Hi Shay,
This is such an excellent question and I really empathize with your feelings of working alone in this important area. There appear to be several layers here: 1) Community resource utilization of opioid services 2) the need for a Needs Assessment of community needs related to opioid resources and 3) buy in from other community stakeholders and potential partners and 4) hearing from the clients who have sough services. I would recommend starting with a focus group or survey of service recipients if possible-to truly hear from those who have sought services (always upholding the highest standards of privacy and confidentiality, but there may be some options for you to help coordinate within agency focus groups who have the access to recipients. If you gain buy in from other providers, you could train them to send a survey or run a focus group with their care recipients. I would also recommend conducting a focus group of other community providers (perhaps your grant has some funds for a luncheon?). Often times sharing a meal compels busy partners to have some buy in. Another potential option is to offer a focus group in a virtual format for busy participants. Here are some guidelines from our community tool box on conducting focus groups: /en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-n...
Additionally, understanding service utilization in your area is important and here are some guidelines from our toolbox on resource utilization: /en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-n...
In terms of needs assessment, I think this fits in well with your idea of pre-assessment that you mentioned. Here are some great resources on needs assessments: /en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-n... and /en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-n...
I hope this helps! Thanks for your commitment to excellence.
In Community,
Ask an Advisor 2021
