Community Life Services offered by our company take a non-traditional approach to meeting the needs of persons served by breaking down the strict barriers that distinguish the types of services provided during the normal business hours of 9 to 5. Traditionally, programs offered during these hours have been defined by terms such as, supported employment, enclaves, sheltered workshops, competitive employment, and other vocationally oriented titles. Our services focus on the things that are important in the lives of the people whom we serve. The people receiving services are the ones that ultimately choose their set of daily and weekly activities. Some individuals express the desire to find employment and some individuals are content to spend their “golden years” partaking in leisure and recreational activities that they truly enjoy.
We take an aggressive approach toward community integration. Our services and supports are community based. This approach allows people supported the opportunity to find jobs, friends and ways to recreate in the community. We feel that this approach is beneficial both to the people we support and the communities to which we provide supports.
Our Community Life Services are directed at five principal outcomes:
• Improving skill performance in areas of importance to participants;
• Reducing the frequency and extent of maladaptive behaviors;
• Developing relationships with people in home and work communities;
• Increasing community integration activity for participants; and
• Participating in some form of community-based employment either full- or part-time, when appropriate.
At present, we operate Community Life programs in five separate settings, three in Indiana and one in Georgia. Our Indiana Community Life services extend to more than 140 individuals with needs ranging from profound retardation to intense behavioral difficulty. We employ six “Community Life Coordinators” (professionals with responsibility for developing Community Life opportunities and corresponding plans) along with site-specific managerial personnel, all of whom are supervised by our Community Life Service Manager.
During our Council accreditation process we were applauded for our creative community work with challenging individuals. We have been told repeatedly that we do what few other organizations attempt to do -- providing community-based supports to adults with substantial disabilities or behavioral issues.
Your Friends & Neighbors, Inc. family of companies includes PEJUS, Inc.,
Your Friends & Neighbors of Indiana, Inc., Your Friends & Neighbors of Georgia, Inc. and Rosewater, Inc.
Family owned, Family operated, Family values!
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