Tag: developmental disabilities
A Family Teacher’s perspective: Meet Jenny and Genevieve
What’s it like to share your home with GoodLife residents? Family Teachers Jenny Voth and Genevieve Getz share their experience and how the model has enriched their family life. The Family Teaching Home is one of GoodLife’s residential programs, and the model supports individuals with a wide range of needs varying from significant needs to those who require fewer supports.… read more
A parent’s perspective: Meet Allison Frizell
When Allison and Trip Frizell’s son Tom was diagnosed with Autism in the early 1980’s at age three, they quickly learned that services and support for children with special needs was hard to find near their home in Kansas City. “We heard about a group of parents working together with the University of Kansas on an intensive applied behavioral analysis… read more
Helping people live the GoodLife starts with collaborative staff training
GoodLife is always looking for ways to better understand how to train and support our Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) who serve seniors and those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). One way we do this is by conducting applied research through the University of Kansas Performance Management Laboratory, directed by Dr. Florence DiGennaro Reed. Rick Shears, GoodLife’s Training Coordinator, shares… read more
Living the Good Life together: Professional Family Teaching Model
GoodLife values individuality. That’s why our residential services offer a variety of living arrangements developed around a person’s level of need to create safe, comfortable, and long-term home environments. Whitney Lamb, director of GoodLife’s Professional Family Teaching Model shares more about why our shared living model is one of our most successful—and meaningful—programs. It is a service model that naturally… read more
Give to GoodLife, get a tax credit, and be part of life-changing initiatives
We are in a season of thankfulness here at GoodLife. As you know, for more than 40 years we have been working hard to make a meaningful difference in the everyday lives of seniors, individuals with disabilities, and those who support them. We are humbled that the industry is taking notice of that hard work. In 2016, we were selected… read more
What we learned from COVID-19: Inclusion, creativity, and innovation
COVID-19 has made GoodLife’s iLink technology and labor strategies even more relevant to our residents, staff, and partners. As we continue to redefine what’s possible for inclusion with seniors and people with disabilities, COVID-19 has prompted many new ways of delivering care at the place and moment of need. While our well-established model of care helped us react to the… read more
Mike Strouse: Celebrating 35 years of passionate and visionary leadership
As a doctoral student in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas, Mike Strouse’s career with GoodLife Innovations began under the recommendation of GoodLife board members Jim Sherman and Jan Sheldon. Thirty-five years later, Mike is still our President and CEO. We visited with Mike to look back on what’s changed over the years, what GoodLife… read more
Johnson County Montessori School & North Star Academy: A special place of inclusion and learning
GoodLife’s 40-year partnership with the University of Kansas (KU) has developed a number of nationally regarded service models including North Star Academy (NSA), a school for children with intellectual or developmental disabilities (I/DD). Today we visit with Kristen Kunze, Executive Director of Children’s Services for GoodLife, and Pam Neidert, Assistant Professor for KU’s Applied Behavioral Science department, to learn about… read more
The history of Goodlife: A story of passion, equality and connectedness
The year was 1974 when six sets of parents, the founders of GoodLife, started meeting together in a living room in Johnson County, Kansas. The aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement swirled around them, and great progress had been won for the freedom and equality of black people in America. Change in public education was happening, too. For the first… read more
