There are many things to work out
when people with disability start living in the
community with support. This is because big changes
have to happen in the way services are provided.
Getting real supported living for a person takes time
and energy. There is no 'model' to follow because the
kind of support has to be worked out individually for
each person.
Many supported living projects have happened
because
families acted together to support their family
member with a disability.
Even though each person may get different kinds of
support, all good supported living arrangements have
some things in common...
Supported living starts with real person centred
planning
The person is always the most important thing, with
family, friends, community and services taking the
person's interests and skills into account. There are
different planning
tools to help families and services get really
good at taking into account the person's interests and
skills. The aim of these planning tools is to make
sure the person has choices and control in making
plans. Another aim is to make sure the supports really
help the person to live in and belong to their
community.
Planning and supports are there to suit the
person's needs
It is important that services and supports can
change if the person's needs change. Organisations
should want to provide services that can change
easily to meet people's needs. Strict rules and
policies of organisations should be discussed to allow
new ways of providing services and meeting changed
needs. There have to be safeguards to make sure the
person is safe and well.
People with disability and their families steer
the decision making
To make supported living happen services need to
work as partners with the person and their family.
Services often do the practical support and paper
work. People with disability, their families and
support networks make the decisions.
Staff are well trained and supported to work with
people and their families
Training develops workers' skills, attitudes and
knowledge. It helps workers to understand how to
support a person with disability. Workers get better
at getting communities involved and getting support
networks for the person. Services build trust and
support the workers. Services are open to the person
and their family choosing the right staff and support
arrangements.
Housing and support are separate things
Housing and supports are provided by different
organisations. A person may live in a home they rent,
own, or share with others. As the persons' life
changes, their housing may change but their support
networks may stay the same. The person's home looks
like the homes of other people in the same street and
neighbourhood.
Funding is for the person and may change to suit
their changing needs
The money for supported living is an individual
amount for the particular person. It is enough to pay
for the person's changing needs throughout their
life.
There is a real promise to keep on supporting the
person to have a better life
The support services check what they are doing to
make sure the person is getting what they want. This
means the services check with the person and their
family to see if the person feels they belong in their
community. The services check that the person is doing
things that increase their feeling of belonging and
getting involved in their community, increasing their
relationships with other people, not just going along.
Supporting the person to get their goals and what they
want in life are the most important things.
Services are usually small
Support services for the person are usually small,
working for one or a few people. Sometimes larger
organisations give networks of local services the
power to work locally to support the person.
Read more about Australian and international
supported living projects - here.
These resources are about good practice in
supported living and the changes services need to
make…
Connections
for Information and Resources on Community Living
(CIRCL)
US website provides a range of
information and resources
for the development of supported living
initiatives.
For example
~ Developing
Supported Living Services: A Guide to Essentials
for Service Agencies and Regional Centers
~ The Toolbox : A 442 page document to help in
the development of supported living agencies.
Sections can be downloaded in
pdf format from the CIRCL resources page.
~ Supported
Living Service Design Outline
O'Brien C & J (1992). A
Checklist for Evaluating Personal Assistance Services
(PAS) Responsive Systems Associates.
This resource offers an evaluative
checklist which may assist consideration of service
transformation.
O'Brien J (1995). Deliberate-Fire:
An Account of Organizational Transformation in
Onondaga Community Living, Syracuse, New York
This article discusses observations
about an early example of change, the transformation
of the Onondaga Community Living organisation. "OCL
has created effective individualized supports for
people by carefully considering opportunities to
realize its values for one person at a time. This
deliberate process has generated growing commitment to
a new mission, new capacities, new skills, and new
expectations." The article highlights how change 'lit
a fire' and discusses the challenges brought by
success and increasing demand.
Hulgin K, Shoultz B, Walker P & Drake S (1996).
Innovative
practices in supported living: an overview of
organizations, issues, and resource materials.
Center on Human Policy Syracuse University.
Describes innovative agencies
around the USA and addresses a number of issues that
are important to continue to address in the effort to
develop supported living services.
Hulgin K (1996). Jay
Nolan community services: the challenges and dilemmas
of converting quickly from group homes to supported
living.
