We, like many, are excited to be moving into a new year. The last few years brought unprecedented challenges, so it’s with both eagerness and excitement that we face 2022 and yes—we are hopeful!

GoodLife has some audacious plans for 2022 and we’d love to give you a little sneak peek into what we think this year will hold. First, here’s a quick reminder about what guides us and motivates us.

1. Our MISSION. GoodLife’s mission is to make a meaningful difference in the lives of individuals with disabilities, seniors, and the caregivers who support them.
2. Our VISION is to redefine what’s possible for supporting people to live independent, satisfying, and purposeful lives.
3. GoodLife VALUES transforming lives. We do this through deep relationships, learning, respect, innovation, exceeding expectations, and achieving results.

Across the next 5 years, you will see us continue to share what we do best with others. As an innovator of next-generation technology and service models, we know we need to embrace evolution agency-wide. While this takes time—and really is a never-ending process—we’ve got some short-term goals for 2022 that will keep us all rowing in the same direction, so to speak.

Looking ahead to 2022, here’s where you’ll find us:

1. Building a positive culture of improvement. Culture is vital to growing strong neighborhoods and support systems—it’s the lifeblood of our communities and families. At GoodLife, we want positive and continuous improvement to be a guidepost, unifying our teams and permeating our culture. Specifically, this will mean exploring new integrations of the applied research that stems from our long-term partnership with KU, exploring our quality assurance approaches, and stepping up our reporting systems. Yes, a lot of this is a bit abstract (strategy, planning, reviews, etc.), but we expect to see some tangible results in the everyday lives of the individuals we serve AND the caregivers who make our mission possible. 

2. Growing the GoodLife U Class of 2022. Now more than ever service providers need sustainable solutions for raising direct support professional (DSP) wages, improving their applicant pipeline, providing ample time off, delivering consistent and desirable work schedules, improving capacity, and saving money. GoodLife U delivers these outcomes to the providers we have the honor of working with and the impact data speaks for itself. This year, you may find us presenting at conferences and expanding our team’s footprint with a new curriculum and improved access to our team’s resources. We get it—there’s a LOT going on right now and it may be pulling at your capacity so much that it’s seemingly impossible to imagine the possibilities. In fact, this is precisely why you need our help and why we’ve passionately positioned ourselves TO help. We believe we can make a meaningful difference with you—we welcome you to join the GoodLife U class of 2022 to learn how.

3. Bringing iLink Technologies to the market. Our approach to technology is comprehensive and backed by years of experience. iLink is the nation’s first remote support technology solution for individuals with disabilities, launching in 1999 when dial up and low resolution were standard. Across the last 20+ years, we have leveraged every opportunity to fine-tune our approach and we are so proud to be offering our superior iLink technology to providers this year. There’s a lot more to come on this, so stay tuned! iLink offers a technological infrastructure for your agency and GoodLife is committed to helping each of you navigate change management, service model integrations, and stakeholder education that comes with embracing next-generation models. We can’t wait to share more on iLink’s offerings very soon.

4. Embracing community services “without walls” for more diversity and inclusion. The final rule mandates are right around the corner, but we aren’t waiting. GoodLife’s reliance on reducing the number of different people involved in care was critical during the pandemic and we are continuing on this path. We aim to expand our shared living connections and placements in 2022 since this approach offers so many “wins” for the individuals and families involved. We also have our sights set on growing the Neighborhood Network. It’s thriving in both Johnson and Douglas counties for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (I/DD), but we know it can also have a powerful impact on aging adults, individuals with physical disabilities, those with brain injuries, or others. The Neighborhood Network is a cost-effective alternative to traditional congregate care and is a critically needed solution for safely delivering personalized and self-directed care on-demand.   

This coming year is going to be PACKED with potential and we already know our biggest challenge will be choosing what to focus on so that we can deliberately and meaningfully move the needle. We expect for the opportunities to be boundless and would love to partner with you. 

• If you have a loved one with a disability that would thrive in a program personally designed to meet their needs, we invite you to explore our services and contact Nichole. 
• If you’re a provider who is facing the coming year with concern and anxiety about the staffing crisis, contact Megan to arrange your free Workforce 101 workshop. 
• If your agency needs help knowing where to start with integrating technology into your service models, our GoodLife U and iLink teams are ready to help. 
• If you’re a state advocate who is making decisions about how to adopt and embrace the next generation of care, our CEO would love to help—email us. 
• If you’re a compassionate caregiver looking to make a meaningful difference in the lives of individuals with disabilities, apply today. 

Cheers to 2022 and if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for our monthly e-news so that updates and news from GoodLife comes right to your inbox.