Listening to Complexity:
Person-Centered Partnership for Health System Redesign
Hi, my name is Ariel Singer and I offer strategic leadership and tactical implementation guidance for person-centered health system transformation.
I’m familiar with the complexities of health policy and market trends.
I know about the dynamic pressures and interdependencies of healthcare operations.
I recognize the difficulties of driving system change while continuing to offer patient care every day.
Despite these inherent challenges, what inspires me to keep working at health system improvement is my passion for making our healthcare delivery system more equitable, strengths-based, trauma-informed, and user-friendly for the humans both seeking and providing care.
My Services
I offer:
Virtual and in-person trainings on Motivational Interviewing, Collaborative Screening and foundational skills for person-centered, trauma-informed communication in health care
Project leadership for health system redesign
Group facilitation for strategy and implementation planning, stakeholder engagement, focus groups, and co-design
Practice facilitation and implementation coaching
Consultation and thought-partnership on:
Health system transformation strategy and implementation planning
Technical assistance development and delivery
Health promotion program development and evaluation
Care model and care team redesign
Workforce learning and development strategy
Process improvement
Think I can help?
“I have had the good fortune to work with Ariel in various settings for 10 years. Ariel is the quintessential teacher and coach when it comes to human-centered communication in healthcare. While she is a true expert, it is the way in which she shares information, listens to questions and concerns, and checks for understanding and skill development that causes her to be exceptional! Ariel has a very inviting way with people. Her teaching style allows even the most tentative learner to step in, experiment, ask for clarification, and leave with a sense of growing confidence. Ariel’s command of the material is unmatched and still she remains light, humble, warm, and engaged without overwhelming participants with her deep knowledge! I also appreciate that Ariel laughs so easily - it eases tensions and creates a sense of connection from the get go.”
— Laurie Francis, RN MPH | Executive Director, Partnership Health Center
I am skilled in:
Integration of whole-person care: primary care, behavioral, oral and social health
Trauma-informed care
Evidence-based, patient-centered communication and change facilitation
Health equity strategy
Value-based care and payment
Federally Qualified Health Centers
Primary Care Association technical assistance and training
Human-Centered Design
Popular Education
Facilitative Leadership
Model for Improvement
My Expertise
“This is the best experience I’ve ever had (in 32 years of practice!) with a contract project director. Ariel has somehow managed to deeply understand the issues that relate to our work, the heart and importance of this effort, and keep a highly complicated project moving forward. I see evidence of actual meaningful listening threaded throughout the materials and planning process.
A project like this can be made or broken by the quality of facilitation and leadership of the action steps. If we succeed in Oregon, we will very much have Ariel to thank in part for that success.”
— Janice Garceau, LCSW | Director, Deschutes County Health Services
My Approach
I have over a decade of experience leading complex system change projects in healthcare, with a focus on enhancing the integration and quality of whole-person services in primary care, behavioral health, and oral health settings.
I bring deep skills in listening, synthesis and facilitation at both micro and macro levels. On the micro level, I am passionate about transforming the intimate change conversations that happen between patients and helping professionals.
In the macro, I guide collaborative efforts to develop innovative strategies linking payment, policy and practice change to drive system-level improvements.
I offer face-to-face and virtual training and technical assistance on Motivational Interviewing and Collaborative Screening.
I have particular expertise in leading change in safety net healthcare settings, such as Federally-Qualified Health Centers and community mental health programs.
I am a highly-skilled facilitator and bring discipline and clarity to the process of identifying strategic goals, charting a path forward, and leading stakeholder groups towards a commonly-held vision for change.
Ready to chat?
“I have been working with Ariel to lead the planning and pilot launch of a behavioral health access innovation project called Rapid Engagement since early 2021. I have counted on Ariel to manage the project from conceptualization to implementation, addressing both the broad vision and goals, and the minute details of successfully completing action items. She’s a great meeting facilitator, inviting each attendee to participate and ensuring she fully understands and documents their contributions accurately. I enjoy collaborating with Ariel on this project – I can step back from having to lead, knowing our work is in good hands.”
