Individual Support Services

Choices: An Agency With Choice Program

Cooperative for Human Services offers people with intellectual, developmental and other disabilities the opportunity to direct and control specific aspects of their services through our Choices Program.  In this service model, participants and their families co-manage services, sharing the responsibility for supports with CHS.  Funds must be approval by the MA Department of Developmental Services specifically for the Choices Program. The program is also available on a private pay basis. This program model is designed to supplement other services for individuals living at home with their families or as an alternative to traditional residential and day program service models.

Choices staff work together with the person served and their family to develop a service agreement. The service agreement describes the role and related responsibilities of the participant, the family, and CHS. It also establishes the foundation for a successful partnership, identifying the selected services, personal goals, schedule of supports, as well as the care provider(s), who is jointly chosen by the person served, his or her family and CHS. In this service model, individuals and families are empowered to direct and control their own services without the administrative responsibilities of serving as employer, trainer and fiscal agent.

Services can take place in many different locations based upon where and how the goal is best accomplished. The Choices program connects formal supports to the learning and community living experience.

Services include:

• Respite (in-home or home of care provider)
• Adult Companionship (supervision, socialization & assistance with activities of daily living)
• Individualized Home Supports (personal care, activities of daily living, finance, health & wellness, leisure & recreation, self advocacy, etc.)
• Homemaker (assistance in performing general household tasks)
• Community/Residential Peer Support (individual or small group instruction in self advocacy, leadership & civic responsibilities)
• Community/Residential Family Training  (support strategies for clinical interventions, specialized equipment, and supporting self advocacy)
• Family Navigation (information & direction to access community resources and services, promoting natural supports, development of contingency plans and development of collaborative family networks)
• Individualized Day Supports (supporting employment opportunities, meaningful community  participation and/or retirement activities)

There is a world of possibilities for people with disabilities to live full and meaningful lives within their   communities. At the Cooperative for Human Services, our passion is to explore and achieve those possibilities with each person we serve.

Contact us to find out more about what’s possible:

Janice Ellis
Director of Clinical Supports
17 New England Executive Park, 3rd Fl
Burlington, MA  01803
781-273-2123 x 230
jellis@cooperativeforhs.org