Shawn
Shawn is a 27 year old man who was one of first to move out of a group home. At the time of this visit, he had been living in his own place, a ranch home which he rents, for three years. He enjoys music and his walls are decorated with posters of some o
f the musicians he likes.
Shawn receives support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Jon, who provides most of this assistance has been supporting Shawn for 1 1\2 years. Louie, who used to work at the group home where Shawn lived, has been supporting him for over 6 years.
Louie was originally skeptical of the prospect of Shawn moving to live in own place. He described his time with Shawn at the group home as "non-stop crisis management." Shawn was frequently aggressive and staff restrained him sometimes a couple of times
a day. There reached a point when the agency was planning a police intervention for Shawn's behavior and his parents were afraid he would be kicked out of the agency.
In retrospect, Shawn's father explained, "It got so bad, something had to be done... and thank god." All of the people who knew Shawn then and now believe this move was the best thing for him. He still has problems but they are much less frequent and hi
s assistants have developed a good understanding of what makes him frustrated. For example, Shawn is described as very particular. He likes certain things in certain spots and as Louie explained, "It's easier to accommodate Shawn now. It's much more di
fficult when trying to accommodate four other people." Jon said he might have been "scared away" if he had known Shawn when he lived at the group home. He added, "When you get to know Shawn it's fun. He has bad days, but it's nothing. I understand why
he gets mad because we're friends now."
Shawn works as a security guard at a medical building three hours a day, five days a week. One of his assistants accompanies him and provides a good deal of support to do this job each day. Afterwards they often enjoy going to the local Common Grounds c
offee shop where Shawn has come to know the manager.
As the people in Shawn's life are getting to know him better, he is more satisfied and has fewer problems. Shawn's parents have changed the way they think about what he needs. For a long time, they assumed, "Jay Nolan can fix my kid and I can go to my g
rave OK." Now they are more actively involved and excited about Shawn's future. He father concluded, "It is more involving with Shawn this way, so much more meaningful... The bottom line is that Shawn smiles a lot."
Jim
Jim is also a 27 year old man. He is a soft spoken man who communicates with limited words and phrases and with some people, he types. He has spent many years living in institutions, including a state hospital where he lived from 9 to 14 years old. The
n he moved to a group home operated by Jay Nolan where over the years he had many problems and was put on a great deal of medication to control his behavior. When his parents insisted that he be taken off the medication, he was admitted to a developmenta
l center for this process, but ended up there for over three years.
Much of this time was spent in legal proceedings through which Jim won the right to leave the developmental center and receive services from JNCS again. Jim's parents had concerns that supported living was not appropriate for him because he needed so muc
h support. Through the opportunity to speak with other parents and Jeff, however, they decided to support Jim to get his own place in May, 1993.
The first several months in his own place were very difficult. Jim continued to break windows which has been a long time problem and did have up to three staff providing support at a time. JNCS did not approach this as a situation in which Jim had to pr
ove himself as it might have in the past. Rather, the emphasis was on developing more effective support. Jeff took the stance that, "The return of Jim to the state hospital is not an option."
During the first year, Jim had over 20 different assistants. His father believes staff changes and the lack of a good match for his son were a large part of his problems. He recalled problems with staff, "Most of whom were unable to accept Jim as a pers
on and to communicate with him as a friend. Some attempted to control Jim, some viewed their job as babysitting, and others thought they had all the answers."
Things have improved significantly over the past year. According to Jim's father, he still has "occasional problems but at a level previously thought unattainable." The biggest difference seems to have come through finding the right match in people to pr
ovide assistance. At the time of this visit, Jim still received 24 hour support but only needs one staff at a time. He has had the same three assistants for over a year.
Jim has a job with JNCS delivering mail to the central office two days a week. He is learning to do his own shopping and banking and the tellers know him by name. For fun he likes to bowl and ride his bike in the park near his house. Staff have invited
Jim to parties with their friends. Most recently, Jim had attended a party with his CLC and stayed out until 4:00 in the morning. Staff's friends treat him like anyone else.
Jim's parents, however, think this is not the same as having his own friends. This is one of their dreams for the future. They would also like to see him involved in more meaningful activities, particularly in terms of work. Jim's father concluded that
these are relatively minor concerns, given their history. Now that they see how good things can be, however, they have a sense of making up for lost time.