The following Providing Access and Transforming Health (PATH) success stories describe Esteem Health’s experiences working with Carenodes, a Technical Assistance (TA) Marketplace vendor selected by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to provide free expert support to Medi-Cal providers across California.
Turning the Tide for a Teen in Crisis – A CenCal PATH TA Transformation
When Esteem Health enrolled a Central California teenager in its Enhanced Care Management (ECM) benefit program, their life was on the verge of unraveling. Struggling with severe mental illness and a substance use disorder (SUD), they faced suspension, potential expulsion, and increasingly severe mental health issues, including self-harm.
Thanks to expert support available through the PATH TA Marketplace, Esteem Health partnered with Carenodes, a TA vendor that quickly became more than just a consultant – they became strategic partners in crafting a personalized care solution. Together, they identified gaps in the system, designed trauma-informed interventions, and coordinated care across multiple sectors to ensure the teen team received the care they needed.
With Carenodes’ guidance, Esteem Health was able to rapidly assess the teen’s needs and enroll them in a tailored, individualized care plan. A team of professionals – including a therapist, ECM Lead Care Manager (LCM), school staff, and family – worked together to provide seamless support. The results were transformative.
The teen started attending therapy, engaging consistently with their LCM, and their behavior at school began to stabilize. By summer, the teen graduated and found a job. Even more remarkably, their progress at school and in therapy helped their family heal. Through Esteem Health’s dyadic care modalities and caregiver engagement, the teen’s estranged parents reconciled and celebrated their child’s transformation as a united family.
Esteem Health attributes this success to a thoughtful, expert-led approach to care, bolstered by Carenodes’ strategic TA. Through coordinated diagnostics, care planning, social support, and therapeutic services, Esteem Health closed the loop between behavioral health, education, and family systems.
Healing Around the Kitchen Table: Esteem Health Reflects on a Foster Family’s Transformation
In the early days of Esteem Health’s Enhanced Care Management (ECM) partnership with CenCal members, one of the most powerful visits happened not in a clinic, but around a kitchen table.
Ozzie Payne Miller, Cofounder of Esteem Health, alongside their ECM Lead Care Manager (LCM), visited the home of young twins living with a foster family. The twins were quietly carrying complex behavioral and emotional burdens. The team quickly enrolled the twins in Esteem Health’s ECM program for Children/Youth Involved in Child Welfare population of focus. The LCM reviewed intake forms beforehand, but as Ozzie recalls, “Being in someone’s home—that changes everything.”
From the first moments, the emotional strain of the foster parents was evident. The mother, especially, appeared overwhelmed and utterly exhausted—worn down from caregiving without consistent, meaningful support. What followed wasn’t a traditional clinical exchange—it was relational care in action. The LCM gently asked the children to step out, then sat down with the foster parents – not to assess, but to listen.
For nearly an hour, the mother shared their story. The LCM didn’t interrupt. Instead, he affirmed her experience. “I hear you,” he said. “I want you to know—your children sat with me, a complete stranger, for 45 minutes. They were respectful. They were kind. They’re good kids.”
Later, when asked about their dreams for the future, one of the twins said they wanted to be a nurse – “like you,” she told the LCM. The sibling said they wanted to be a tradesman, just like their foster dad. That moment reframed the narrative: these weren’t just foster kids facing adversity. They were children deeply bonded to their caregivers, holding dreams shaped by love and example.
Supported by the PATH TA Marketplace and Carenodes, Esteem Health built and implemented care models that supported not only the children, but the entire family unit. Carenodes provided the strategic tools and insight that allowed Esteem’s team to move beyond checklists toward meaningful connection.
When the LCM asked the foster mom about the services she needed, she responded, “You’re the first person to ask me that.” Since then, Esteem Health has continued working with the family. Medication concerns have been addressed, after-school programs are in place, and summer plans are underway. Most importantly, there’s renewed hope—not just for the children, but for the entire family.
“Low income isn’t a demographic. It’s a subculture. Foster care isn’t just a placement—it’s a lived experience,” Miller reflects.
Through the PATH TA Marketplace, Esteem Health and Carenodes didn’t just support a care plan—they nurtured a family reset. One home. One visit. One table. One future, reimagined. This is the power of ECM, brought to life through the PATH TA Marketplace.
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