  are  co-­‐designed  and  

proposed  by  diverse  groups,  not  by  individual  organiza?ons.    •  Consulta?ons:  Labs  do  more  than  just  ask  people  with  lived  

experience  what  they  think.  In  this  lab,  ci?zens  and  stakeholders  will  be  engaged  in  crea?ng  new  solu?ons  together.  

•  Steering  commihees/advisory  groups:  This  lab  will  go  beyond  a  select  number  of  people  to  engage  the  masses.  

 

Key  Aspects  of  this  Lab  

Principles:  •  Mass  par?cipa?on  –  Mul?ple  opportuni?es  for  engagement  

=  collec?ve  ownership  over  the  process  and  outcomes.  •  Equal  voice  –  Par?cipa?on  as  people,  not  organiza?ons.  •  Co-­‐ownership  –  Shared  leadership,  feedback  and  input  into  

decisions.  •  Transparency  –  Sharing  the  process,  results  and  learnings  

openly  to  drive  and  disseminate  change.    •  Emergence  –  Focus  on  outcomes.  Change  moves  at  the  

speed  of  trust.  •  Capacity-­‐building  –  Promote  long-­‐term  sustainability,  help  

advance  exis?ng  system-­‐level  efforts  

 

Key  Aspects  of  this  Lab  

Hypothesis:  

 Collec?ve  ownership  over  ideas  and  process    

+    Focus  on  the  work  that  happens  naturally  

+  Increased  shared  understanding  of  what  works  

=  Sustainable  change  at  scale    

Key  Aspects  of  this  Lab  Other  points:  •  Na?onal  ini?a?ve  with  a  tailored  approach  to  each  province  

o  Projected  two  years  in  each  province  o  BC  only  in  Year  1,  up  to  3  provinces/year  in  Years  2-­‐5  

•  Prototyping  as  both  a  means  and  an  end  o  Systems  change  –  fostering  a  sense  of  collec?ve  responsibility  and  

joint  ownership,  empowering  mul?ple  agents  of  change  o  Research  –  improving  our  understanding  of  what  ac?ons  make  a  

difference  and  how  they  happen,  shiaing  the  evidence  base  

•  Informal,  inclusive  approach  to  par?cipa?on  o  No  “table”  –  more  like  a  party!  o  Open  invita?on  to  contribute  and  collaborate,  rather  than  formal  

roles  

•  Start  with  most  passionate,  innova?ve  people  and  work  outwards  

Key  Aspects  of  this  Lab  Building  upon  current  work:  •  Not  about  reinven?ng  the  wheel!  •  Taking  exis?ng  data  and  success  stories  to  

o  Frame  scope  of  BC  work  (e.g.  design  sessions)  o  Filter  through  proposed  ideas  

•  Some  ideas  proposed  may  have  already  been  tried.  This  is  an  opportunity  to:  o  Make  them  collec?vely  owned  o  Measure  their  effec?veness  and  beher  understand  why  they  work  o  Share  them  widely  across  Canada  

Projected  Rollout  in  BC  -­‐  TBC  

May-­‐August  2015:  Implementa?on  planning  • Communica?ons,  engagement  tools  • Par?cipa?on  and  public  engagement  strategy  • Research  framework  –  na?onal  and  local  • Iden?fy  school  districts  

August-­‐September  2015:  Co-­‐design  sessions  • Provincial  design  session  at  2015  Summer  Ins?tute  (250  people)  • Local  design  sessions  in  par?cipa?ng  districts  

October-­‐December  2015:  Prototype  selec?on  and  implementa?on  planning  • Process  for  iden?fying  most  high-­‐poten?al  ideas  • Local  research  support  

January-­‐June  2016:  Prototyping  • Data  collec?on  • Site  support    • Community  engagement  • Capacity-­‐building  

July-­‐August  2016:  Prepare  for  Year  2  • Knowledge  mobiliza?on  • Second  round  of  school  districts  • Lessons  learned      

How  to  Get  Involved  

•  Developing  mul?ple  ways  to  engage:  o  Helping  inform  implementa?on  o  Spreading  the  word  to  your  networks  o  As  a  par?cipant  in  a  co-­‐design  session  o  Providing  input  into  prototype  selec?on  o  As  an  implementa?on  partner  for  a  prototype  (school  

board/school)  o  As  a  researcher/evaluator  o  As  a  champion/conduit  for  wellbeing  in  schools  o  As  a  capacity-­‐builder    

More  info  to  come!  

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