Facilitating Change & Transforming Systems
Changing systems is often necessary to improve access and outcomes for people experiencing substance use, mental health, and housing challenges—and especially for those of us who experience structural racism, discrimination, and trauma.
Meaningful systems change requires stakeholders with diverse experiences and divergent perspectives to come together and engage in collaborative efforts to advance knowledge, identify shared priorities, and take action together. For 15 years, C4 has served as a trusted partner and convener in service of behavioral health, recovery, housing, and homelessness systems change.
Our innovative, integrated approach uses a facilitated dialogue framework to reimagine systems that are comprehensive, equitable, and accessible. We invest time with stakeholders to listen, build relationships, open hearts and minds, and foster change. We partner with local champions to invite participants into a respectful and facilitated space which results in open and honest—and sometimes challenging—conversations. We engage stakeholders in speaking from the full range of their experiences, listening fully to one another, developing a shared vision, and committing to working together to achieve that vision. When conflict surfaces, we guide discussion from debate to understanding and explore deeper reasons why an issue is important to all.
Our team offers decades of experience as individuals in recovery, clinicians, leaders, researchers, facilitators, and agents of sustainable systems change and interdisciplinary collaboration. We prioritize meaningful involvement and leadership of people with lived experience to enrich our work with unrivaled passion and real-world wisdom. Our work is person-centered, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented with a deep commitment to promoting racial justice and reducing inequities. Our goal is to build deep relationships with our partners and achieve your mission together.
We Can Help You
- Design and facilitate a dialogue process to engage diverse stakeholders—including people most impacted by proposed solutions—in collaborative planning and transformation efforts
- Convene meetings and working sessions focused on defining the problem, building a shared understanding, and developing solutions
- Facilitate action planning and prioritization and support implementation goals
- Prioritize meaningful involvement and leadership of diverse people with lived experience
- Promote shared accountability for engagement and develop key measures to monitor commitments to transformation
- Develop informational and educational resources, products, and tool kits to inform the process and share the results
Learn more about partnering with us.
"[C4-operated] BRSS TACS helped us take the first step toward having conversations with other systems serving individuals with substance use issues regarding the integration of peer services and helped us to understand our common ground. We would not have this collaboration without BRSS TACS.” -C4 state partner
"The strength of [C4-operated] Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) has been the dissemination of innovation across jurisdictions. They brought together a group of thought leaders for strategic planning purposes which had an impact on our work. The facilitators were helpful, well-versed in the topic, and brought an outside perspective to a group that had fallen into a rut.” -C4 state partner
"In many states, the [C4-operated] BRSS TACS Policy Academies have been instrumental in increasing the state's efforts to direct attention and resources to recovery support services and including the voice of the recovery community in planning and decision-making.” -C4 state partner
Our Experts
Examples of Our Work
Supporting Informed Treatment & Recovery Decisions in Massachusetts
Together in Recovery is fostering an accessible, integrated treatment and recovery network in Massachusetts that champions evidence-based approaches, supports multiple pathways to recovery, and puts people in charge of their treatment choices. In 2019-2020, we partnered with RIZE Massachusetts to convene peer, clinical, policy, family, and community stakeholders and experts to deepen understanding of evidence-based approaches and person-centered strategies. Using a facilitated dialogue process, we engaged in one-on-one conversations and hosted Change Team meetings, regional meetings, and a statewide event. Through this exploration of diverse viewpoints and experiences, we developed and released a blueprint for action that embraces a unified vision and offers specific steps for implementation. We are now facilitating phase three of the project and are working with RIZE and the Together in Recovery Action Committee to achieve the identified goals and priorities for action. Read Together in Recovery: Facing the Opioid Overdose Crisis in Massachusetts—A Case Study and learn more about the initiative.
Policy Academy: Catalyst for Change
Between 2011 and 2018, 36 state, territorial, and tribal mental health and substance use disorder authorities built diverse, collaborative teams that worked together to improve their ability to serve people with the most serious mental illnesses or substance use disorders. As a result publicly funded systems reported a number of accomplishments. The BRSS TACS Policy Academy: A Catalyst for Change Lessons Learned from State Teams, 2011–2018 documents their challenges, successes, and lessons learned and offers recommendations for community, regional, county, and state-level service systems. C4 staff led the Policy Academies with funding from SAMHSA's Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) project.
Learn More
- Transforming Systems to Promote Equitable Access to Recovery (PDF)
- Together in Recovery: Supporting Informed Decisions—an initiative in partnership with RIZE Massachusetts Foundation
- Together in Recovery: Facing the Opioid Overdose Crisis in Massachusetts—A Case Study (PDF)
- Recovery Rising: Supporting Many Pathways Towards a Unified Vision—an initiative in partnership with Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs
- SMART Recovery: Strategic Planning-A Case Study (PDF)
- The BRSS TACS Policy Academy: A Catalyst for Change Lessons Learned from State Teams, 2011–2018—prepared by C4 staff with funding from SAMHSA's Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) project
- Customized Support and Consulting
- Organizational Development & Strategic Planning
- Curriculum and Toolkit Development
- Environmental Scans and Asset Mapping
- Our Services
More about our expertise and our training and technical assistance approaches and offerings.