Supportive Living & Reintegration

For many people, early recovery is a gradual process that starts with intensive treatment and features a slow reduction of support in an effort to build to self-sufficiency. This model can be life-saving. Supportive Living fits in just at the end of the journey, as it’s often the last step someone takes before embarking on independence.

The program features apartments shared between two or three peers. Individuals in the apartments also receive wraparound support services from staff. After months of structure in intensive treatment and support programs, residents in Supportive Living experience some significant independence. They no longer have days filled with groups and counseling sessions. Instead, their days are filled with things related to employment, school, managing their own medical appointments, volunteering, and more.

Increasing Connections

However, that jump between considerable structure and the more independent-style of Supportive Living can be intense for some, especially early in the program. In response to this, we’ve reworked Supportive Living recently to feature more connections with our Reintegration programs across the area.

Supportive Living residents are able to drop in to a program like Sundram Manor for some extra support if they need it. They’re also welcome to visit to attend a group or two or even grab lunch. This has helped residents to still have a degree of familiarity in their days, as they know and are comfortable with the staff and routines in our Reintegration programs.

Our team of Reintegration managers and directors have done a great job reworking the concept of Supportive Living to be both more flexible and more integrated. It’s been a collaborative effort across the agency, but it’s very much been led by Greg Sykes, our Assistant Director of Reintegration Services. We’re also sharing staff where we need to across Reintegration and Supportive Living to best meet the needs of residents in our Supportive Living apartments.

Converting to Reintegration

We converted our Community Residential programs to Reintegration in the fall of last year. Supportive Living will see a similar conversion to Reintegration in the coming months. At all levels of care, Reintegration focuses on connecting residents to community-based resources while taking steps to help people find employment.

A couple of years ago, we increased Supportive Living’s integration with our internal vocational services. This collaboration has only increased over the last few months thanks to the work of Dr. Tom Priester, our Vocational Rehabilitation Supervisor. Residents he worked with in our Rehabilitation programs are finding jobs and making connections to colleges and GED programs now that they’re in Supportive Living.