Individual Person-Centered Plan
Each individual being served has a personalized growth plan developed around his/her unique abilities, needs, and—let’s not forget–desires. We pay particular attention to skills for positive relationships as well as building self-respect by developing work and leisure skills. It’s a reason to celebrate when someone learns to play music or solve a problem.
Stable Family Life
Some places just fill empty beds. We do not. We very carefully match our individuals being served to the people they’ll be living with to ensure compatibility and common interests. A 20-year-old who loves sports will be paired with other young men who are also devoted fans. And they go together to a lot of games.
Residential groups grocery shop, prepare meals and dine together, sharing events of the day around the table. They work together to clean their living quarters. We teach interpersonal skills to help them interact, express their feelings and resolve conflicts with each other.
Our homes are extremely stable. Some groups have lived together for decades. And they’re very quick to tell you they live with their “family.”
Health and Wellness
Though public agencies provide many health services, they’re not always easy to get. Again, it falls on us to advocate, wrangle and sometimes make a lot of noise.
Individuals being served have their own private doctors they see when necessary and for annual physicals. They have a one-on-one sit-downs with a licensed dietician to assess weight and diet. Health Services staff keep vaccinations up to date. Nurses frequently visit and monitor healthcare in the homes.
We encourage daily exercise. You’ll often see us walking around our neighborhood or playing basketball in the front yard. Some individuals attend classes at local Y’s or swim there. We even have some weight training at community gyms.
Positive Behavior Management
Every waking moment is a teaching moment in our homes. Our caregivers are always demonstrating, encouraging and praising positive behaviors that replace maladaptive ones. We help individuals being served understand and meet social norms so they’re more comfortable out in the community. And we teach appropriate ways to express feelings and frustrations. All individuals have dreams. We help them understand inappropriate behaviors stand in the way of achieving these dreams. Once they’ve grasped this, they’re ready to work toward change.
Public School
Our teenage individuals being served usually attend public school and participate in typical school events. Most are mainstreamed in regular classes.
We advocate for them at school, doing much the same as a parent. You’ll find us at meetings, teacher conferences and selling candy for band trips. At home we help with homework, pass out rewards for good grades and help pick out prom dresses. GED preparation is also available to individuals who want it.
Special Olympics
We encourage participation at every level. At some of our homes, individuals participate at the state tournament every year. They love the adventure of travel.
Community Events
When people ask us where our individuals being served go for fun, we have an easy answer—the same places you do. You’ll find us at athletic events, movies, libraries, shopping malls, concerts, public speeches and plays. We volunteer on civic projects, like cleanups or tree plantings. We’re mainstays at parades and fairs. We attend cultural events and art museums.
Regular outings allow individuals being served to explore what they like and don’t like and make new friends along the way.
Vocational Training
Our individuals being served want to work at a job and earn a fair wage—and we agree. Employment helps build competence and self-esteem.
We place those with the highest skill levels in jobs in the local community. Some work in hotel housekeeping or cleaning stadiums, for instance. Our crew in Texas cleaned up after the Super Bowl and they were very proud of it.
For those not quite ready for outside work, we offer in-house opportunities. Like shredding for an international corporation or stripping tires for a craftsman who makes recycled purses.
Everyone else, except our school students, are considered “pre-vocational.” They spend their work hours learning skills and behaviors that increase competence and self-esteem and that could eventually lead to some form of employment.
We are continually advocating in our communities to partner with employers in hiring individuals being served. You’ll find us at local commerce organizations and job fairs lobbying for our workforce. If an employer agrees to give us a try, we train the the resident in the required skills before work begins and send a job coach along to continue training on the job. We’re always scouring the region looking for contract work we can bring into our center. That international corporation didn’t just find us; we went looking for them.
Vocational Training
Our individuals being served want to work at a job and earn a fair wage—and we agree. Employment help build competence and self-esteem.
We place those with the highest skill levels in jobs in the local community. Some work in hotel housekeeping or cleaning stadiums, for instance. Our crew in Texas cleaned up after the Super Bowl and they were proud of it.
For those not quite ready for outside work, we offer in-house opportunities. Like shredding for an international corporation or stripping tires for a craftsman who makes recycled purses.
Everyone else, except our school students, are considered “pre-vocational.” They spend their work hours learning skills and behaviors that increase competence and self-esteem and that could (our fingers are crossed) eventually lead to some form of employment.
We are continually advocating in our communities to entice employers to hire individuals being served. You’ll find us at local commerce organizations and job fairs lobbying for our workforce. If an employer agrees to give us a try, we train the the individual in the required skills before work begins and send a job coach along to continue training on the job. We’re always scouring the region looking for contract work we can bring into our center. That international corporation didn’t just find us; we went looking for them.
