Options in Community Living
(Madison, Wisconsin)
Options in Community Living provides support to 100 people, including some
with severe and multiple disabilities, who rent or own their own houses
and apartment throughout Dane County, Wisconsin. The agency has moved away
from a "clustered apartment" approach whereby people lived in a cluster
of apartments located in one apartment complex. Now people live where they
choose and with whom they choose--sometimes by themselves, sometimes with
roommates--and receive supports at these locations.
About 24 people served by Options employ live-in, paid roommates or personal
care attendants to provide full-time support, using a variety of Medicaid
and state funding mechanisms. For these people, Options acts as a broker--assisting
them to recruit, screen, hire, supervise, and, if necessary, fire their
attendants. Options also provides support to about 75 people who do not
require live-in assistance but who may need intensive services and supports
to remain in their homes.
The agency has three teams of "community support specialists" who provide
support, case management, training, and other services. All team members
know each person supported by their team and can give each other support
and assistance as well as problem-solving help when a dilemma arises. One
of the agency's priorities, in terms of support, is to assist people to
become part of their neighborhoods and communities, and significant staff
time is devoted to this area.
Centennial Developmental Services, Inc.
(Weld County, Colorado)
The Residential Support Program of Centennial Developmental Services, Inc.,
provides support to 56 adults with disabilities, including a number of
people who have significant impairments. This agency has also moved away
from group home and clustered apartment arrangements to helping people
living in their own homes with supports. The 56 people supported by the
program live either by themselves or with others in apartments and houses,
and receive significant but varying degrees of staff time.
The staff works in teams to assist people. Skills are taught within the
context of typical daily routines and activities. A primary part of the
staff's role is to help connect and involve people in their neighborhoods
and community. The agency tries to recruit staff members who are themselves
connected to the community, and the staff the use their own connections
to increase the social networks and relationships of the people they help
support. A strong sense of enthusiasm and spirit has been nurtured among
the agency staff.
Residential, Inc.
(New Lexington, Ohio)
Residential, Inc., is an agency which has also moved from providing group
homes, and then a semi-independent and independent living program, to supporting
people in their own homes. The staff at the agency began to have concerns
about how people were feeling about its group homes and other residential
settings; the people were telling them that something was missing. Based
on this, they decided to work from the idea that everyone should have their
own home--either by themselves or with others of their own choosing. Staff
members recognized, however, that access to housing was a problem not only
for people with disabilities, but for many other residents of the community
and surrounding county. As a result, some of the agency staff joined together
with other members of the community to form Perry County Housing Association,
an organization designed to help promote increased opportunity for home-ownership
for all residents of the county.
Along with this came a change in the administrative structure. In the past,
the staff who made major decisions about a person's life had little or
no direct support experience with that person. The agency recognized a
problem with this, and changed to use "service planners." Each person who
is supported by the agency is matched with a service planner (this match
is based on people who know one another, get along, and work well together).
The hours and duties of service planners are flexible, and depend on the
individual's needs. Basically, the main responsibility of the service planner
is to become involved with the person with a disability, draw in others,
and help him or her obtain the needed assistance elsewhere.
The agency places emphasis on team support of people (trying to include
at least one member of the team who does not work for the agency), building
natural community supports for people, and assisting people to learn and
grow through relationships, rather than special programs. From this agency's
perspective, a key factor in support and integration is finding people
who are willing to make long-term commitments to others.
Summary
Five factors that contribute to the success of these three residential
agencies are: