CISWH Senior Project Director Bethlyn Houlihan Shares New Framework for Humanistic Systems Change 

At the 2026 Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) Annual Conference, Bethlyn Houlihan, senior project director at the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH) at BUSSW, shared a model initiative and actionable framework co-designed with national clinician and family experts to advance humanistic systems change for children with medical complexity (CMC), their families, and clinicians. 

The session, Opportunities for Humanistic Systems Change: An Urgent Action Framework to Benefit Children with Medical Complexity, Their Families, and Clinicians, introduced participants to the Rooted in Humanity Urgent Action Framework, an online tool and guide designed to help health systems center relationships, lived expertise, and partnership in care delivery. Inspired by conversations between family and faculty during the Future of Care for CMC Café Series, a national initiative hosted by CISWH and funded by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, the framework aims to bring humanism to care for CMC.  

“Well-being and humanity — of children, families, and clinicians — is not secondary to good outcomes,” said Houlihan. “It IS the path to better outcomes.” 

The framework uses a “living tree” model to illustrate the interconnected elements needed to prioritize essential systems change. The trunk represents families and clinicians who each bring essential expertise on systems of care, what works, and associated pain points. When they function as true partners they can move trust (the soil) and core values (the roots) into real strategies (the branches) and real outcomes (the fruit).  

“We didn’t design this framework to add to an already impossible list of tasks for people working with children with medical complexity,” said Houlihan. “It’s about knowing what to focus on. And where often small changes can make a big difference in real life.” 

Houlihan and collaborators Allison Gray and Madhavi Kuthanur of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health introduced the framework and guided participants through its core components. The workshop included interactive café-style discussions where attendees reflected on the model’s “tree” structure and identified strategies they could implement within their own roles. The session concluded with a debrief during which participants shared key insights and potential next steps for advancing more humanistic approaches to care at the systems level. 

Learn more about the Rooted in Humanity framework.  

The Rooted in Humanity Urgent Action Framework and The Future of Care for Children with Medical Complexity Virtual Café Series were funded by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health.