…All the tired group homes (for adults with developmental disabilities) in the sun…

… (An edible parable on how to bring them to life!) 

    “Look…we provide great supports for the people who live here, especially on the dollars we have to work with. Sorry you don’t like it but we think we do a pretty good job!” says the group home manager of a residential setting for adults developmental disabilities.

    She (the group home manager), let’s say, is an articulate and intelligent woman, demonstrates enduring care and respect for the people who live in the group home. She works tirelessly to advocate for person’s rights and also manages the staff, schedules, call offs, menu’s, consumer clothes, their parents, support agents, group home area administrator, executive director, staff meetings, the two interviews today for new staff (and one is a no-show), the midnight staff who may be nodding off, the budget cuts, van maintenance, petty cash, staff training's, replacing a broken dresser, rights investigations, appropriate use of gentle teaching, Medicaid billable objectives, trying to charm support agents to fill the empty bed, home activities and those two staff who just cannot get along….

    And so it goes… as she literally gasps for air, with little if any patience for anyone who offers a discouraging word. She is tired.  Group home managers just never sleep…and their jobs are extraordinarily demanding. And they have limited reserves for extra things.

Yet… some discouraging words do exist…

…old group home curriculum's sit on the park bench like book ends….

   Group homes for adults with developmental disabilities have been active in the community for over forty years—with the major push of deinstitutionalization beginning in the early seventies. There have been many changes regarding the homes-- going from eight person capacity to six to four to two, and now to “homes of our own”. And there is a greater emphasize on providing gentle teaching training to the paraprofessionals, more persons working in the community rather than a sheltered workshop, and person-centered planning and self-determination (freedom…!) are stressed.

     Still, after all those forty years…overheard, seen at the malls, driving in sixteen passenger vans, on line comments, and parent direct observation…is that there is a certain acceptance of just getting by….

…Take them all for a walk to the park…or watch Top Gun for the fifteenth time—movie night! How about taking them to McDonald's for the dollar menu! Why are we always so short staffed? Make sure you fill out the activities log! Anybody know where the hamburger helper is? There’s nothing to do let’s just take a drive…

So what is missing? 

…it’s all about talent and that recipe from the Pioneer Woman... 

    My wife has been watching the food channel for many years. Before that, her cooking creativity was average at best. But she became interested in the personalities of the food network stars and the excitement they created. And slowly—with a few disaster meals-- our home turned into breakfasts, lunches and dinners that were beyond what we ever experienced before.

    We now have dishes that have the family asking what is in this. There is an excitement that tastes good! We have Paula Deen, Pioneer Woman, Bobby Fley, Barefoot Contessa …cookbooks, and dishes, and quality pots and pans, cast iron skillets and many new knives, cookie sheets, different sized strainers, custom cutting boards, food processors, blenders, specific and varied spices, fresh vegetables (and kale)—what’s kale?  We take more trips to the produce market than ever for fresh food…it has become an active, rich (really a…) curriculum that involves quite a bit of time, learning and loving to do. It is the details!

    I remember how I use to make grilled cheese sandwiches and how we make them now---it is not just a grilled cheese anymore! And we have dinner parties and invite people over more. And we work on the interior design of the house, too….because we have more guests. We have specific table mats for the seasons and sometimes theme dishes. We make more of dinner time because we created more heart to it—with the details!

    In Special Education we call this a domain that provides many collateral skills. One thing leads to another and another. This is exciting to a teacher because the activities just build on each other and they inspire the development of many skills—science, reading, math, social behavioral skills, cooperation, and planning—even though it is just cooking and having friends over. Just! It is a big part of life at home—what’s for dinner? 

But it takes a teacher’s head, a cook’s heart and a group home manager’s courage to make it come alive…

What can just a group home manager really do!   

    I asked the manager: What makes this old tired group home come to life? Why so many empty goals? And why do the concepts of self-determination and person centered really mean nothing after twenty years? Why are so many staff sort of milling around like they really don’t know what to do? The manager looked at me and sighed and finally decided that she wanted to change things and look at her position as a teacher/manager first rather than just a task master and air traffic controller.

 She decided the house simply lacked heart. And our idea—we started with the heart of any home. The kitchen!

    We did not want just warm bodies, we wanted talent. And this required changing the hiring practice. No ads in the paper. This hire will require scouting.

    Our group home manager began networking in the community. She did not put an ad in the paper but rather, like a headhunter or a recruiting professional on what they call a retained search… the way a sports team finds free agents. They look for difference makers.

