History

Causeway's Journey

From Inspiration to Action that Makes Real Change

Causeway - a road above all others

When Vince Benevento founded Causeway Collaborative in 2012, he was building a bridge. He saw a huge gap in service delivery for one of the highest risk populations in North America: young men stuck in the spiral of mental health and addiction issues. Young men who were hard to serve because they were treatment resistant.

In his younger years, Vince had been there himself. He’d had the experience of not knowing where to turn for resources and mentorship. His vision was to create something different for young guys. To craft a treatment program that would foster a fulfilling, meaningful life for every young man. His plan? To wake guys up to their own inner power and self-worth and inspire them to take real action towards achieving their goals.

Since those early years as a one-man shop, Causeway Collaborative has matured into a full-service firm spanning three divisions – Futures Planning, Counseling, and Therapeutic Mentorship. The Causeway team of professionals has served over 1,000+ families in the Fairfield County community to date.

At Causeway, we believe that action is the antidote to inertia. A young man is not the problem. He is the solution. He has the insight and understanding within him that he needs to succeed. The Causeway team collaborates with young guys to stimulate new ways of thinking and being. Working together, our all-male crew leads young men along the high road to becoming who they are meant to be.

The Causeway Journey

A Timeline

October 2012

Vince Benevento founds Causeway Collaborative in a one-room office above Freudigman & Billings educational solutions in Westport, Connecticut. With the support of friends and investors Kim Freudigman and Trey Billings, Vince crafts Causeway with the vision of a fulfilling and meaningful life for every young man.

January 2016

Causeway initiates its Therapeutic Mentorship program. From 2012 to 2016, the organization grew significantly, from Vince working as a solo practitioner to a four person team by early 2016. As referrals came through in increasing numbers from community partners, they expressed overwhelming feedback about the services, specifically the utility of Futures as a complement to a therapeutic process. But, these same colleagues asked: what about everything else? What about health and wellness? How can we support guys in the process of launching and moving towards independence? What do we do with guys whose worlds have shrunk and who have become isolated? How do we expose young men to different situations in the community? It was out of the feedback of our community partners and in an effort to more holistically support young men that our Therapeutic Mentorship program was born.

January 2018

In an effort to develop a more streamlined, systematized experience for clients moving through the Center, Causeway rolled out it’s 4-phase onboarding process in early 2018. The new structure allowed for clients to get a sense of the culture and environment at Causeway before committing to engage in services. It also allowed for Causeway to gather data to inform the programmatic recommendations, but more specifically to identify and evaluate risk from the client side. However, the greatest asset of the onboarding experience is that it allowed Causeway to be fully transparent with both clients and their families about what their experience will look like before they ever get started in earnest. Service types, frequency, rationale for service types, goals in the short-term, goals in the long term, projected duration- all these questions are answered by the conclusion of the onboarding process here at Causeway.

February 2019

Bursting at the seams in its original space, Causeway finds a new home at 1465 Post Road East, Westport. A new 10-room, state of the art facility allows service delivery to an expanded clientele. The space and amenities of this location allow Causeway to develop specialized offerings in Futures Planning and Therapeutic Mentorship.

Summer 2019

The squad-based approach is born. Causeway introduces the concept of a true team approach, a cluster-based model wherein staff is divided into multiple different teams, with each member playing a singular function as a Futures Coach, Mentor, or Clinician, exclusively. This allows for a more efficient flow of information, so as to not expose guys to unrelated cases. More importantly, in terms of technical expertise, guys become proficient quicker due to role singularity.

February 2022

Causeway opens a second location in West Hartford to increase its geographic service area. The WeHa branch of Causeway will offer brick and mortar supports to young men and their families in West Hartford, Avon, Simsbury, Farmington, Glastonbury, and the wider Hartford County area.