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Supported Living Guidebook/Resource Manual

"It's My Home"

NCCDD Supported Living GuidebookplainR

NCCDD’s three-year Supported Living: Making the Difference initiative (January 1, 2017-December 31, 2019) set out to promote the new Supported Living Innovations Waiver service that started in North Carolina in 2016 and demonstrate how individuals with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD) can live in a home of their choice in the community with certain supports.

Over three years, Vaya Health worked with four provider agencies to assist 45 individuals with I/DD in transitioning to homes of their choice in the community. The initiative uncovered many of the challenges that individuals with varying levels of needs face in making a successful transition to living in their own home with support. Working with numerous community partners, Vaya Health compiled all of the learning experiences and lessons learned into this guidebook or resource manual titled “It’s My Home.” This webpage is a guidebook with five sections or “buckets” with a wealth of information for different players who are involved in Supported Living.

  1. Foundational Principles
  2. Information for People with Disabilities and Their Families
  3. Information for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs)
  4. Information for Agencies
  5. Other Resources

1. Foundational Principles

Why Supported Living?

What's the Difference?

What is Dignity of Experience?

What is the NC Innovations Waiver?

How can I learn more about Person-Centered Thinking?

How Do I Support People to Make Their Own Choices?

How do I get started?

What is the future of supports for people with disabilities?

2. Information for People with Disabilities and Their Families

Is Supported Living for me?

The Right Fit: Finding and Keeping a Great Direct Support Professional

Thinking Through Housing

What if I want (or need) a roommate?

What if I have or am a legal guardian?

  • When a person with disabilities is interested in receiving services/support in their own home and they have a court-appointed guardian, there are often many questions about how the person and their guardian manage the person’s property and tenancy rights. This resource, Supporting People in Making Choices, provides guidance on these issues.
  • The following is a short article written by the mother and guardian of a young woman with disabilities. Her perspectives on guardianship and informed decision-making may serve as guidance for you and your guardian. You may access the article here: Guardianship: One Family’s Perspective.
  • Many more resources regarding guardianship are available at this website: https://rethinkingguardianshipnc.org/

3. Information for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs)

The Supported Living Mindset

Cultivating Community

Supporting People's Access to Money

The Dignity of Experience

Becoming the Best Direct Support Professional

4. Information for Agencies

Setting the Culture

Person-Centered Staffing Practices

Person-Centered Individualized Budgeting

Supporting the Dignity of Experience

Agency Considerations

5. Other Resources

Technology's Role in Supported Living

Self-Direction & Person-Centered Services

Public Services

Housing Resources

Crisis Intervention Resources

NCCDD hopes that this information, along with the success story videos, will enable individuals with I/DD, their families, their support professionals, the agencies they work with, and other community partners to see how to set up Supported Living successfully to make community living a reality for those individuals benefiting from this service. As John O’Brien wrote in 1993, “Supported Living is a simple concept in danger of being complicated until its power to help people with developmental disabilities gets lost.” NCCDD hopes this resource will provide many of the tools needed to understand how to do Supported Living successfully to give those individuals the opportunity to more fully participate in their communities.