Chapel Haven provides lifelong opportunity for adults with social and developmental disabilities
SPONSORED BY CHAPEL HAVEN Schleifer Center
For more than 50 years, Chapel Haven Schleifer Center (CHSC) has been empowering people with a variety of abilities and needs to learn, work, and live their own lives. Today, CHSC is an award-winning, nationally accredited school and transition program in New Haven, Conn. serving more than 250 adults. Unlike other nonprofits and programs, CHSC offers people 18 and older an opportunity to enroll in an intensive residential experience and graduate to a meaningful and self-determined life in the Chapel Haven Schleifer Center campus and extended community.
More than just a place to live, Chapel Haven Schleifer Center is a caring, supportive, and positive environment that fosters kindness and community. The staff uses state-of-the-art teaching methods that build confidence, ability, and independence. And it also gives people a place where they belong.
“Chapel Haven taught my son how to live his own independent and productive life, developing the confidence and providing the experience he lacked,” says Ellen Keane. “He needed the opportunities, curriculum, and community to develop his personal skills. He now has his own apartment in New Haven and has maturity that would have seemed impossible before he enrolled.”
Summer will be here soon, and with it, young people all over the country will be donning their caps and gowns for school graduation. For these students and their families, it’s an occasion for reflection and celebration. It’s also a time to start turning the page and looking ahead, whether that means college, military service, additional job training, or looking to jump right into their careers. Regardless of their directions, they are starting down the path to independence.
But for people living with intellectual, social, and developmental disabilities, that future isn’t always clear. Getting a job or pursuing further education isn’t that simple. And living on their own is often out of the question. Parents and their adult children watch as other families transition to this exciting and important new phase of life. Meanwhile, mom and dad struggle to find a balance in supporting their own children — financially, medically, and emotionally — while still helping them live full and meaningful adult lives. It’s a decision that often strains and pulls a family apart.
But families have an option, and that option is Chapel Haven Schleifer Center.
Live, learn, and grow independently
Chapel Haven Schleifer Center's comprehensive residential programs are tailored to each individual’s specific needs to offer a comfortable living and learning environment. And CHSC provides learning in practical academics (including an approved private high school program for students with special needs), job development, life skills, apartment living, social communicative competence, recreation, and even help with college. Our goal is for our students to transition into a community apartment with access to lifelong support services, structured day programs and the opportunity for continuing education and vocational training.
For instance, our flagship program REACH (Residential Education at Chapel Haven) applies a life-skills model and an evidence-based curriculum honed over 50 years of experience that has helped hundreds of graduates master the art of living productive lives. Housed in a new four-story residential and classroom campus in Westville, students enjoy 24/7 staff guidance and oversight as they navigate the beginnings of a truly independent adult life.
A two-year program, REACH builds strong foundational skills by addressing the challenges typical in young adults with diagnoses that include autism spectrum disorders, Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. These include time management, self-advocacy, personal safety, empathy, problem-solving, and the aspects of managing daily life, such as cooking, hygiene, budgeting, shopping, and maintaining a living space.
Chapel Haven taught my son how to live his own independent and productive life, developing the confidence and providing the experience he lacked.
Ellen Keane, Mother
Graduates of the REACH program will be able to:
Live with independence and using appropriate supports and adaptive technologies
Effectively access basic community resources
Be part of a thriving adult social network
Gain and maintain meaningful employment
Manage a budget
Pursue a healthy lifestyle that includes physical fitness, a sensible diet, and awareness of medical needs
Feel safe in a community
Chapel Haven Schleifer Center also offers the ASAT (Asperger Syndrome Adult Transition) program for adults 18 and up with Asperger Syndrome, social communication disorders, executive functioning and nonverbal learning challenges, and mild autism. The ASAT program is customized to the individual’s needs, with an a-la-carte selection of workshops that focus on overcoming specific challenges, from managing the online world to navigating college to understanding nuance and sarcasm. The program also features one-on-one coaching and supports that assist with key moments of transition (home, college, or work) into meaningful adult independence.
More than just a place to live
CHSC gives adults 18 and above (the oldest adult currently here is 72) with social and developmental disabilities a place to call home in every sense. It’s a place to learn, to feel safe, and have a springboard from which to build a life and career. It’s also a community that provides support and fosters meaningful connections with lifelong friends.
But even more than that, Chapel Haven Schleifer Center offers hope.
It’s a place where families can turn for help when they are desperate to see their children succeed, flourish, and become productive adults. It’s a chance at a fulfilling future. Not surprisingly, our families have also developed relationships with each other.
“Our family searched in several states to find a place for our son, without success,” says John Workman. “Before we knew it, he was an older adult still living with us at home. And he wasn’t making much progress. Then we found Chapel Haven’s REACH program — and he loved it. Our family is grateful to the entire CHSC staff for their depth of expertise, genuine humanity, and professionalism.”
For more information or schedule a visit, call 203-397-1714 ext. 185 or visit www.chapelhaven.org.
