The CSO Framework™, developed by Amee Hardy, LCPC, identifies exactly what is blocking a neurodivergent young adult’s access to functioning — whether that’s capacity, skill, or ownership — and builds a clear path to sustainable independence.
Gemba Boise is an independent living program in Boise, Idaho, led by clinician and Executive Director Amee Hardy, LCPC, whose more than 20 years of experience span education, foster care, psychiatric settings, and direct coaching with neurodivergent young adults and their parents. Gemba Boise coaches young adults in their own apartments, in kitchens, in routines, in the real moments where functioning either holds or doesn’t. That ground-level vantage point is where Hardy kept encountering the same problem: young adults who were capable, who had made real progress, and who were still being failed by the people trying to help them — not because the support wasn’t caring, but because it was built on the wrong question. When a young adult doesn’t follow through, the instinct is to ask why they won’t. Hardy kept finding that the right question was what is blocking their access right now? That shift from motivation to access is the foundation of everything Gemba Boise has built.
The answer to that question is what the Capacity, Skill & Ownership Framework™ (CSO Framework™) is built to identify. The Framework recognizes that access can be blocked by three distinct things, each requiring a different response. Sometimes the barrier is capacity; the young adult’s nervous system is too dysregulated or depleted to access functioning at all, and what’s needed first is regulation and demand reduction, not skill-building. Sometimes the barrier is skill, a genuine gap in executive function, or a specific life skill that was never explicitly taught, and needs to be built
deliberately rather than expected to appear. And sometimes the barrier is ownership: the skill exists, but someone else still holds it, and the young adult has never had the chance to truly own it. Most frameworks can spot a skill gap. The CSO Framework™ goes further: it assesses all three layers independently, identifies which one is actually blocking access, and guides coaches, clinicians, and families through a four-stage arc, Activate, Stabilize,
Empower, Sustain, that transfers ownership to the young adult at a pace grounded in their real readiness.
“When a young adult isn’t following through, the question isn’t whether they want to. It’s what’s blocking their access. Is their nervous system too depleted to engage right now? Is there a skill that was never actually taught? Or is someone else still holding the function they’re supposed to own? Those are three completely different problems, and they need three completely different responses. The CSO Framework™ exists so that the people supporting these young adults, coaches, clinicians, families, programs, can tell the difference and actually respond to what’s true.”
— Amee Hardy, LCPC, Executive Director & Co-Owner, Gemba Boise
For coaches, licensed clinicians, families, and program directors, the CSO Framework™ offers something that has been missing from the field: a shared language for what is actually happening when a capable young adult can’t seem to follow through, and a structured, practical path for responding to the right problem rather than the one that’s easiest to name. It replaces the motivation narrative with something more accurate and more actionable, and in doing so, it
changes what support looks like, who provides it, and what it’s actually trying to accomplish. When coaches know whether they’re looking at a capacity problem, a skill gap, or an ownership gap, they stop doing the wrong thing with confidence. And when families understand the difference, they stop inadvertently extending dependence while trying to help. Gemba Boise is actively connecting with referral partners, practitioners, and programs interested in learning more.
About Gemba Boise:
Gemba Boise is an independent living program in Boise, Idaho, serving young adults ages 18–30 who are navigating the transition to independent adulthood. “Gemba” is a Japanese concept meaning “the real place”, and coaching at Gemba Boise happens exactly there: in residents’ own apartments, in their routines, their jobs, and the real moments of their lives. The program operates on an apartment model with around-the-clock coaching support and supports residents pursuing degrees at the College of Western Idaho and Boise State University to advance educational pathways. Gemba also provides vocational coaching and partners with the Boise community for internships for our young adults exploring vocational and career pathways. All programming is grounded in the CSO Framework™ (Capacity, Skill & Ownership), a proprietary clinical coaching framework developed by Executive Director Amee Hardy, LCPC. Gemba Boise is co-owned by Amee Hardy, Bernie Zimmerman, Jason Cox, Jill Cox, and Katie Rienstra.
Media Contact
Gemba Boise
info@gembaboise.com
PO Box 112, Boise, ID 83617
www.gembaboise.com