Transformation of youth care in South Limburg
Challenge
In youth assistance, well-organised cooperation is essential, as (youth) problems often transcend the boundaries of individual organisations. In South Limburg, eight care providers started a movement to proactively engage with municipalities on youth aid. The aim was to develop a vision in which every South Limburg youth, together with his or her environment, can count on appropriate support and care, regardless of the municipality or care provider. In order to realise this vision in co-creation, the initiators wanted to create future-proof and equal collaborations and thereby also inspire other municipalities in the region.
Approach
Elemental was asked to facilitate this collaboration, build equivalence between the parties and further flesh out the vision. For this, we used the principles of an open ecosystem, where organisations were free to enter and exit, driven by their belief in and contribution to the movement. The process focused on facilitating conversations between aid and care providers, youth, parents, schools and municipalities.
We also used the divergence and convergence principles from the design methodology. We diverged to explore as many pain points and solutions as possible, giving organisations insight into each other's working methods. We then converged to prioritise the main pain points and matching solutions. This joint decision-making process strengthened the connectedness between participants.
The track consisted of several sessions, including collaborative work sessions, asynchronous work assignments and relay work sessions. Each session had a specific purpose, in line with the principles of the open ecosystem. During relay sessions, the results of work sessions were consolidated and finalised by smaller groups of about 10 participants.
Result
The process resulted in a conceptualisation of the collaboration, captured in a blueprint, storyboard, letter of intent and action plan. The blueprint describes the collaboration, including decision-making, interactions and value distribution, as well as the preconditions for success, such as appropriate leadership and stimulating KPIs. This blueprint will be further refined over time based on insights from the collaboration.
The formation of this new cooperation structure did not happen overnight. Together, we laid the foundations for joint assistance and concluded the process by signing a letter of intent. This allows the organisations to further develop and implement the cooperation in the next phase.
As one of the initiators pointed out on LinkedIn, with this form of cooperation, we hope to achieve shorter waiting lists, fewer out-of-home placements, less need for highly specialised youth care and more first-line solutions. This will lead to faster access to the right care in the right place and, in the long run, lower healthcare costs. We are proud to have been able to contribute to this, because this is the impact we do it for.