Intellectual & Developmental Disability Support
Home Supports offer the opportunity for clients to have meaningful days and independent living choices about their activities, services, and staff at home.
Services are individually tailored to those who need less than 24-hours of staff support per day. Guided by PCP, supports are provided on a 1:1 basis in a client’s home and may include;
- Safety and Social Skills Development.
- Pre-Employment and Civic Skills Development
- Enhanced Personal Skills Development
- Physical Health Support and Skills Development
- Activities of Daily Living and/or Adaptive Skills Development
- Support for control of personal resources/finances
- Transportation for access to resources in the community
- Community Integration
1:1 | 1:2 Community Supports
Community Supports start upon departure from a client’s home into their community. It is focused on support outside of the home. Our DSP staff can support each client or small group of clients on a 1:1 or 1:2 basis.
All clients are supported in alignment with their person-centered plans and individual goals for skills development, which might include the following areas:
- Safety, Social, Pre-Employment & Civic Skills
- Enhance Personal Development & Physical Health
- Activities of Daily Living and/or Adaptive Skill development
- Control of personal resources/finances.
- Transportation to access resources in the community
- Community Integration
Home Support Quarter-Hour
This support offers the opportunity for clients to have meaningful days and independent living choices about their activities, services, and staff at home. Services are individually tailored to those who need less than 24-hour of staff support per day and include;
Community Supports
Community Supports start upon departure from a client’s home into their community. It is focused on support outside of the home. Our DSP staff are available to support each client or small group of clients on a 1:1 or 1:2 basis.
- Safety, Social, Pre-Employment and Civic Skills
- Enhance Personal Development and Physical Health
- Activities of Daily Living and/or Adaptive Skill development
- Control of personal resources/finances
- Transportation to access resources in the community
- Community Integration
Center-Based Community Supports
Assistance Plus offers Center-Based Community Supports Programming in Waterville, Maine.
This site currently provides person-centered support for over 50 clients who use the center
as a community foundation from which they can come and go for various social, civic, and personal activities.
Center-based Direct Support Professionals work to facilitate each client’s person-first plan and support their participation in daily domestic, interpersonal, cultural, and skills development activities.
At “Michael Lane”, as clients call it, skills supports are found in regularly scheduled self-advocacy, health and beauty, cooking, gardening, crafts, woodworking, technology, and music activities.
Self-care skills development includes personal hygiene, physical health, healthy eating, and a constant push toward self-awareness, and the awareness of others in a person-positive environment.
Michael Lane also offers a very active atmosphere for clients interested in social and interpersonal skills development. Clients build projects, host picnics, and engage in many external cultural and civic activities daily. They often plan their social or holiday gatherings as a group. “Night to Shine” is a popular event among many of our clients.
Assistance Plus clients are also active Special Olympics participants year-round.
What is Shared Living?
Assistance Plus is an oversight agency for individuals with Intellectual and Develop-mental Disabilities and/or Autism interested in finding a home, and for those people or families interested in providing Shared Living Services in their homes in Maine.
These MaineCare-supported services provide individuals the option to choose where and with whom they would like to live in a family-style setting as they become members of that household, chosen family, and surrounding community.
The Shared Living model offers one of two “family” setting options – one, in a home that is owned or leased by a person with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and/or Autism who is then provided direct supports in their own home, and two, as part of a family in a residence that is owned leased or rented by that family.
Shared Living is supported by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) through the MaineCare program (Section 21 and Section 29, Home and Community-Based Waiver Services) as one of the least restrictive and most cost-effective options for home support services available in Maine.
Who is it for?
Shared Living is an option for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and/or Autism who are seeking to live in a family-type home, are eligible for MaineCare services under the Home and Community-Based Waiver (Sections 21 & 29), and have a Person-Centered Plan that supports this as a living option.
The State of Maine Department of Developmental Disability Services does not support multiple people with disabilities in this housing model, unless the people are family members (ex. brother and sister, husband and wife), or if they have a long-standing relationship/friendship where they have clearly indicated that they have a desire to share housing. All exceptions to this protocol must be approved by the OADS Program Administrator of the district in which each person resides.
Next Steps
Referrals can be made by anyone. All referred clients must be approved for Section 21 or Section 29 MaineCare services.
Shared Living is supported by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) through the MaineCare program (Section 21 and Section 29, Home and Community-Based Waiver Services) as one of the least restrictive and most cost-effective options of home support services available in Maine.
What is Shared Living?
- Shared living is similar to foster care for adults with an Intellectual/Developmental disability and/or Autism diagnosis.
- A shared living resident becomes part of the fabric of the provider’s family, home, and community.
- Shared Living Providers support their client(s) with daily living skills, personal care, organization and scheduling of appointments, transportation, community inclusion, interpersonal skill development, and a host of other supports. Many people hosted by a shared living household also attend community support programs and work.
- The client’s guardians and families are encouraged to remain actively involved with and provide support and guidance to their family member and their shared living provider(s).
- It is sometimes appropriate for a family member to become the shared living provider. Shared living providers are caring, compassionate people who open their hearts and homes to support others.
- Shared Living services are specific to each client’s needs.
What are the benefits of supporting people in a shared living arrangement?
- Shared living closely replicates a private home experience.
- Providers open their homes and offer support, friendship, companionship, and growth opportunities.
- Providers are provided free training and receive a generous tax-free, monthly stipend for their home-based care and supports.
Shared living providers are all different, just as clients are all different:
- Becoming a successful shared living provider depends on what the person with a disability is looking for.
- People’s ideal living situations vary – from traditional family scenarios with children to living with a single housemate.
- It is all about the match!
Do I need to own a house to be a Shared Living Provider?
- No. As long as your home meets environmental requirements – as determined through an Assistance Plus home assessment – as a good place for the person to live, you can either rent or own your home.
- If so, review the preparation requirements below, then contact Tiffany, Shared Living Coordinator, traymond@assistanceplus.com.
- Begin to prepare to become a Shared Living Provider by completing the quizzes and reviewing the resources below with the resources below.
Mandated Reporter Quiz
Please take the required test below. On the last slide, you will need to click the link, enter the required information, select “Direct Support Profession” and begin your quiz.
Save your Certificate and provide a copy to the Agency Shared Living Coordinator.
APS-Mandated-Reporter-Training
HIPAA and Bloodborne Pathogens Test
Please take the required test below. The results of your tests will be emailed to the Shared Living Coordinator.
HIPAA Bloodborne Pathogens Quiz
Review the NADSP Code of Ethics for Direct Support Professionals (DSP)
https://www.nadsp.org/code-of-ethics-text/
Read the Maine State Shared Living Model Handbook for more details about the specific roles and responsibilities.
Shared Living Guide for Individuals
Shared Living Guide for Providers
Shared Living Guide for Oversight Agencies
Request the Assistance Plus Shared Living Manual
Contact Tiffany, Shared Living Coordinator, traymond@assistanceplus.com.
Looking for additional information/training on:
Challenging Behaviors, or Brain Injury Basics,
Check out these Emergency Preparedness Resources
https://www.redcross.org/about-us/our-work/disaster-relief.html
https://211maine.org/contact/