Program offers inclusion to those with disabilities

SANDPOINT — The goal of Inclusion is just as the name indicates, to include adults with developmental disabilities and help them live life exactly how they want to live it.

“We believe that with the proper supports and services, regardless of their disability, they can choose where they live, work and recreate,” said Inclusion North program director Beau Courtney.

According to the company’s mission statement, Inclusion is about ensuring that those with developmental disabilities participate in experiences that are typical or average to all individuals, and are able to enjoy the full range of typical life conditions or experiences that society considers to be meaningful.

The primary focus, Courtney said, is to help people live a highly active lifestyle, because that, coupled with high expectations, can decrease behaviors.

“And when you decrease behaviors, you are increasing the therapeutic moment — and that’s where we can get in and get work done,” Courtney said. “That’s where we can get in and work on budgets, we can address interpersonal relationships, conflict resolution … things of that nature.”

During a typical day, for example, Courtney said Inclusion staff will help participants with daily living activities such as meal choice and preparation, shopping, doctor appointments, social events, and visiting with friends and family.

They are involved in every step of the process — and they have a lot of fun, he said. Around his Sandpoint office are indications of some of the activities Courtney enjoys with Inclusion participants — frisbees for disc golf, cornhole equipment and fishing poles to name a few.

Inclusion program coordinator Tiffany Wright has worked for the company since last July. As a social worker with a son who is disabled, Inclusion was a natural fit for her as she said the philosophy of the company was in line with her beliefs as well.

“When I was doing my interview, the one thing that pulled me in was that I have always believed that an active lifestyle really is good for the brain, good for mental health,” she said.

As one of the full-time “pro-staff” members on board, Wright trains and supports part-time staff who spend time with the program participants each day.

She also meets with participants to ensure their needs and desires are being met through programs that promote independence. The programs are created and updated regularly, she said, generated from tasks or skills that someone may be struggling with. After a program is created, Wright said they teach staff how to run it and follow up to make sure progress is being made.

“We just want to help people … and help get the knowledge out there that there are DD services available,” Wright said.

While Inclusion has been in the Sandpoint community for just over six years, the company will celebrate 25 years next February, as it was started in 1995 by Janna Miller in Meridian.

“She is somebody who started in this industry as an entry-level worker, saw that choice was very limited for folks that we serve, and believed that there was a different way,” Courtney said.

She realized that giving people the support they need to make individual choices would result in people living in their own homes, taking part in their own grocery shopping, banking, bill paying and other activities.

The success of the company spread across the state, with a branch in Twin Falls and Hayden, in addition to the Sandpoint branch and administrative offices in Meridian.

Courtney said his wife has worked with Inclusion for 23 years, and he joined the company about seven years ago. The couple moved to Sandpoint four years ago, when he was given the opportunity to be the local program director.

He has a vision, he said, of continuing to grow the program and become one of the larger employers in the area.

“We have grown significantly over the last four years, offering services to over 50 participants now,” he said. “We started with four, so there is a lot more people accessing this wonderful program.”

Locally, Courtney said there are 76 people on staff to help out with the participants. Every staff member passes a background check and goes through a four-day training period.

The company helps its participants find employment as well. One participant even found employment with Inclusion.

Charles Scarborough had been a participant in the program for about a year when Courtney took over the Sandpoint office. Courtney said he could be a “bit of a pushy guy” at times, as he likes to get things done. It was through that trait that he crossed a boundary with Scarborough, who then disabled one of Courtney’s tablets.

“I could not fix it — I involved my corporate office, we could not fix it,” he said. “I finally had to go back to Charlie with hat in hand and ask him to please fix my tablet. He took the tablet, fixed it and handed it back to me in about 36 seconds. I called the owner of the company and said I would like to hire him as the IT guy, and he has been here ever since … Charlie and I have climbed a lot of mountains together, and I think we will keep climbing mountains for years to come.”

Scarborough said he came to Inclusion after moving to the area to be closer to family and was looking for residential services. He became part of the disabled community at the age of 9, he said, when a car crash left him in a coma for two weeks, and in the hospital for more than two months. During that time, the doctors had to resuscitate him 17 times. The crash also left him with a traumatic brain injury that affects the right side of the brain, and causes paralysis on the left side of the body.

Scarborough doesn’t let his disability hold him back, however, and he is a whiz when it comes to technology.

While attending a school in southern California for those with disabilities, his caregiver and mentor was a lead flight technician at the Los Angeles International Airport. Scarborough said he had a computer that would get viruses or hardware failure, and his mentor would walk him through how to fix it. While that is how his interest in technology started, he continued to self-teach over the years digging into computers and taking online classes.

“I love it — it’s a passion,” he said.

Now, for the past four years, he has served as the IT manager for Inclusion North, which includes the Hayden and Sandpoint branches. One thing Scarborough said he loves about the program is that is all about independence, giving the participant the choice of how they want to live.

“Anything in life is possible,” he said. “It’s pretty much just get out there and go for it.”

As Courtney works to grow Inclusion, he said he also plans to start a volunteer program, working with the staff at Sandpoint Community Resource Center and Volunteer Idaho Panhandle.

He aspires for Inclusion to be a place where people know they can go for resources for the developmentally disabled. From an employment standpoint, he said, he wants to hire as many people as possible. Because the more people he can hire, the more participants they can bring to Sandpoint, he said.

“I want to announce to the community that we are now ready,” Courtney said. “For four years I have been kind of building to this, and now we are ready — we are going to be a force for change in the community.”

Information: inclusionidaho.com

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.