Independent Living

 

Growing from boys to young men

Independent living skills are vital for our students to successfully navigate day-to-day activities and make decisions that affect their lives.  These skills include simple ones such as pursuing one’s personal interests or complicated ones like creating and adhering to a budget – and everything in-between. Many of our students struggle to comprehend or complete such skills.

This is why Talisman has integrated many of these daily living skills into our programming on various levels.  It is our goal to successfully explain, teach, model, and ultimately transfer to our students a working knowledge of skills necessary to live independently.   Talisman Semesters provides an immersive and comprehensive approach to independence for our students.  From the moment the students wake up in the morning until they fall asleep at night, students participate in self-managed routines allowing them hands-on practice with independent living skills.  

Intentionally Building Lifelong Skills

Student receive periodic guidance and feedback from staff throughout the day and participate in social skills development  which will help them be successful long-term.  In addition to the structured routines, specific and intentional lesson plans are taught covering key elements in independence.  A few of the areas of focus for Talisman’s independent living segments include: time management, leisure and recreation, basic home maintenance, personal care and hygiene, and money management.

Another critical part of our independent living program is self-advocacy. Talisman staff work with students to ensure they know the best avenues for which to have their needs met.  This starts at a basic level: communication between peers or staff. It then builds up into experience with the community at large – how to locate pertinent information and resources that affect them as individuals.