Staff Spotlight: Greg Powers honored as Supervisor of the Quarter
July 1, 2020
Adult Services’ Gregory Powers has been named Supervisor of the Quarter! As Manager of Latham Centers’ Supported Community Living Program, Greg oversees two Supported Community Living (SCL) program models of individualized services: Independent Living, in which an adult with disabilities lives alone but is supported by Latham staff part-time; and Shared Living, a home care model of support.
One of his peers who nominated Greg for the Supervisor of the Quarter Award wrote, “Greg has been doing a great job with Shared Living. It just keeps growing and growing! The new smart apartment is underway, and he is always positive and excited, even though it’s all new. Greg does a great job helping shared living providers feel safe, happy, and encouraged. He is an asset to our company!”
Under Greg’s leadership, Latham’s Supported Community Living Program (SCL) has evolved in the past several years, both in the number of clients and its place here at Latham. SCL now has 10 individuals in Shared Living and 2 in Independent Living.
In Shared Living, an adult with special needs is carefully matched with a caring individual, couple, or family who opens their home and hearts – providing support to the individual and earning an income for the support services. When Greg talks with new employees about this part of our Adult Services Program, he shares video clips about Shared Living. This 3-minute video is one of two productions created last year that captures the essence of the model of support.
Greg explains that an important part of his job is to ensure that Shared Living providers receive the supports they need. “We have a group that can get together, share stories, and provide advice and assistance to each other, just as the Adult Services management team here at Latham does on a regular basis. Our providers are supported by specialists like Patrice Carroll, an expert on Prader-Willi syndrome who oversees all-things-PWS here at Latham. Providers are educated and trained in many of the same areas staff would be; we work together as a team to provide the best supports possible to the individuals we serve.”
Greg especially loves his role of facilitating long-lasting, safe and happy relationships that allow adults with disabilities to build their daily living skills, have a sense of belonging, and participate more fully in community activities.
When Greg reaches out to potential providers, he stresses that Latham is here to help them. “I speak with people at length during the matching process, and providers have said afterward that they felt comfortable with me and decided on us because Latham was very involved in the process.” His experience and guidance are also reassuring to the parents of the individuals served. “I seek to place the best matching provider with the best matching client, and sometimes that can take a while. But this is not foster care; we are looking to place someone for years to come, and many people wish to do it for life.”
Greg proudly shares one especially memorable moment in his career at Latham. “Our longest Shared Living resident had always maintained that he’d eventually like to move on from Shared Living. But he moved with his current provider from one home to another and was very involved in the process… He called me shortly after the move to say he was really happy and that he’d like to stay with his provider forever.” Greg said he was so moved, knowing that through this program, the individual’s hopes for independence and belonging were met.
“Supported Community Living is client-centric, and so are the positive outcomes. For some, it is becoming the person they wanted to be but were unable to under a more restrictive model. For others, it is a dramatic reduction in behaviors after going from a 4- or 5-to-1 ratio of clients to staff to a reversed ratio of 1 client to 4 (or more) people supporting that individual. And for some who have no family, it’s finally having that normalcy that comes with having an actual family, as opposed to rotating staff members.”
Greg looks forward to continued program success. “We’re going to keep growing, keep improving, and keep identifying those who might be a good fit for this alternative Adult Services Program here at Latham Centers. It’s a privilege to be helping our residents enjoy their lives to the fullest.”
