Looking ahead: Brook’s 2020-23 Strategic Plan

Brook’s Assistant Director of Business Support, Sally Hutchings, explains how Brook’s four core values – collaborative, trailblazing, courageous and trustworthy – underpinned every stage of development of our bold 2020-23 Strategic Plan.

Brook wants a society where all young people are free to be themselves.

In order to make this a reality, we believe that our services must be shaped by their voices. This is why we are proud to launch our new three-year strategy, developed with contributions from over 200 young people and a third of Brook’s expert frontline workforce.

With a focus on championing equality, accessibility, digital transformation and innovation, the next three years will see us lead new digital offers and reach thousands more young people who face barriers to mainstream services.

Our four core values remain unchanged, and will continue to underpin all that we do.

Brook is Collaborative

To develop the strategy we consulted widely, drawing on the insight and experience of our staff while capturing the views and hopes of our service users. As a result, the new strategy is optimistic, explicit in what needs to be done, and exudes ambition.

Young people told us that they want more open and inclusive conversations about sex and relationships that are free from stigma and shame.

They asked us to embrace new digital technologies to enable online appointments and testing, and provide tools to support self-care. They also want to see Brook in places that young people already are, and for more young people to know about Brook’s services.

The feedback we received from young people fed into workshops with our staff. Through sessions delivered across the country, our front-line staff explored the emerging themes, identified priorities, and importantly, also told us what we needed to change or do differently in order to help them deliver the exceptional services that young people want and need.

Brook is Trailblazing

Through the consultation process four strategic priorities emerged: challenging inequality, increasing accessibility, transforming digitally and driving innovation.

Through these priorities, we are committed to being at the forefront of young people’s evolving needs, and we will ensure that other professionals are confident to come on that journey with us.

We want all young people to be able to access the valuable support that Brook can offer, including those who may be vulnerable, or who experience barriers when trying to access mainstream provision.

Our digital transformation will allow us to provide information, advice and support to young people who may not have access to a physical Brook service, while also enabling us to operate more efficiently and effectively. By investing in the skills of young people and the professionals who work with them, we will fight for the more open society that young people tell us they want.

Brook is Courageous

The new strategy aims to build on the successes of the last three years, during which Brook has worked tirelessly to adapt and expand areas of our work in order to meet the various challenges young people face. While it continues to be a challenging environment for young people’s services, Brook is no stranger to having to do more with less. We are determined to continue the spirit, courage and determination of our founder, Helen Brook, by innovating, pushing boundaries and challenging expectations, setting ourselves the ambitious target of expanding our reach to support over 1.8 million young people each year by 2023.

As leaders in our field, we know that we will need to break with convention to develop innovative approaches.

Through driving innovation, we will expand into new markets, with the courage to be led by our service users’ needs.

Brook is Trustworthy

To be successful in delivering our strategy, it is essential that we continually monitor our performance and adapt and respond to change. Our annual business plan sets out ambitious targets and KPIs for each year of our strategy. Through robust monitoring we will hold ourselves to account, and report to our trustees, our commissioners and our service users.

We know that delivering this strategy will be challenging, and we know that we can’t achieve this alone. We need to work collaboratively with organisations that share our vision for the future of young people’s services, and we invite our sector colleagues to work with us and alongside us to demand the best possible outcomes for the sexual health and wellbeing of young people.