If there is one thing Teresa Jordan has learned in her role as Executive Director at Community Living Trent Highlands is that no one solution fits everyone.
Jordan has been at the helm of Community Living Trent Highlands for the past 10 years, taking on the executive director role in 2011 after joining the organization in 2003. The agency serves adults, children, families that are living with a developmental disability in three communities: Peterborough and area, Lindsay and the Haliburton area.
After clients come to Community Care to seek its services, Jordan says it’s not about presenting them with a textbook formula, but rather it’s about sitting down and finding common ground and gaining insight into what the families and individuals want to achieve.
“Once they have arrived at our door and are reaching out for services, the great thing about our services is there is nothing prescribed. There is nothing off the shelf. It’s not ‘nice to meet you, here is what we’ll do’. We really just sit down and try to get to know the person, understand the family’s goal and understand the goals the person has for themselves, so maybe it is to have their own apartment. Then we really start talking about ‘OK what can we start working on today’ to have the experiences and to have the knowledge, and build the skills toward that goal of having their own apartment.”
Jordan said most of Community Living Trent Highlands’ clients come through the provincial-wide portal called DSO (Developmental Services Ontario). But, once they are part of the CLTH family, the services can include as much as round-the-clock support or as little as a phone call to set the day in motion.
“So someone in the family, or the person themselves has been diagnosed with a development disability and then they reach out for us for different kinds of supports. We do have community (group) homes in all three areas where we operate where people live and we support them 24 hours a day. But, also we have lots of folks that are going out into the community each day and helping people exactly where they are in the community, small tasks of daily living or even just a friendly call to make sure that they are all set for the day. It really is a range of supports — kind of walking alongside people I often call it,” said Jordan.
Jordan said she’s hoping COVID will abate in the near future, which would allow many of the programs within Community Living Trent Highlands to resume. She’s grateful to the communities for helping the organization through outbreaks that have occurred.
“COVID has made us pull up the drawbridge in a lot of ways, a lot of things have been shuttered in the past two years and we are anxious to get back to a more open and welcoming number of programs,” said Jordan. “I really thank the community for their support through challenging times with outbreaks. These are great communities to do our work in.”
To hear more about her journey, click the link below.
