High Spirit Community Farm
We are a five acre property with three homes and about twenty people, both neurotypical and with IDD. We support each other to thrive as individuals and to contribute to our community. We share resources, food, chores, burdens, laughs and more. We prioritize our connections with extended families and friends, the local town, other communities, and the world at large. High Spirit Community Farm will show you that this is a positive and healthy way to live.
Six qualities that make High Spirit unique:
Integration of Life and Work
Many of our residents and Day Program participants have significant health needs on top of their IDD. The High Spirit Day Program is designed to be highly individualized and adaptable. Each day, each individual participant will need a variety of programming and supports. Someone having a hard morning may need more time getting out the door, and can join their program activity when they are ready. If someone needs a change of activity at the last minute, or needs to go home to rest for a bit, that is also possible. People can always re-join the activity later, or make a new plan all together. We call this “Integrated work-life” because the lines between home-life and work-life are fluid, and moving between them can happen easily, without the need for advanced planning or formal transportation. This ebb and flow works very well for our residents.
Residents of High Spirit live with their caregivers in a family-like environment, creating deep and mutually fulfilling relationships with caregivers who know and understand their needs better than is typically possible with staff who provide care in shifts. HSCF can also provide 1:1 care for residents whenever necessary at home or during the Day Program, so that they have more autonomy and may pursue their most fulfilling goals.
Quality of Life
Stability
High Spirit is a non-profit organization. The houses and community buildings are owned by the non-profit, with volunteer board members overseeing the program. This organizational structure brings stability for the residents. Typically, shared-living houses are owned or rented by the caregivers. When a caregiver retires, moves or decides that they no longer wish to be providing care and share their home with an individual with a disability, the individual may suddenly find themselves without a home and without a caregiver. This significant disruption can be frightening for an individual, and ripple effects can be long lasting. At High Spirit, when caregivers have chosen to leave and new caregivers have settled in, residents have weathered the transitions well, as they have not had to move from their home.
Size of Community
We believe that three residential homes on a contiguous property is an ideal size for our community. At High Spirit Community Farm our three houses are spread across a five-acre property, all adjacent to the gardens, animals, the community building, and to each other. About twenty to twenty-five people live and work here. This neighborhood setting and modest size offers important benefits: over the years we have found that we are large enough to support each other when need be, such as when staff are ill or away on vacation. And, we are small enough to be both nimble and adaptable. These qualities were hugely important during the Covid-19 pandemic, but are also valuable anytime someone new joins the community and we want to make changes to suit their needs and skills. We compare our three houses to a three legged stool: simple and yet stable.
Community and Autonomy
Staff, volunteers and residents share in a sense of belonging and community rare in our world today. We enjoy meals, plan programs and events, and share both the special and the mundane parts of life together. Everyone moves freely about the property, always able to quickly find someone to talk with or be with. This is especially liberating for residents whose care needs typically limit their freedom of movement and autonomy. Residents are all comfortable at all the homes and in the community building, and they can travel between these parts of the property independently, confident that there will always be someone close by that knows and understands them.
Having three homes on one property means that there is a lot of transparency in the homes and among staff. We are all at each other's homes constantly, and everyone on the staff knows all of the residents well. If something seems out of place or a person is not themselves, we communicate about the problem and address the concern promptly. The oversight of the Board of Directors, the High Spirit Agency and our close relationship with Residents’ families provides us with yet another layer of safety for the residents. Communication among the staff, Board, and Agency is free flowing and trusting. This has been crucial in times of higher need in the community and has allowed us to put the safety and wellbeing of the residents first and foremost.
Safety
“My year at High Spirit had, without a doubt, a huge impact on my life afterwards.
I previously had very little contact with people with intellectual disabilities. At High Spirit, I had the opportunity to build a special relationship and friendship with our residents, characterized by a unique sense of humor and sincerity. ”
— Paulina Stiens, Coworker 2019