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5-year Strategic Plan

 

 

NZAC Strategic Plan

This is NZAC’s immediate ‘strategy on a page’. It sets out the organisation’s over-arching goals:

  • the underlying strategic approach (Position, Promote, Protect - the 3Ps)
  • the immediate goals
  • milestone objectives to be achieved and key projects on which the Association will focus

 


The goals

These goals are consistent with those of previous strategic plans.  To facilitate its advocacy objectives, the Association must be recognised and appreciated as a credible, authoritative voice, and counselling must be valued as an efficacious therapy that benefits clients.

 

The 3Ps

The focus is on positioning NZAC and its members’ services to ensure the Association and the profession are held in high regard by all key influencers.  This has already been largely achieved, particularly within areas of Te Whatu Ora and, to a lesser degree, the Ministry of Education (work is ongoing).

 

A similar approach is now needed with organisations like Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority), ACC, the Ministry of Justice and Corrections.

 

The desired positioning is being actively promoted in a planned, managed, targeted and sustained fashion through ongoing advocacy and stakeholder engagement, as is work to protect the NZAC’s public brand and ensure its positioning is sustainable.

 

The five year plan

While this Blackboard focuses on outcomes until the end of 2023, they are part of achieving five year plan goals that will see:

  • A Te Tiriti-based co-governance protocol fully in place and operational.
  • The Association actively embracing  cultural inclusion and diversity internally and externally , acknowledging, catering to and working with as diverse a range of people, groups and organisations as possible.
  • An effective and efficient operational communications, advocacy and stakeholder engagement process that supports the achievement of the over-arching goals and NZAC’s positioning.
  • A robust organisational infrastructure that facilitates long-term organisational sustainability and which motivates staff and members to be cognisant of the need for positive climate action.

 

Immediate KPIs

Supporting the above, the KPIs for the end of 2023 are clearly articulated.  Work is well underway on the co-governance (set to be ratified at the 2023 AGM), management and IT reviews, and the workforce strategy.  The workstreams around the creation of more diverse networks and the drafting of the communications/advocacy plans will commence in Q4 2022/Q1 2023.

6 key projects

These projects are deemed the immediate priorities for the Association.  They will support the end-2023 goals and the achievement of the five year plan.

 

Te Rōpū Ānga Whakamua

This project focuses on the need to introduce into NZAC a more formal and authentic co-governance approach that will strengthen the Association’s Te Ao Māori and ensure the organisation’s governance and operational structures properly reflect and adhere to the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

 

Cultural inclusion

This project recognises the significant diversity within our membership and among the clients we support, and is therefore designed to ensure we better recognise, understand, value and include that diversity at all levels of the organisation.

 

Advocacy

Advocacy is an ongoing workstream with a primary focus on ensuring government adequately funds and supports youth mental health services.  This comes in several parts –

  • Advocating for a ratio of school guidance counsellors to secondary school students on the school’s role.
  • Ensuring SGCs are mandated in primary and intermediate schools.
  • Ensuring government funding for SGCs is ‘tagged’ to service delivery, as opposed to being used for general pastoral care services within schools.

 

This year, this workstream has been expanded to include internal, member-focused advocacy and awareness on climate change, and associated mitigation/adaptation actions.  It may broaden further still to include advocacy on workforce issues (see below).

 

Workforce of the future

The workforce project is about understanding the current and future counselling workforce to ensure it is appropriately staffed, trained and skilled to meeting current and future demand.   This work is being undertaken in conjunction with the Ministries of Health and Education.  The initial survey has been completed; NZAC now has to share this draft data with key stakeholders with a view to identifying issues and agreeing next steps.

 

Consumer advisory group

The establishment of a consumer advisor group has been proposed to better help the Association to view the profession and its service delivery model, now and in the future, through the eyes of the people – clients – who use counselling and who rely on NZAC members to support their emotional and mental health.  Terms of reference, draft objectives, member recruiting and an initial workstream with detailed reporting parameters have still to be developed.

 

Ensuring organisational sustainability

Organisational sustainability is about ensuring all the necessary governance, management, financial and staffing resources are in place so the Association can continue to –

  • Fulfil its obligations to members through the ongoing provision of high quality, member-centric services that meet member needs.
  • Actively support the profession by being recognised by key stakeholders as the sectors’ peak body.
Strategic Plan update 2023