Insights and Ideas
At Open Road, our consulting is informed by research, and our research is shaped by the questions, challenges, and possibilities we encounter alongside human service organizations and the people they support.Our scholarship explores how organizations and systems can move beyond good intentions to create meaningful, sustainable change. Across our work, we are particularly interested in trauma-informed and healing-centered approaches, intellectual and developmental disability services, program design and evaluation, advocacy, and systems change.
Featured Research & Publications
Amanda J. Rich & Nikki DiGregorio | Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 2025
Trauma-informed care is often embraced as a philosophy but can be difficult to translate into everyday organizational practice. This paper explores how Theory of Change and logic modeling can help organizations embed trauma-informed principles into program design, implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement. The approach offers organizations a practical way to move beyond one-time training toward more intentional and sustainable trauma-informed change.
Connects to our work in:
Trauma-Informed Organizations · Theory of Change · Program Design · Evaluation · Organizational Change
Amanda J. Rich, Nikki DiGregorio & Carla Strassle | Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 2021
What does it actually take to become trauma-informed within intellectual and developmental disability services? Drawing on perspectives from 130 leaders representing more than 100 organizations, this research examined how trauma-informed care was understood and implemented across IDD service organizations and identified barriers to putting trauma-informed principles into practice. The findings highlight the importance of moving beyond individual staff knowledge to address organizational culture, leadership, workforce conditions, policies, resources, and broader systems.
Connects to our work in:
Trauma-Informed Practice · Intellectual & Developmental Disability Services · Organizational Culture · Workforce Wellbeing · Systems Change
Amanda J. Rich | American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
How does change happen within disability service system and who gets to shape that change? Drawing on interviews with advocates working at local, state, and national levels, Standing Together and Finding a Voice Apart explores advocacy for intellectual disability rights and the ways people, families, organizations, and movements work to influence policies, practices, and expectations. The book reflects a perspective that continues to shape Open Road's work today: people most affected by systems should have meaningful opportunities to influence how those systems are designed, evaluated, and changed.
Connects to our work in:
Disability Policy · Advocacy · Stakeholder Engagement · Systems Change · Leadership
