For public sector workers transforming behavioral health systems, engaging with stakeholders currently in crisis often means stepping into sensitive spaces–whether they are currently experiencing violence, homelessness, or severe mental illness. Collecting insights about their experience requires a trauma-informed approach to ensure the well-being of the participants as collaborators in the process. It’s about building trust, fostering psychological safety, and honoring the lived experiences of those you serve, while also protecting your own energy to truly show up and be present with your stakeholders.

At Third Sector, our Behavioral Health projects often

Government projects rarely unfold exactly as planned. Funding shifts, capacity varies, and data and operations are often messier than expected. For consultants and public partners, success depends less on sticking rigidly to scope and more on practicing adaptive facilitation—the art of adjusting scope, style, and role to meet clients where they are, while still delivering impact.

At Third Sector, we’ve seen this play out across projects of every size and context. Whether stepping back to address foundational capacity issues, loosening rigid processes to prioritize authentic presence, or designing tools that account

At Third Sector, a core part of our work is helping partners build authentic community leadership and shared decisionmaking structures. Our work with Small Magic addresses longstanding gaps in the early childhood ecosystem in Jefferson County, Alabama, which reflect a national trend of policymakers undervaluing provider expertise and making policy decisions disconnected from the lived experiences and realities of children and families. The recent launch of the Jefferson County Provider Council, a result of our work with Small Magic, serves as a compelling case study on how to establish authentic

In the last nine months, Third Sector has worked closely with the Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health and three community-based organizations that offer CDEPs in the county to identify practical, tailored strategies for CDEP sustainability. These strategies offer ongoing revenue opportunities for community-based organizations through integration with Medi-Cal billable services. These three examples illustrate how other counties can integrate and sustain CDEPs into a thriving behavioral health ecosystem, functioning as program delivery settings, access points, or embedded supports.

Many people who have had contact with the criminal-legal system are also struggling with behavioral health challenges. Approximately 80% of people incarcerated in California have a substance use disorder, and 36% are living with a mental illness (CCJBH 2023 Annual Report). Yet among those released, behavioral health service utilization remains low. This gap points to the urgent need for coordinated, integrated care between the behavioral health and criminal-legal systems.

From December 2024 to April 2025, Third Sector collaborated with the California Council on Criminal Justice and Behavioral Health (CCJBH) to form

This post is an excerpt from our Changing Systems, Changes Lives Series – Doing “Whatever It Takes” To Improve Mental Health Service Delivery for High-Need Populations: Exploring the Impact of Full Service Partnership Programs In Ventura County, CA. 

Mental health conditions are becoming more prevalent throughout the United States, with low-income populations and communities of color facing higher barriers to access and quality care. In the U.S., it is estimated that more than 23 percent of adults, or roughly 1 in 5, live with a mental illness (59.3 million in 2022).