Overdose Prevention in Rural Communities
Communication Strategies
Developing a clear communication strategy – both with local leaders and partners collaborating on overdose prevention strategies, as well as those in the wider community - will ensure that everyone understands the direction and goals of your work. An effective communication strategy includes identifying your target audience, crafting a persuasive narrative that meets your goals, and using outreach tools to get the word out.
Related resources
How to Build a Communications Plan. Presentation from a communications expert on how to map out an effective and coherent communications strategy.
Sample Communications Plan. An example from a local coalition.
Communicating in Conservative Contexts: Strategies for Raising Health Equity Issues Effectively. The FrameWorks Institute shares pragmatic strategies for navigating toward justice in red-state terrain. Each recommendation is grounded in evidence from empirical research showing that reframing can help to build common ground on even the most divisive public health topics.
Strategic Communications: Tactics, Tools and Timing. This video provides information about how to plan outreach and engagement.
Crafting a Persuasive Narrative. A fillable tool to define your audience and target your messaging.
Knowing Your Audience and Messaging Appropriately. Persuasive narratives use storytelling and a human touch to introduce your work, win support, and grab the attention of your audiences. In this two-part series, award-winning communications professional Michael Miller will show you how to build a persuasive narrative that adds humanity to your work so you can propel your communications efforts forward.
Building and Delivering Your Narrative. In this video you’ll learn why humans listen to, remember, and react to real-life stories and how to use that knowledge to build an argument for your issues and causes.
CASE STUDY
Story Map: Shasta County’s Rising Fentanyl Problem
Shasta County is a rural county in Northern California. Due to its natural geographic features like mountain ranges, overdoses tend to be a hidden issue despite it having one of the highest opioid overdose death rates in the state. The Shasta Substance Use Coalition developed a story map to provide the community with a resource to understand the scope of fentanyl’s impact on their community utilizing local data, Arc GIS mapping, and storytelling. They have been able to utilize the website to disseminate information on resources and influence local policy makers to fund the work of the coalition and partnering agencies. To learn more click here.