— Cherryl Ramirez | Executive Director, Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Programs
Are We A Good Fit?
I love working with both healthcare delivery systems and the organizations that support them!
I am especially passionate about safety net healthcare and improving healthcare quality, experience and outcomes for people who are uninsured or covered by Medicaid.
If you are working on implementing or improving social needs, behavioral or demographic screenings in a healthcare or social service setting, take a look at the Collaborative Screening Implementation Tools and schedule a free consultation to learn more about training opportunities.
FQHCs, rural health clinics, and Primary Care Associations, I know your world very well and there is a lot that you won’t have to explain to me. I feel so grateful to have served Oregon’s FQHCs for many years and am always excited to support the health center movement.
If you are a health services researcher interested in patient experience and communication, social health integration, or Motivational Interviewing in healthcare, I’d love to hear from you.
If you are a program or workforce development leader, patient experience professional, clinical staff supervisor, association leader or technical assistance provider looking for subject matter, strategy, and implementation expertise in human-centered healthcare, I just might be able to help!
I would especially love to hear from you if you are interested in improving your screening and referral processes and preparing your workforce to facilitate sensitive and meaningful conversations with patients and families about their social circumstances and health behaviors.
As you navigate the dynamic and high-pressure changes happening in the healthcare marketplace, if you are not interested in prioritizing empathy, human experience, equity, and pragmatic application of evidence, I am probably not the right partner for you.
Think we might be a good fit?
A Bit More About My Work
Looking back, I feel like I could not have asked for better on-the-job education in leading person-centered, equity-focused, policy-driven system change.
Starting with my immersion in Motivational Interviewing as a health coach, I benefited from high quality training, daily practice, and ongoing skill-building and clinical supervision, and developed deep expertise in this evidence-based practice for helping people change.
I went on to work at the Oregon Primary Care Association, where I arrived in the middle of the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative, a national demonstration project focused on Patient-Centered Medical Home implementation in community health centers.
In the years that followed, I provided technical assistance on topics ranging from behavioral health integration to social needs screening to trauma-informed oral healthcare. In partnership with the Oregon Health Authority, our team at OPCA led the nation in FQHC payment reform linked to equity-focused clinical practice transformation.
I spearheaded OPCA’s involvement in the Delta Center for a Thriving Safety Net, in partnership with the Oregon Association of Community Mental Health Programs.
From an incredible cadre of local and national leaders, I learned about navigating the rocky path towards value-based payment in healthcare, while keeping our eyes on the ultimate goal of ending health disparities for the communities we serve.
I created Empathic Inquiry, a model for patient-centered social needs screening, with a team of contributors, and have provided motivational interviewing training to hundreds of community health professionals from primary care, behavioral, and oral health care settings.
I partner with organizations to lead both person-centered communication training and person-centered system change efforts.
My current system change projects include:
Serving as the Practice Facilitator for the implementation of universal social needs screening in primary care at Kaiser Permanente in Washington with the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute.
Leading a multi-stakeholder innovation planning and pilot launch effort to improve outpatient public behavioral health access in Oregon with the Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Programs and the Oregon Health Authority.
Want To Work With Me?
If you are interested in working with me to provide person-centered communication training, please schedule a free consultation.
I always start by meeting with you to learn more about your goals and constraints so that we can explore options and determine whether my services would be a good fit. In that first conversation, I’ll want to hear about your context, vision, and stakeholders, and together we can brainstorm whether I can create a learning experience that adds value for your setting.
I don’t have the capacity to get deeply involved in additional system change work in 2022, but I may be available to offer consultation on strategy and implementation, or to offer specific subject matter expertise to your team.
If I am not the right person to partner with you on system change or person-centered communication training, I will try to connect you to someone else in my network who may be able to help.
Even if you are not looking for training on person-centered communication or Collaborative Screening at this time, please check out the free Conversation Guides and Implementation Tools that you can download and share to get started with building a person-centered screening and referral approach.
