Outreach programs

Outreach is an effort by individuals in an organization or group to connect its ideas or practices to the efforts of other organizations, groups, specific audiences or the general public.

Unlike marketing, outreach does not inherently revolve around a product or strategies to increase market share. Typically health services, socil services, non-profits, civic groups, and churches engage in outreach.

Outreach often takes on an educational component (i.e., the dissemination of ideas), but it is increasingly common for organizations to conceive of their outreach strategy as a two-way street in which outreach is framed as engagement rather than solely dissemination or education.

Outreach strategies are linked to the organization's mission, and define targets, goals, and milestones.

Outreach in health care settings
Outreach programs are often developed by health care services in order to improve health care delivery to otherwise hard to reach groups. An example would be needle exchange programs for drug users

Other mental health programs are part of mental health services, particularly community mental health services. These would include: