Transforming Together: Implementation Guide
What success looks like: Family and youth are co-designers of a new ecosystem of care Momentum is growing in counties across California to center the voices, perspective and advice of youth and families in the design and delivery of new programs–and thus to create systems that are more effective and more responsive to community needs. In many counties, family members and young people now serve on collaborative leadership teams and offer their lived-experience insights to inform referral pathways, outreach strategies, and the kinds of supports being offered. For example, one county (see below) is using a community-driven partnership model to engage families, educators, and community partners in developing trauma-informed strategies and upstream interventions. The model convenes families as co-planners in setting goals, analyzing data, and shaping countywide priorities, ensuring that family voice guides both prevention and response efforts. Another county (see below) is creating family resource centers that serve as neighborhood hubs—co-designed with parents and community leaders to provide peer navigation, parenting supports, and trusted access points to public services in familiar, community-based settings.
Examples from the Field Counties across California are experimenting with locally grounded models of family and youth co-design. • Santa Clara County operates a countywide network of Family Resource Centers that serve as neighborhood hubs for parent leadership, peer navigation, and connection to public services. • Humboldt County established a Transition- Age Youth Collaboration within its Children’s System of Care, ensuring families and young people co-develop strategies for prevention and early intervention. • San Bernardino County has embedded family and youth voice directly into its Interagency Leadership Team (ILT) , pairing parents and young adults with agency leaders to inform policy, training, and cross- sector practice. Taking authentic engagement a further step, several California counties have been exploring ways of ensuring young people are part of the decision-making process shaping a new ecosystem of care. The counties are inviting youth to join ILT or EAC leadership teams, participate in advisory or specialty work groups, and contribute to planning and evaluation efforts with other system partners. For example, in one county, a school health steering committee recruited youth and family members from underserved communities to co-develop a behavioral health support system for schools. In another county, parents with lived experience are co-facilitating the System of Care’s Executive Advisory Committee’s monthly leadership meetings. Elsewhere, school-based mental health teams are engaging directly with students—using outreach, classroom education, and stigma- reduction strategies to incorporate youth voice into daily practice.
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