Introducing the Holonic Hive: Connection is the Strategy to Federal Disruption.

I’m Jesse Heffernan. I’m a person in long-term recovery, husband, a father of four, and until recently, a Region 5 Behavioral Health Advisor with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA. I joined SAMHSA because I believed in public service. After 20+ years in behavioral health, recovery leadership, and public engagement—shaped by my own recovery journey, I was given an opportunity to be a civil servant to the communities I love and a stable, consistent career I had planned to retire from. I stepped away from a successful consulting business to help strengthen behavioral health systems in the Midwest. I wanted to serve communities like the ones that helped me.

And then I was terminated, along with others who had committed our careers to this work—not due to performance, but under the banner of "efficiency." Since then, even more federal staff across agencies like HHS, FDA, CDC, and NIH have faced similar layoffs, as covered by NPR. The trend of intentional traumatization to demoralize civil servants through the guise of reduction in force continues, leaving significant gaps in the leadership and continuity of care that millions rely on.

But this is not a story about being fired. It’s a story about what comes next.

We Step Forward When Others Step Back

The Holonic Hive is a group of people like me. Public servants, recovery advocates, behavioral health experts, former federal employees, folks with deep knowledge of systems, programs, and communities who were pushed out but are still committed to doing the work. We came together because we’re not breaking our promise to the people we serve. The Hive is a way to keep going to respond with care, with skill, and with community. We’re here to fill real gaps left by the shakeups happening in agencies across the country.

"Many of our current challenges require us to come together in community to create the world we want to live in and are proud to leave for the next generation. The Holonic Hive offers us the opportunity to bring together our collective professional and lived expertise in mental health and addiction to build a world where recovery is a reality for all." — Julie Erickson

A Different Kind of Pool - A Hive

It's called the Holonic Hive because we see each participant as both whole and part of something greater. In systems theory, a "holon" is an entity that is simultaneously a self-contained whole and a contributing part of a larger system. That’s the ethos we’re carrying forward: mutual interdependence, individual brilliance, and collective design.

There are plenty of consulting networks. The Hive was built because something deeper was needed—especially for those of us with institutional knowledge and a commitment to community. We’re not here to cycle in and out of short-term gigs. We’re here to carry forward critical work with values that don’t shift with every political wind.

Our foundation is rooted in the experience of former federal employees, but the Hive is growing to include national and international subject matter experts who share a belief in equity, recovery, and long-term system change. This isn’t just about filling roles—it’s about reimagining how deep, cross-sector knowledge can be mobilized in service to people, not bureaucracy.

Recent headlines—from the Federal News Network’s coverage to Mark Cuban’s public push for leveraging former federal expertise—show there’s a growing recognition that this kind of collective is needed. The Hive is one answer to that call.

"With the rollback of vital resources, our communities are left to navigate systems that were never built for us. When the administration steps back, we step forward. I joined to ensure Indigenous communities have the support, advocacy, and culturally rooted care they deserve." — Carly Blemmel

The Holonic Hive is a consulting pool, a values network, and a collaborative think tank. It’s where people who have built and led programs—who understand systems from the inside out—can keep showing up with purpose.

What We Offer

• Consulting and advisory services across behavioral health, recovery, policy, prevention, public health, and community transformation.

• Project-based collaborations rooted in lived experience, equity, and innovation.

• A national roster of seasoned, values-aligned professionals ready to engage with: Health departments RCOs, Nonprofits and foundations, Universities, Tribal and Urban Indian Health programs, Federal and State grantees, Harm reduction orgs, Hospital systems expanding peer services, Advocacy groups, Prevention Coalitions and more.
  

We’re co-designing relationships. Our model centers ethical consulting, peer collaboration, and shared prosperity. Think of it as a mutual aid structure for mission-driven professionals.

Connection Is How We Move Forward

When systems break, people need connection more than ever. The Hive is built on that principle. It gives folks a place to land, but more importantly, a way to move forward—together. We share knowledge, we support each other’s projects, we show up where we’re needed. This is about community care, not just career paths.

"Being an independent consultant who also has access to such high integrity, highly skilled, hard working individual experts is an incredible and unique opportunity. The Holonic Hive makes each of us stronger and brings greater value to those we serve." — Lynda Zeller

The Hive is small, but powerful. We know the problems. Many of us have lived them. But we also know what’s possible when people come together with purpose. The Hive was created with this in mind.

We’re not here to rebuild the same systems. We’re here to do something better. Together.

If this resonates, consider this your invitation. Reach out. Join a project. Hire a Consultant. Share your story. Let’s build something that honors where we’ve been and resists the tactics of division and displacement through connection and purpose.

Welcome to the Holonic Hive.