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Willow Garden Teaching Home
… facilitating the move toward a more independent life
Willow
Garden is a 25 acre farm, centrally located in
the northwest corner of
Prince
Edward
County. The Teaching Home is a fully equipped and
functional two bedroom ‘apartment’. The
facilitator, Bill Stearman, is a retired Special Educator and School
Administrator with extensive training and experience in meeting the needs of
special learners. Bill lives within the
house, in a separate, but very attached ‘flat’.
Willow Garden
Teaching Home is an opportunity for any adult with a disability to work
together with their community support agency, their family if they are
involved, and the Teaching Home Facilitator to develop and deliver a curriculum
based program that will prepare the resident for a more independent life at the
end of their 12 to 18 month stay.
The program is success focussed and developed using the
following Life Skills Curriculum
Framework …
- Interpersonal/Social
Skills
- Home
Care Skills
- Self
Care Skills
- Leisure
Time Skills
- Nutrition
and Cooking Skills
- Planning
and Money Skills
The ideal candidate
for residency within the Teaching Home Program …
- is able
to live safely with minimal supervision.
The program budgets for 10 hours of direct shared support by
the Facilitator per week, averaged over the resident’s stay. This time can be increased up to 20
hours per week at an additional cost.
- is positive,
and eager to bring about personal change that will enable success in a
Supervised Independent Living situation.
- is suited
to the more isolated life of a farm where their most frequent companions
might be sheep, cows, rare breed chickens or turkeys and where the nearest
Mall is half an hour away.
- is not
limited by mobility issues that would hinder the farm experience.
- is receiving,
or eligible to receive ODSP.
- is connected
with the supports of a Community Living support agency.
- is employed,
or in a training program, at least on a part-time basis. The Teaching Home is not funded to
provided 24/7 care or supervision, but rather to simulate as closely as
possible, an independent living situation.
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