What Should You Expect From Supported Independent Living?

If you are in need of some professional support, there are many options out there that you might be considering. Some of them are always going to be more or less effective for your particular situations than others, and it’s therefore vital that you know what you are getting with any support that you might be signing up for. When it comes to supportive practices, supported independent living is one of the most popular out there.

However, you need to know what to expect, and it is not true to say that supported independent living is for everyone in every situation. In this article, we are going to try and make this clearer by looking into the details of what you should expect from supported independent living – including what kind of support you will get and what it looks like. This is valuable information to have if you are signing up for this kind of support yourself.

What Is Supported Independent Living?

In essence, supported independent living, or SIL, is a balanced kind of support framework, whereby you receive the support you need in your day to day life, while also being encouraged to be as independent as possible. For many people with disabilities, SIL can be a wonderful way to get the help they are in need of while still feeling that they are living their life fully and freely.

It is still care, and it’s 24/7 care, so you know that you are being looked after. But you are also being actively encouraged to live your day to day as you would choose to, and that is why so many find this kind of supportive care to be quite so appealing.

What Support Will You Get?

It will be useful to know exactly what kind of support you can expect to get if you are living within a supported independent living framework, as it’s always best to know this kind of thing on the way in to the experience. Different places might have slightly different kinds of support on offer, but if they are due to be providing the necessary care you will probably find that they are going to have the following kinds of support in place as a bare minimum at least.

So in any supported independent living situation you can expect to receive support with the following.

In-House Support

First and foremost, you will always have an in-house support team on hand to help you. They will be there to offer assistance with all aspects of daily living that you may need support with. That would include coming over to help you with a specific task that you need assistance with, and then leaving after the task is finished. It might also include 24/7 support with someone who sleeps over, if you are in need of help at all times of the day and night.

As ever, it all depends on your individual circumstance, as you will be given an individual plan that makes sense for your life.

Help With Daily Tasks

As well as that, you can expect to be given help, where needed, with any daily tasks that might arise. That could include pretty much anything at all, such as essential housekeeping tasks like cooking and cleaning, to those vital personal care needs too – cleaning your body and personal hygiene, getting dressed, and so on.

However, it might also be that they help you with your social skills, such as talking to people and making arrangements, playing games with others, or attending any social events or meeting new people.

They could also help you with financial issues, like budgeting and helping you to figure out how to pay bills, or go along with you to the bank. They might even go on holiday with you!

Life Outside

There are of course also plenty of times when you need to attend to something outside the home, and on those occasions too you are going to receive the necessary help and assistance. They might help you with the transport needed to get somewhere, and make sure that you can safely arrive wherever you need to go. Or it might be that you need help booking and attending medical appointments, for instance.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways in which you are supported when you are receiving supported independent living help. Really, you will get whatever help and assistance you need, as you need it. And the beauty of it is that they will get to know you and work with you to tailor the experience to your needs.

Maintaining Independence

As you already know, a major reason for supported independent living is that it helps you to maintain your independence. This is always at the forefront of the support, so you should never feel as though you are being made to do something or that you don’t have the personal choices you have always had as an adult. That’s why every step of the way, it is you who leads proceedings, to ensure that you are doing what you want and need.

It’s this balance of support and independence that makes supported independent living so unique and special. And that is exactly what you would hope to get out of this kind of experience. You are in charge, and they are simply there to support you as necessary according to your plan you have worked out together.

Finding Supported Independent Living

If this sounds like the kind of support you could do with, you will need to find some places that offer supported independent living in your area. There are probably plenty, so you’ll have to make sure that you are comparing them, perhaps with the help of someone close to you, so that you end up at the right place.

As long as you do, it could be the start of a new exciting chapter for you – one in which you are supported while maintaining full independence over your life.