Fall News and Updates

A message from our CEO,
Denise Daviau

Greetings friends and family of SARAH Inc. Throughout this newsletter you will see program updates and accomplishments celebrated over the last few months. I also want to use this opportunity to share updates on one of SARAH Inc.’s newer initiatives. This spring and summer, SARAH Inc. participated in the CT Connecting to Care – Connecticut Network of Care Transformation (CONNECT) program. This was a six month Cohort on Racial Justice and Health Equity Planning comprised of several nonprofits of varying sizes and missions. This Cohort was led by Cecilia Formeta, Ph.D., an incredibly knowledgeable Racial Justice and Health Equity Consultant that shaped our discussions and helped us find areas in which we can bridge the barriers between our services and those we support. As a result of our participation of this Cohort, SARAH Inc. created an informed Health Equity Plan (HEP).

Denise - CEO of SARAH Inc.
 The overall objective of the HEP is to ensure the best equitable practices are utilized both for those served by our agency and for our employees. The three Cultural and Linguistical Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards we are focusing on include:
  • Ensuring competence of individuals providing language assistance to those in our programs
  • Providing easy to understand print/multimedia materials/signage in the languages used by our population
  • Establishing culturally and linguistically appropriate policies across our agency
While these are only our first steps into this work, they are necessary for the agency to continue to provide high quality inclusive services. If you want to learn more about this initiative, please feel free to contact us. I wish you all a happy and healthy fall.

Read on for SARAH Inc.'s latest news and happenings!

ADULT SERVICES

SARAH Inc. CELEBRATES DIRECT SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS APPRECIATION WEEK

This year’s Direct Support Professionals (DSP) Appreciation Week was a success! The week of September 12th, all our direct support professionals were given tokens of our gratitude. This included messages of thanks from leadership, L.L. Bean rain jackets, Insomnia Cookies (a local cookie shop we love), gift cards, and more!

 

Our appreciation for direct support employees goes well beyond just one week; these days are a chance to show gratitude for the work that they do. Our team is dedicated to providing exemplary care to the individuals they work with. They are committed to the empowerment and enhancement of the lives of others on a daily basis. The work they do truly transforms lives and makes a direct impact to our communities. So join us as we once again thank all these wonderful members of the SARAH Inc. team!

 

ENRICHMENT SERVICES FIELD DAY

This August our North Haven Day Program had some summer fun with a two-day indoor field day event, which was led by our Enrichment Support Professionals. The event was a success with engaging activities such as cornhole, bowling, hopscotch, and ring toss. Each day culminated with an engaging parachute activity. SARAH Inc.’s Enrichment Services programs continue to successfully help individuals build on their day to day skills and personal growth. If you want to learn more about our Enrichment Services, you can contact Stephanie Cona at marketing@sarah-inc.org.

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES PICNIC

Carrying on the summer fun, our employment crew also embraced the end of summer with a picnic and variety of outdoor activities to have some fun. This provided an opportunity for learning and interactions outside of the normal day to day activities of the program. The program values helping individuals achieve professional goals and success, as well as other techniques in their lives that help them reach independence.

KIDSTEPS Early Intervention Services

As we say farewell to summer, we welcome fall and are ready for the all the joys it brings; cooler weather, changing leaves, and pumpkins! Our KIDSTEPS program continues helping families to work on their individualized goals. We are happy to share some joyous and successful moments experienced by two of our KIDSTEPS families.

One important (and tasty) moment of progress this summer features Anastasia, a child in our KIDSTEPS program. The family’s goal is around practicing eating by herself using utensils and the family had just introduced ice cream cones as a summer treat. With her family, Anastasia has been practicing how to eat an ice cream cone using her tongue rather than with her fingers. She had been using her hands to pick up the ice cream out of the cone, but on this day the concept of not using her fingers was a big success!

Another important moment for many families this summer and early fall is when their children head back to school. It is a busy and exciting step as their kids head into a new year. With ongoing environmental support, milestones such as a happy first day are very meaningful. This includes Danielle, a parent receiving supports who expressed her gratitude to our team by saying, “Thank you to each and every one of you for helping make this moment possible.”

How to Request an Evaluation

To request a Birth to Three early intervention evaluation you can:
A) Call the toll-free intake phone number at Child Development Infoline at 1-800-505-7000
B) Complete the online referral form on the Birth to Three System website www.birth23.org
OR
C) Download the referral form from the Birth to Three website and fax your referral to 1-800-571-6853

If you would like a specific services provider to do an evaluation you must request them by name during the intake process. Otherwise, your child will be assigned to the program in your town that is next on rotation. Please contact Stephanie Cona at 860-399-1888 ext. 324 if you have any questions.

SARAH Solutions Podcast

We are very excited to share this month’s podcast episode featuring Ashley Hickey from Potty Training Specialist and Owner of Successful Potty Training. Ashley is a graduate of Northeastern University and was clinically trained in Applied Behavior Analysis at Emory Autism Center post-graduation. Ashley specializes in Potty Training autistic children but has also trained hundreds of kids with differing abilities.

The goal of Ashley’s program is for the child to be able to wear underwear fulltime, utilize the potty and independently self-initiate. 98% of the children achieve these goals by the end of the program! Most in as little as four days.

We hope you enjoy listening to Ashley and Tesha as much as we did. Take a seat and get ready to learn some fool proof tips! Click here to visit her website, Successful Potty Training.

Join the SARAH Inc. Team!

At SARAH Inc. we provide the highest-quality services to hundreds of children and adults with disabilities or delays in a variety of Connecticut communities. To learn more about joining the SARAH Inc. team and what it is like to be on our team, click here.

If you have any questions about an open role, please do not hesitate to contact us before you submit your application. We look forward to hearing from you!

SARAH Inc. is a Connecticut 501©3 nonprofit. The work we do is essential for those in our programs and often underfunded. Over the last few months, we have held some fundraisers, but it is not too late to help us make a difference.

All donations to SARAH Inc. directly impact more than 1,600 children and adults throughout the state of Connecticut. We aim to constantly transform lives, offer the highest-quality supports, and continuously improve our programs. We can’t do all of this without the help of each of you. Please consider taking a moment to donate to SARAH Inc.