     The revolution began… She asked around, everybody, anybody and everywhere…and really after only a week or so she found a wonderful woman who worked at the local grocery store in the baking department. It turns out she is a former chef who worked part time for fun and has been cooking for thirty years, Helen. Would you consider a part time job—teaching?

    She told Helen she was thinking about putting together a new teaching kitchen at a group home. She thought she would start out maybe two days a week…putting together new recipes and involving everyone who wants to participate. Helen had taught cooking classes before but nothing like this…but she seems to be pretty flexible. She had never worked with persons with cognitive impairments but had worked with cooking assistants with prison records, who smoked pot on lunch, those who had bad attitudes, during her twenty years as assistant chef at a big time hotel in Detroit.—back when Hudson’s had “elevator operators” and a working bakery (she worked there, too). Helen had her stories.

   And so it started: Helen was hired for $10.50 per hour part time for five hours per week, two and half hours at a time, two days a week. She came in Tuesday and Thursday from four to six thirty. But Helen being Helen began planning her first menu a week ahead of time and selecting herbs from her garden. The manager handed her absolutely nothing…she was hired because she already knew what to do.

    She visited the kitchen a week before starting to get a lay out of the land and what tools she had to work with. She commented that “no cook has ever cooked in this kitchen…but that’s OK”. Helen collects all things cooking. She donated measuring cups, teaspoons, whisks, strainers, bowls…most likely a thousand dollars’ worth of new things. The stuff a cook needs. Helen networked and had friends in the business. They helped! Macys helped! Local cooking supply stores helped, and the thing was she had not even started yet…but the revolution movement was in full swing.

    Helen’s first day the staff brought all the guys (all adult men with developmental disabilities at this home) to the kitchen to meet her. And from her large black bag she gingerly reached in and brought out raspberry cheesecake slices all individually wrapped—enough for everyone and the two staff. That was a way to get everyone’s attention. And it did. She roared in her raspy voice that we will learn to make this today—and she pulled out fresh lemons, cream cheese, vanilla extract and fresh raspberries and graham crackers. But first things first and next…

    The group home manager told her mac and cheese was on the menu (the frozen mac and cheese was out and Helen smiled and rebelliously put it away, far away). No one messes with a chef in her kitchen.  She reached inside her black bag and bought out kosher salt, vegetable oil (her own stash), elbow cavatappi, gruyere cheese, Kraft cheddar cheese, a bottle of ground pepper (her own stash), nutmeg (yes her own stash) …and several other herbs (of unknown stash). She looked up and smiled again and said “these are secret things to make mac and cheese better than anyone has ever had”. But first…

     She reached inside her bag again and brought out new blue aprons for everyone. You are now all chef assistants and please draw a picture on it and put your name on it. Helen has grand-kids and thinks of everything—she had markers and an old white sheet to put on the table. And even the two guys who left after the cheesecake came back…plus she had small “chef samples”--celery and cream cheese snacks. One of two guys decided to stay. 

         Everything started. She made dinners on Tuesdays and Thursdays an event. Helen held up cooking utensils for everyone to yell out loud what they were. She taught everyone how to stir, how to pour, how to whisk, how to turn the oven on and off, how to cut (yes cut!) and how to fold……..and that turned into how to make a dinner an event and ...that turned into inviting others over (as if a performance was to take place) …and how to entertain. And slowly, this group house was turning into a home with a heart! For goodness sake, people were spending their supported employment money on food network cooking products! Friends were invited over for Mexican (from scratch of course with Helen’s secret stash). 

Real talent Real details. (and the heart of a teacher…) makes this kind of a difference.

And this is only the beginning… 

Greg Sundell

…is looking for residential agencies willing to combine talents to reinvent their supports. Greg is a consultant to administrators, agencies and providers of residential and vocational supports for persons with developmental disabilities and assists in improving the respect, honor and craftsmanship of our field!  Greg has over 30 years’ experience as an Executive Director, university instructor, special education instructor, and consultant. He has presented papers nationally and internationally on the adult service system. His current text: “Something is Missing: A closer look at adult supports for persons with developmental disabilities” will be out in late Winter .2016 He assists agencies in organizational change, Employment First efforts, strategic plans, designing/managing curriculum, and talent acquisition. 

I can’t wait to talk with administrators ready to energize their supports!

Email: [email protected]

https://corerecruitingandconsulting.sitey.me/.