Looking for a new way to help
Advocacy Links reimagines itself as it expands its new services into Howard County
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For a decade, Advocacy Links served as a Medicaid waiver case management company. It helped those with developmental disabilities connect to needed services. Then, everything changed.
The company found itself without a state case management contract in 2021. Rather than throw in the towel, however, Advocacy Links chose to take a new approach. It still aims to aid the same population, but now it does so by offering programs of its own.
“We are a human service organization,” said Melissa Derflinger, Advocacy Links’ communications manager. “We're remaking what we are. In our experience as a case management organization, we saw so many gaps between services and the difficulty of getting people into those services. Sometimes, the resources that are put out there for people are very difficult to understand and access. We have started to develop a service that can help us do just that called Resource Connections.”
Foremost among the slate of new programs Advocacy Links offers is Child Mental Health Wraparound Supports. According to Sara Fry, Wraparound Supports Director, the program is focused on youth between the ages of 6 and 17 who have severe emotional disabilities.
“It's a coordination of care and services to help families in crisis,” said Fry. “We connect them with the natural supports and resources that they already have in place, and we advise them on others that may be helpful for their individual situations. The focus is on using the strengths of all team members to encourage the youth and family.”
Wraparound Supports develops a plan of care for each youth that is focused on their individual needs and those of their family. It connects youth and families to the services they need now so that child welfare or criminal probation are not the paths that connect them.
Advocacy Links does the work behind the scenes to ensure families aren’t shunted from agency to agency to find services. Children eligible for the Wraparound Supports program must be diagnosed with at least two mental disorders. They also must have emotional needs such as uncontrolled anxiety, aggression, or psychoses. There are two funding sources that include Medicaid and the Children’s Mental Health Initiative that is funded by DCS.
Advocacy Links also has developed online tools specifically designed for individuals with disabilities in mind. It is currently growing a social network called MyLinks to connect these individuals with others who may share some or many of their experiences. And within that network is Housemate Finder, an app that does exactly what the name implies.
“When individuals want to move out of their homes and or find a new housemate to live in their home, it can be difficult,” said Fry. “A lot of the individuals in the home will have Medicaid waiver funding. And that funding provides staff to support the people with disabilities in the home.
“So, if somebody moves out of their home, then they're in a situation where they're down somebody to help share expenses. And a lot of the time the primary person who orchestrates the search for a new housemate is the individual’s case manager.”
Fry explained that Housemate Finder is designed to put that search and the ultimate choice of a housemate in the hands of the people living in the home. The program works a lot like an online social media app. The participant develops a profile in the app and creates a “wish list” of attributes and qualities they would like in a new housemate.
“Housemate Finder will give you a ‘Match.com’ sort of preview. Everything is kept private, but you can look at their public profiles, which is really limited information, and decide if you want more information on them,” said Fry. “You can send them a friend request, and after that friend request is accepted, you can start talking and discussing interests and seeing if they might be a good housemate match.
“This is a tool that that we're very proud of, because we feel like it's going to give individuals and those helping them access to find appropriate housemates. There is a lot more control and a feeling of empowerment to be able to do some of that search on their own and have these conversations on their own.”
Advocacy Links is accredited through the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitative Facilities (CARF) in service coordination for children and adolescents, the medically fragile, older adults, and those in need of dementia care. It is committed to customizing services to meet the needs of the individual while providing accurate information in a timely manner. It networks with service providers in 34 counties in northern Indiana, including Howard County.
For additional information about Advocacy Links, visit www.advocacy-links.com or email them at info@advocacy-links.com.