Supported and Independent Living

Independent Living

The Independent Living Program also focuses on providing just the right amount of assistance for a person to enable a person to optimize their independence so they can enjoy good health and wellbeing within their chosen lifestyle. The Program is intended to be supportive, not intrusive. It is not intended to provide 24/7 supports, but rather to be specifically targeted as a complement to the ways a person can successfully manage on their own and/or with other resources and natural supports.  People must be able to manage their basic living skills on their own or through other supports.  The Program is guided by, and for, people choosing to live in their own homes.

The following checklist can help decide if these services are the right fit for an individual:

• They want to live independently in the community either on my own or with a roommate or partner and I need some support to be successful.
• They will be living in the community where these services are offered.
• They can manage mostly on my own (or with the support of others in my life) and will only need to have support from these services at various times throughout the week.
• the service hours that have been approved for them are enough for me to manage successfully.
• They are open to and willing to have support staff provide the services of their choice to them in their home and/or community settings.
• They person will not expect their supports to: manage their medications, cook for them, clean their house, tell them how to spend their money, drive them around with no purpose, do things for them that they do not actually need support to do, tell them what choices to make, run errands for them or take care of their place/pets while they are away.

Our focus is also on helping individuals establish good practices so that they are safe and healthy in their apartment and community. This is important because now that they are living on their own, they won’t always have staff or family around to help them.

Usually, service hours are scheduled during the day on weekdays. We schedule times during these hours to match an individual’s needs and their other activities. If needed, we can provide support on the weekend or in the evening. To make sure schedules fit well for an individual, we will develop a service plan with them so we know what, when, where, and how services will happen.  This schedule may change as the individual’s service needs change.