Frayme
Strategic Plan
2021-2024
A Platform for Connecting and Sharing Youth Mental Health Research, Practice, and Lived Experience
A Platform for Connecting and Sharing Youth Mental Health Research, Practice, and Lived Experience
Here’s the 411 on how Frayme grew from an idea to a national organization
Frayme’s origins start in 2017 with Healthy Young People Everywhere (HYPE), an international knowledge translation (KT) platform that initially proposed to fill the gap between research in Youth Mental Health and Addictions (YMHA) and the pressing need for its dissemination and clinical implementation.
After a few years, plenty of consultation and feedback, HYPE blossomed into Frayme. What changed exactly? Well Frayme still possesses a strong research and scientific network but now we’ve included the knowledge of youth, families and service providers, shaken and stirred, and come out with a national organization informed by pan-Canadian and global expertise. Expertise in all its different shapes and sizes, and yes, that includes lived experience.
Frayme now works by connecting those designing and implementing service with the best evidence in the youth mental health and substance use (YMHSU) system to create informed and impactful solutions for youth and their families.
How did we develop our Strategic Plan?
The 2021-2024 Frayme Strategic Plan was developed through a six month process which integrated feedback from across the YMHSU sector and those who had been connected and involved in supporting Frayme since its inception. We engaged youth, families, service providers, system stakeholders, funders and internal stakeholders. To truly co-develop the content we used multiple formats including national surveying, group discussions and individual interviews.
With that being said, we owe a huge shout-out to all those who provided feedback. Our hope is that this Strategic Plan is one that reflects the role and type of impact that our YMHSU system needs Frayme to invest in as we move through the coming years.
• June 2020
Frayme launches a national survey for service providers and system stakeholders to understand more about priority areas of knowledge need across the YMHSU system.
• June-October 2020
Frayme team conducts ongoing consults with youth experts, family experts, organizations and system stakeholders to understand more about priority areas of knowledge and impact need across the YMHSU system.
• July 2020
Frayme surveys its internal team and Board to identify key areas of impact need across the YMHSU system and the role Frayme should play in supporting these areas of need.
• August 2020
Frayme starts formulating the Strategic Plan content.
• September 2020
Frayme consults with Frayme family experts in a focused discussion about the identified areas of knowledge and impact need and review of the initial Strategic Plan content.
• November 2020
Frayme consults with funders in the YMHSU space to understand more about the priority funding areas in the YMHSU system and to review the initial Strategic Plan content.
• November 2020
Frayme consults with final youth experts to review all aspects of the Strategic Plan and provide feedback and further direction.
• December 2020
The Frayme Strategic Plan is reviewed by the Frayme Board and approved as the roadmap for 2021-2024.
• January 2021
Frayme shares back and reviews the Strategic plan with its key consult groups.
• February 2021
The 2021-2024 Frayme Strategic Plan is launched at the Frayme Learning Institute.
Us. It’s about us. All of us. But more specifically it’s about the principles and vision that is driving the way we work and what we work on. If we’re asking you to drive the work with us, then it’s only fair you understand what you’re signing up for.
All youth, young adults, and their families have access to the help they need to be well, when they need it, in the context in which they live.
Frayme leads a national and international network that connects mental health, health and social services working with youth and young adults to accelerate the integration and implementation of youth care in Canada and around the world.
Our core values form the foundation on which we perform work and conduct ourselves. In an ever-changing world, core values remain constant. Core values are not descriptions of the work we do or the strategies we employ to accomplish our mission. The values underlie our work, how we interact with each other, and which strategies we employ to fulfill our mission. The core values are the basic elements of how we go about our work.
Frayme’s Guiding Principles articulate the organizational approach we take when working with others across the system.
Why Frayme?
Work together internally and externally to advance mutual interests and common goals in constructive ways. Achieved through supporting and encouraging one another, and bringing the right people and organizations together.
Putting it into action:
Inspire discovery, co-creation and partnerships through active, structured and collaborative development of new value together with experts, stakeholders and end-users. Focus on meaningful connections and providing needed support as a means to learn, grow, and develop capacity. Honouring the time & knowledge of lived & living expertise.
Putting it into action:
Account for the broad range of factors that impact young people and their access to services. Recognize that youth accessing services and their families are equal partners in planning, developing, implementing and monitoring services to make sure they meet their needs.
Putting it into action:
Be clear and open about processes as well as the sharing of information, and communications; transparently connect and engage with one-another, partners, stakeholders, funders, youth, families, and Indigenous partners, in meaningful and respectful ways.
Putting it into action:
Belief that all individuals have valuable contributions to make in a relationship and in the design and the delivery of the work.
Putting it into action:
Frayme exists to fill a critical knowledge gap in the national system. Bringing best evidence and knowledge to those who are working in communities and networks to ensure better mental health and substance use outcomes for youth and their families is why we exist. Frayme is unique in identifying lived expertise, scientific and research expertise and service provision expertise as all critical elements to developing knowledge that should inform system design and delivery.
Frayme triangulates evidence and knowledge from research, service provision and lived experience. We share this knowledge with our network and seek to learn from the network too. We are committed to diversity, accessibility, inclusion, and equity and embody this in the work we support and in our team itself!
We connect with youth, families and our network of providers from across Canada and beyond to help us ensure we have value-driven impact. We live in an ever-changing and evolving environment and that priorities are shifting and expanding. Supporting the radical change needed in our systems is critical and Frayme aims to create spaces and bring together partners that can help us find and create innovative solutions together. Over the coming years, Frayme will create spaces to share and learn within the following Pillars of Impact:
The outputs include: New knowledge and evidence identification; Partnership development; Tool, framework and method development; System and Partner Capacity development; Network collaborations
Frayme’s operations as a cutting-edge knowledge mobilization network requires dynamic and impact-focused expertise. Our team of experts hold skills spanning:
A commitment to listening, learning and improving is fundamental to what we do and believe at Frayme. System work is hard, yet possible! We believe that youth and families deserve system leaders who engage in hearing what does and doesn't work, as well as what we are trying to improve. To make sure we are growing and learning as an organization we have specific actions we take:
This ongoing feedback cycle can take multiple forms and may include many individuals. We move through this cycle through:
Look, there's a lot of work to be done.
There is so much room for improvement in the system.
You know it, we know it - so what are we going to do about it?
Hopefully our Pillars of Impact answers this question from a practical perspective, but more importantly, Frayme is going to continue growing, expanding and listening to all those within the YMHSU system so that we can collectively shift to a place where every young person and their family have access to the help they need to be well, when they need it, in the context in which they live. Until we reach that moment, our work will not be done.
Are you ready to join us?
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