This course will be available on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 – please save the date and come back then to enroll!
This free training is designed to provide a foundation in strategic communications for public health professionals. In this course, participants will walk through the layers of strategy needed to craft a strategic communications plan.
What You’ll Learn
- The role of strategic communications in improving public health outcomes.
- How to develop an overall strategy and a communications plan to support this strategy.
- Why framing matters for racial and health equity, and what makes a message compelling.
- The many different communications channels we have available to reach target audiences and how to decide which is best for your particular goals.
Meet the Experts
Rosaura Wardsworth, MMC, Co-Head of Training, joined BMSG in 2022 to help advocates learn to use the media to advance their policy goals. She is a dynamic public speaker who designs and executes media advocacy trainings and strategic consultations for health departments, community groups, youth leaders, and others interested in shifting the public debate on health and other social justice issues. Rosaura earned her bachelor’s in public health with an emphasis in international studies and her master’s from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. In addition to her work at BMSG, she works as a professor in Orange County, educating future journalists in media and gender studies. She is also an instructor at UC Berkeley, leading one of their Changemakers courses. Before joining BMSG, Rosaura worked as a community journalist and forecaster in California, and as an anchor and bilingual health disparities reporter in Arizona. She brings more than five years of experience in public relations, social media, and nonprofit communications, where she worked to build capacity among various organizations.
Ingrid Daffner Krasnow, MPH, Co-Head of Training, has provided media advocacy training and strategic consultation at BMSG since 2008. She bridges her media advocacy expertise with more than 20 years of experience in non-profit communications and marketing strategy, fund development, and organizational management. Ingrid served for nine years on the Teton County (WY) Board of Health, where she gained insight into the inner workings of public health departments and the unique public health challenges facing rural communities. Ingrid earned her Bachelor of Arts in political science from U.C. Berkeley and her Master of Public Health from UCLA.
What You Can Expect
This course is self-paced and will take roughly two hours to complete. The interactive course components include:
- Pre- and post-course surveys. Completion of these two surveys is required. Your responses will help us better understand our audience and measure the impact of the course.
- Content videos. There are 7 videos with a total of about 2 hours of content to watch.
- Reflection exercises. After each video, take a moment to reflect on what you just heard and how you might apply it to your work.
- Knowledge checks. Most modules will have a short knowledge check after watching the related video to review concepts.
- Post-module surveys. At the end of each module, there will be an opportunity to provide feedback to help us improve the content and experience of the course.
To receive a digital certificate of completion, you will need to watch all the module videos, submit your reflection question responses, and score at least 75% on each knowledge check.
Let’s Get Started
To begin the course, click on the “pre-course survey” in the Course Content table below. If you have not yet registered for the course, click the “Take this Course” button located in the upper right corner, and then complete the pre-course survey.
Use the Course Content table below to track your progress and guide your next steps. The course content should be viewed and completed in the order shown. Click “Expand” to see the components of a module. When a course component (e.g., survey, module, etc.) is completed, the icon next to it will turn green.
At the start of each module, there will be a Module Content table to help you track your progress within that particular module. You can click “Back to Course” to come back to this page.