From the Director: Reflecting on the Words of Wraparound
By Nancy Hafer, Program Director, UC Davis Human Services
Hello and welcome to our first newsletter in 2020! As 2019 was coming to a close, I spoke with many people about Wraparound and our work in the coming year at UC Davis. During my conversations and with further study on Wraparound services, one word seemed to keep surfacing and that was collaboration. Collaboration, it appears, is at the very heart of the work itself and our work together. I, also, feel it is our most powerful strength. During our conversations about collaboration and hearing your stories, the following words surfaced over and over.
Teamwork
People
Partnership
Cooperation
Leadership
Connection
Peers
Together
Collective
Creating
Develop
Brainstorming
Goals
Ideas
Shared
Vision
Strategy
Support
Communities
Diversity
Spirit
Synergy
Innovation
These words aptly describe the collaborative process and the many important ways we work together to collaborate. As we enter into 2020, I find myself with a clearly renewed commitment to collaboration. And, my colleagues here at UC Davis Human Services are equally enthusiastic about this renewed commitment to collaboration. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, collaboration is defined as a situation of two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing. As you know, I have been on a very steep learning curve over the past six months, and I have been humbled by the generosity and goodwill, indeed the collaborative spirit, that I have witnessed with the California Wraparound community. Thank you for working together and with me to work toward our common goals that lead to better outcomes for the children and families we serve.
This spirit of collaboration is what binds us together and is propelling the state of California to commit to high fidelity Wraparound. With my dictionary handy (okay, the internet), I also looked up the word “fidelity.” Not surprisingly, the first definition is “The quality or state of being faithful” and the second “Accuracy in details.” While I quickly moved to the second definition, it occurred to me the first one is, perhaps, better. High-fidelity Wraparound is actually the quality of being faithful—faithful to the program values, phases and steps; and faithful to achieving the outcomes we desire.
With my renewed commitment to collaboration is a commitment to collaborating with all of you to achieve high-fidelity Wraparound, or, perhaps in simpler terms, remaining faithful to the children and families we serve by providing them with the most outstanding version of Wraparound we can.
If you have ideas on how we can better collaborate or what collaboration in Wraparound means to you, please reach out to me! I would love to continue this conversation (and my learning) on this topic. If you have read this far, then please drop me a line (nshafer@ucdavis.edu) with thoughts on the following:
- What is your best example of collaboration working to improve Wraparound services?
- What does collaboration mean to you?
- What are the words you associate with “collaboration”?
- What collaboration “pitfalls” do we need to be aware of or avoid?
I’d also love to see pictures of collaboration in action! Please send those my way as well. Your contribution can be anonymous or noted; the most important part is that sharing your experience is the ongoing job support that helps all of us learn and provide better services overall.
In 2020, we have launched some new activities, including Wraparound classes across the state and the Partnerships for Well-Being Institute in June. Please check our website often for training opportunities that interest you…and continue your own learning about Wraparound.
Faithfully yours,
Nancy