GETTING 'PHIT' IS A ToP PRIORITY

Have you ever wondered how Technology of Participation (ToP)® is relevant to your field?

One sector where ToP is making an impact is public health, a field that has been subject to a number of significant changes over the past several years. ​​

To respond to policy changes such as the Affordable Care Act, public health professionals are increasingly required to be facilitative leaders. They must bring key partners together to maximize inclusion and authentic public engagement to address critical community health needs.

In early 2011, a group of ToP trainers and facilitators noticed an increasing demand for ToP training and facilitation among public health professionals.  They launched the "Public Health in ToP" (PHiT) team to meet these growing needs. Today, the PHiT team has around 40 national members working to build public engagement capacity within the public health sector at the national, state and local levels. 

Feedback about using ToP methods in public health has been overwhelmingly positive. One team of public health professionals in Colorado used the Focused Conversation and Consensus workshop methods with a group of 80 cross-state youth, youth-serving professionals and representatives from medical health, public health and state agencies.

"The audience loved the activity," they shared.  "We used a sticky wall to put up several developmental occurrences, and they arranged and rearranged them as they saw fit. This drove a great conversation about understanding and communication between youth and youth-serving professionals. It went off without a hitch."

Another added, "I loved having the great conversations between the youth and the professionals. The space felt safe and I do feel that the youth felt so, too. They were open and honest about their experiences in the discussions."

ToP methods maximize participation and drive action in every field. To learn more about the Focused Conversation, Consensus Workshop and Action Planning methods, check out the ToP gateway course,  ToP Facilitation Methods.