In Illinois, Centerstone offers services for individuals with an intellectual or developmental disability and their families. We offer a variety of programs:
Community Employment | Community Integrated Living Arrangement (CILA) Program | Developmental Training | Vocational Development | Work Services | Centerstone Car Wash
Community Employment
The Community Employment Program (CEP) focuses on not only the development of job skills but also on the opportunities for interaction with persons without disabilities to assist the person with integration into their local community. Persons in CEP are encouraged to participate in all activities at the jobsite with their non-disabled peers, including social gatherings. Based on a person’s strengths, abilities, needs and preferences, the program facilitates the use of natural supports, i.e. job coach fading or on-the-job training.
The CEP is a highly visible program throughout the agency and community. Centerstone has been providing janitorial, groundskeeping and housekeeping services for over 25 years. The program is equipped with the most advanced janitorial equipment and supplies in the region. Qualified and well-trained service recipients are provided with professional supervision to ensure a premium quality of service is maintained.
Each person served in the program has an Individualized Plan of Services. The plan contains goals and objectives designed to improve individual deficits and promote independence. The program employs a Supported Employment Coordinator who is responsible for locating, bidding, securing and maintaining community-based worksites.
Individuals are paid commensurate wages based on their individual abilities compared to industry standards and compensation scales. Individuals are paid bi-monthly and receive additional work-related benefits such as vacation, sick leave and holiday pay.
The Community Employment Program works in cooperation with the Job Placement Services Program to identify persons who are job-ready. The ultimate goal of the CEP is substantial gainful employment. The CEP is designed to provide the necessary training and job skills to eventually allow the service recipient to locate and maintain a job in the private sector.
The target population for the program are individuals 18 years of age or older with a developmental disability.
The Community Integrated Living Arrangement (CILA) Program
The Community Integrated Living Arrangement (CILA) Program provides supervised services which promote residential stability for individuals who reside in agency-owned group homes or their own home. Centerstone is a licensed CILA agency which provides services and supports that are based on individual needs.
Centerstone believes that all persons with disabilities deserve to live in a warm and enriching home environment in order to attain the most independent, productive and dignified life style possible. It is the goal of Centerstone to provide such an atmosphere in each of its residential homes and to assist all individuals served to attain the least restrictive living arrangement of their choice.
Agency-owned homes are located in areas that enable residents to participate in and be integrated into the community and neighborhood. Agency homes are typical to their particular neighborhood and scattered throughout the community. Each group home has eight private bedrooms, a common kitchen/dining area, living room area, and a minimum of two full baths. Each home is compliant with the American Disabilites Act. The homes are staffed 24 hours a day by professionally-trained Direct Service Providers. An Individualized Plan of Services is developed for each resident to assist them in achieving maximum independence.
The agency also provides Intermittent CILA services to individuals who require some support to live independently. Service recipients in the Intermittent CILA program have their needs assessed by a Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMRP). An Individualized Plan of Services is then developed to address these needs. The goal of this program is to provide the necessary support to an individual so they may live or continue to live in an independent community setting.
The target population for Centerstone residential program are individuals who are 18 years of age or older with a developmental disability. Screening, referral and eligibility determinations are made by a pre-admission screening agency.
Developmental Training
The Developmental Training Program (DT) strives to provide ongoing opportunities for the person receiving services to train in community settings. Service recipients in the DT program are the most severely disabled individuals within the division. This program’s primary focus is the development and maintenance of Adult Daily Living Skills. Individuals in the DT program participate in training programs designed to address individual deficit areas to improve their ability to function as independently as possible.
Each person served in the program has an Individualized Plan of Services. All of the individual’s applicable goals and objectives are person-centered and designed to meet their specific needs, wants and wishes, which in turn promotes independence. The program employs a Developmental Training Manager who is responsible for its day-to-day operation. The DT Manager works closely with the Direct Care Staff to ensure each person is given the opportunity to participate in group and individual activities such as community outings, special events and vocational training.
Many individuals in the DT Program actually perform paid work. They are paid commensurate wages based on their individual abilities compared to industry standards and compensation scales. The DT workers are paid bi-monthly. By providing paid work opportunities, the individual workers gain a sense of normalization as well as a feeling of self-worth.
The DT Program works in cooperation with the Work Services Program to identify persons who are ready to advance from a more formalized training program into a program whose primary focus is vocational/work.
The target population for the DT Program are individuals 18 years of age or older with a developmental disability.
Vocational Development
Vocational Development provides an individualized and systematic process in which a person learns to identify viable vocational options and develop employment goals and objectives. This process incorporates background information and uses a combination of testing, situational assessments, community-based try-outs, prevailing labor market data, occupational information, assistive technology, functional capacities, accommodations and/or modifications. It incorporates respect for the consumer’s personal processes of growth, self-empowerment and development of insight leading to the consumer’s informed choice of meaningful career progression goals.
The individualized evaluation plan is based on referral information, referral questions, the initial interview and the stated overall purpose of the evaluation. The plan is prepared by the person served and the vocational evaluator. It will include questions to be answered throughout the evaluation, indicate how and by whom these questions will be answered and be reviewed and modified periodically by the evaluator and the person served.
A written vocational evaluation report is prepared for each person participating in the evaluation process. The information and interpretation are shared with the person served and disseminated in a timely manner to the agencies and individuals responsible for implementing the plan. The ultimate goal of the program is to make the best possible match between the recipient’s interest, abilities, work traits and employment prospects, and assist them in reaching their maximum vocational potential.
The target population for the program are individuals 18 years of age or older with a vocational disability who are in need of evaluation and employment services.
Work Services
The Developmental Disability Rehabilitation Center provides many industries in the region with various subcontracting services. For over 35 years, the DD Rehabilitation Center has been involved with many products produced in Southern Illinois. Qualified service recipient workers are combined with experienced supervisors ensuring premium quality and quantity production is maintained.
Each person served in the Work Services program has an Individualized Plan of Service. All of the individual’s applicable goals and objectives are met while the person is doing actual paid work activities. The program employs an Operation Manager who is responsible for procuring in-house contract work from small to large industries located throughout the immediate area. A Work Services Coordinator oversees the actual on-site production activities and is responsible for the quality of the work being done as well as various other duties relating to customer satisfaction.
The Work Services Program strives to obtain maximum efficiency consistent with the rehabilitation needs of the service recipients. Individuals are paid commensurate wages based on their abilities compared to industry standards and compensation scales. Individuals are paid bi-monthly and receive additional work-related benefits such as vacation, sick leave and holiday pay.
The Work Services Program works in cooperation with the Community Employment and Job Placement Services Programs to identify persons who are ready for a less restrictive work environment. Therefore, individuals who have achieved the necessary work skills to move into an agency or independent community worksite are encouraged to do so.
The target population for the program are individuals 18 years of age or older with a developmental disability.
