-: Hi my name is Brittany Johnson
and I am the CEO of Pathways Community Living.
So Pathways Community Living is an agency
that provides support for people
with intellectual disabilities.
So we have behavioral services, residential services,
culinary services and some support
to help people vocationally.
So a residential service that we would provide
a person would have 24 hour support
throughout the day and people in the homes
will be helping them with
different activities of daily living,
helping them get to appointments,
helping them cope with different issues
that they might be having during the day
and then also making sure that they are
fully integrated into their community.
So most of the time, a person with intellectual disability
would have this disability probably from sometime
in their childhood or it might be in infancy
so you would have contact with a service coordinator
who would then make a referral to our agency.
Somebody will come out for a tour
to see if we could provide the support that they need
and then we'd kind of go from there.
If it was a residential service
we also have behavioral services too.
So it might just mean that they have some type of
disorder where they need to be able to cope
and manage and they might need some therapy.
We try to just create an environment
where the individual feels supported
and they feel included so we really focus
on normalization and inclusion
so that the individual doesn't feel that
they're being singled out or they're experiencing
some type of stigma with intellectual disability
but they feel that they're living a life
similar to anybody with or without a disability.
So my goal is to just ensure that all of the departments
in the agency are maintaining health and safety
for the individual as a whole
so we have to uphold the chapter regulations
that are set by the state.
I make sure that we're ready for state licensure,
that we're in compliance with all of our
regulations and standards.
I oversee provider qualifications and things with our county
and then I also kind of coordinate between
different departments and make sure
that everybody is on the same page.
But I do still have an active role with the participants
so I, you know, know them by name
and I'm able to interact with them
as if anyone else would in the agency.