Planning for the Planning Phase

Many people assume the Planning Phase is primarily about creating a Plan of Care, but the reality is that the quality of the plan depends entirely on the quality of the thinking that happens before the plan is written. When teams struggle in the Planning Phase, it is often not because they lack ideas. Most teams have plenty of ideas. The challenge is that they may be focusing on services instead of needs, behaviors instead of underlying causes or deficits instead of strengths. Before a team can develop meaningful strategies, they first need a shared understanding of the youth, family and situation they are trying to change.

Planning Starts Before the Plan

When most people think about the Planning Phase of High Fidelity Wraparound, they picture brainstorming strategies, assigning action steps and completing the Plan of Care. While these are certainly important activities, the strongest Planning Phase work begins long before anyone starts writing down ideas.

Effective planning is not only about deciding what to do and who is doing it. It is about helping a team think differently about the youth, family and situation in front of them.

Before a team can identify meaningful strategies, they need a shared understanding of strengths, unmet needs, culture, relationships, resources and hopes for the future.

The most successful Wraparound teams spend time building a shared picture before building a plan. They become curious. They ask questions. They look for strengths, culture, natural supports and underlying needs before jumping to services or interventions.

The following activities are designed to help teams slow down, think differently and create a stronger foundation for planning. After all, the best plans are not created by having more ideas. They are created by developing a deeper understanding of what matters most to the family.

Activity: Creating a Team Mission

The "Future Headlines" Exercise

1. Ask team members: "Imagine it is one year from now and things are going really well. What would the headline be about this/your youth and family?”
2. Write all headlines on a flip chart
3. Ask the team: “What themes do you notice?"
4. Build the team mission statement using common themes

Why we like it: The National Wraparound Initiative (NWI) emphasizes that the Team Mission should be a long-term guiding vision, not a list of services or problems. This activity helps people think in terms of outcomes, hope and quality of life rather than deficits.

Activity: Distinguishing Needs from Services

The Needs Detective Exercise

1. Team members will write down each of their own responses on a sticky note, note card or individual pieces of paper (one concern/need per piece of paper) anonymously
2. Ask: “What are the concerns and needs for this youth and family?”
3. Team members turn in responses to the facilitator
4. The facilitator lists each one, asking: “Is this a need, a behavior, a service or a strategy?”

Examples:

5. Continuing sorting and unpacking what the underlying unmet need might be
6. Draft the needs statements

Why we like it: Wraparound Evaluation and Research Team (WERT) and NWI emphasize that High Fidelity Wraparound planning is needs-driven rather than service-driven. This exercise makes that distinction visible and often creates "aha" moments for teams.

Activity: Identifying Strengths and Natural Supports to Support Needs

The Strengths and Natural Supports Treasure Hunt

1. Create a visual with three columns labeled Strengths, Culture, Existing Resources
2. Ask: “What do we already have that could help us meet this need?”
3. Document responses under the correct category 

Example: Need: Youth needs a sense of belonging at school

4. Ask: “Can we create 3 individualized, out-of-the-box strategies that use what is already here before adding something new?”

Why we like it: This activity is aligned with the California High Fidelity Wrapround Standards and uplifts strengths, community supports and natural supports, and connects them to support meeting an underlying need. Utilization of these core resources is known to be the foundation of sustained success.

Sometimes the best tool a facilitator can bring to a team meeting is not another answer, but a better question. There is no single "right way” to facilitate a Planning Phase meeting, but there is a common thread among the most successful teams: They stay curious, they listen more than they assume and they build understanding before solutions. As you continue your Wraparound journey, we hope these activities encourage your team to think a little differently, because sometimes a small shift in thinking is what leads to the biggest breakthrough in planning.