When most people hear the word framework, they might imagine a document sitting on a shelf. But Towards Healthy Outcomes (THO) was designed to be used.
Across Canada and beyond, people are using THO to guide services, interventions, and policy for people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). These examples show how a framework can move from ideas on a page to practical action.
What is Towards Healthy Outcomes?
Developed by researchers from the CanFASD and the University of Alberta, with support from other partners, Towards Healthy Outcomes 2.0 is an evidence-based framework designed to help communities and service providers plan supports for people with FASD across the lifespan.
THO brings together research and practical guidance across connected areas of life. Rather than focusing only on challenges, it encourages us to look at the whole person, their strengths, goals, relationships, environment, and support needs.
The framework also provides shared language that families, service providers, communities, and decision-makers can use when thinking about support. This can help us answer the question: What supports can help this person move toward healthy outcomes?
So, what does that look like in practice?
Example 1: Using THO to guide policy in Alberta
During the webinar, Towards Healthy Outcomes 2.0: Framework Updates and Policy Implementations, Twyla Harris-Olsen shared how Alberta is using THO to guide policy and planning.
Alberta’s FASD service networks already offer programs designed around the needs of their communities. THO provides a way to step back and look at how those services fit together. For example, organizations can ask:
- Are supports available across different areas of life?
- Are there gaps in our services?
- Do different services work together?
- Are people supported as their needs change throughout their lives?
This framework and mindset helps turn broad goals like providing “comprehensive support” into something more practical.
THO also recognizes that comprehensive support will not look the same everywhere. What works in an urban community may look different in a rural or remote community. Instead of prescribing specific programs, employing the THO in practices allows policymakers in Alberta to provide a common direction while giving communities space to build on their own strengths, resources, and priorities.
In this way, Alberta’s use of THO shows how the framework can help move policy from “We want to provide comprehensive support” to “What does comprehensive support actually look like for the people and communities we serve?”
Example 2: Helping caregivers plan supports
THO isn’t only useful at the policy level. It can also guide the everyday work of supporting people with FASD.
An international virtual community of caregivers uses THO to structure educational modules and conversations about supporting people with FASD. The group meets twice a week to discuss their experiences and work through modules based on the framework.
These modules connect caregivers with research, resources, and practical strategies. They also help caregivers understand how brain-based differences associated with FASD can affect different areas of a person’s life.
Using THO in this way has helped caregivers learn strengths-based and developmentally appropriate strategies while also recognizing the importance of their own well-being.
This example shows how THO can take a large body of FASD research and turn it into something caregivers can use when thinking about an individual’s strengths, needs, and supports.
Example 3: Bridging Futures for Métis youth
THO can also be adapted to reflect the strengths and needs of specific communities.
The Otipemisiwak Métis Government’s Children and Family Services Department used THO to develop the FASD Bridging Futures Guidebook, a resource designed to help Métis youth with FASD and their parents or caregivers plan for the transition from adolescence to adulthood. It helps families confidently phase from adolescence into adulthood with the appropriate supports they need in place.
As part of the project, the team developed a 10 Threads of Support graphic based on THO. The design uses the Métis sash to represent the interconnected supports that can contribute to stability and well-being. Each thread represents an area of support, while the thread of strong and healthy relationships connects them. It also helps to raise awareness of FASD in Métis communities and helps youth, families, service providers, and communities think about what supports are needed to improve outcomes.
It is a great example of how THO can be adapted rather than simply copied. The core ideas of the framework remain, but they are presented in a way that reflects Métis culture, identity, strengths, and community.
From framework to action
These three examples look very different. One uses THO to think about policy and systems. Another uses it to help caregivers plan and understand supports. The third adapts the framework to help Métis youth prepare for adulthood.
That flexibility is part of what makes THO useful.
THO doesn’t provide one program that every community must follow. Instead, it gives people a shared foundation for asking better questions, identifying strengths and gaps, and thinking about how different supports fit together across a person’s life.
Healthy outcomes don’t come from one program, service, or organization. They are built when people with FASD, families, communities, service providers, researchers, and governments work together. Towards Healthy Outcomes gives us a framework for turning that collaboration into action.
How have you used THO?
How have you or how might you use THO? We would love to hear from you – email us at info@canfasd.ca.
If you would like to speak with one of the researchers behind this framework, join us on Wednesday, October 21 at 1pm EST for a one-hour interactive workshop! Dr. Jacqueline Pei will share real-world examples of how THO 2.0 has been implemented, followed by opportunities to share your experiences and explore practical ways to apply the framework in your own work and community.
This workshop is open to CanFASD members only. Be sure to register as a CanFASD member in advance to receive the event invitation and registration link.