Working strategically with partner organizations will help you gain a stronger understanding of the needs, information channels, and barriers to mental health and suicide prevention services among consumers in your community. Partnerships also can be valuable to your public education, funding, and sustainability efforts.

Identify Potential Partners
Identifying and establishing common ground among potential partners?agencies, organizations, and businesses?in your community is key to the growth and sustainability of your local suicide prevention programs and services. For example, stakeholders who address mental health issues (as a primary mission or supporting program) such as health and social service organizations, health care providers, schools, law enforcement agencies, faith organizations, and the media may be natural links as collaborative partners. Remember to consider local and State volunteer and advocacy organizations (e.g., the State chapter or representative of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors) that have target audiences in common with those you want to reach.

Assess Your Current Situation
As part of your partnership development plan, it is important to assess your individual and organizational resources and needs, including staff, funding, facilities, technology, and expertise. With this information, you can be clear about how a potential partnership with a particular organization may be beneficial to each party and your target audiences.

Develop Your ?Pitch? for Partnership
Once you strategically have identified potential partners, it is time to develop your ?pitch? (customized selling points) for partnership. Keep in mind that your pitch likely will vary slightly from organization to organization based on your resources, needs, and priorities. Remember that partnership is a two-way street. While you will be asking a potential partner to donate time, money, or resources, you should be prepared to offer something in return. This may be as simple as adding visibility and value to the partner organization?s reputation by being involved in a worthwhile community cause. Moreover, when you ask potential partners to help you prevent suicide?for instance, by disseminating the warning signs of suicide?it is important for you to understand and convey how not addressing this problem can create burdens for them?impacting productivity, economics, the health of their workforce or clientele, public safety, and overall stress within their work environment.

An important strategic approach for partnership development is to:

1. Collect data or information from the targeted partner/industry that identifies the real or potential burdens incurred by not addressing mental health/suicide prevention issues in their work.
2. Identify ways in which your center and the Lifeline can reduce these burdens through integrating problem recognition and subsequent hotline referrals in their business, with minimal disruption and maximum benefit to their overall operations.

Showcasing the benefits that will accrue for the potential partner organization by supporting the Lifeline creates a win-win situation for all involved.

Create Your Messages and Materials
As mentioned in the Media Outreach section, message points are useful tools for internal and external communications, including creating partnership pitches and presentations. The Partnership Development Brochure and PowerPoint presentation in this kit incorporate some sample messages about suicide prevention that you can use as-is or customize to create your own partnership materials. Also consider:

• Developing themes or adapting materials that will engage your potential partners.
• Producing materials that will best convey your messages to your potential partners.
• Pretesting your materials among potential partners.
• Developing a method for tracking partnerships and other outreach efforts.
• Defining measures of success for partnerships, media, and public education efforts. Make Contact

Establishing partnerships requires you to perform outreach, to take time to find out who?s who in your community, and to match this information with your organization?s short- and long-term priorities.

Whenever possible, pitch your proposal for a potential partnership in person. You also should consider bringing at least one other person to meetings as different styles and demeanors can balance or sway an encounter. Sharing the workload and presentation delivery reduces the pressure of thinking on one?s feet; however, make sure that your team speaks with one voice based on the messages or pitch points you develop. Delivering mixed messages creates confusion and weakens your credibility.

Seal the Deal
Being credible and offering incentives are important, but they may not be enough to seal the deal. Use your salesmanship and passion to make potential partners believe that they can help prevent suicide. Paint a picture of how your programs and services are making a difference. Share national and local trends and balance urgency with success stories. Underscore how your community benefits from your efforts and how others are getting involved.

Remind potential partners of their strengths and how even seemingly small contributions can help save lives. Make sure they know how the proposed partnership benefits them. Be specific about what you are asking them to contribute and do.

Keep It Going
Relationships need to be maintained. Just as commitment and a ?can-do? approach are important to procure a partnership, it is vital that you review your resources, needs, and expectations as your suicide prevention efforts evolve. Engaging and mobilizing local and State agencies and organizations will be an ongoing effort, so remember to tap into as many facets of your community as you can, including:

• Businesses/employers
• Hospitals, hospices, and health care centers
• Local and State government officials and offices
• Faith organizations
• Civic organizations.

Never forget the power of the phrase ?thank you.? Acknowledge partnership agreements promptly. Look for creative ways to convey your gratitude to partners often and thank them publicly.

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