Programs/Services » Footprints Unlimited Day Program

Who Are We?

The Footprints Unlimited Day Program has been serving clients since our inception in 1994. Footprints Unlimited was founded when members of Howe Sound felt that the residents of the organization needed to participate in a day program that would be unique and more specialized than any other day program available.

Footprints Unlimited developed into a day program custom tailored to meet the personal needs of each individual within Howe Sound and soon after grew to become a specialized program for participants from surrounding community areas. Individualized programs were implemented for each individual through the utilization of existing services and the incorporation of new program options.

Footprints Unlimited Day Program became a well structured yet flexible program geared to meet the individual needs of and promote the quality of life for people with developmental disabilities.

About the Footprints Unlimited Day Program

Footprints Unlimited Day Program provides training and development in various aspects of our participant's life in an attempt to teach independence while encouraging the individual's ability to mainstream into the community in which they reside.

All programs under Footprints Unlimited allow time for social interaction, recreation, job training, physical exercise and the development of self-help skills. Within these broad ranges Footprints Unlimited offers a wide variety of specialized programs and specific areas of focus. This allows for the formation of truly individualized plans to assist each participant in reaching his or her highest level of independence.

The focus of Footprints Unlimited is primarily community-based activities such as volunteering, job development, training and support, social access, educational development, recreational activities and therapeutic services. The program also offers various home support programs through which individuals are encouraged to increase their functional competence through learning to care for their own personal needs and home environment.

Who's Eligible?

Any person with a disability is encouraged to apply to the Footprints Unlimited Day Program. Once an application has been received a planning meeting will be arranged to get acquainted with the individual and his or her specific areas of interest.

When a client is eligible for this program:

In the preliminary phase personal goals are established and then reviewed on a regular basis.

The second phase expands upon the programs that have already been introduced to the individual, as well as the addition of new program areas. At this stage in programming, it will be expected that each individual will have made some adjustments during the first phase, but may still require additional time to adjust to new aspects of their programming.

In the third phase, the program responds to the changing awareness of who the individual is. The participant will have had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the staff and other Footprints clients, and we will have gained a greater understanding of the client's needs. This will be achieved through feedback from the clients, activity workers, and the client's family and support network. Charting is also used in order to effectively monitor progress in certain programs to ensure that the client is enjoying the activities, and continuing to adopt new skills. At such time as indicated by the monitoring process, new programs may be added to expand the individual's participation or programs may be discontinued if deemed inappropriate or overwhelming for the client.

Staffing

The Footprints Unlimited Day Program provides employment to approximately 25 employees in management, permanent, part-time and casual positions. On a typical programming day, staffing consists of a ratio of one staff to two individuals. Footprints makes a conscious effort to coordinate existing staff and programming schedules in order to maximize one to one quality time for each individual.

Each new Footprints employee must participate in an orientation session designed to familiarize them with all of Howe Sound�s clients, programs, policy and procedures.

Howe Sound also provides its employees with on-going training in the following areas: Non-Violent Crisis Prevention and Intervention, PATH, Ethics of Touch, Food Safe and Emergency First Aid/CPR. Additional training is provided to employees on an individual basis dependant upon the needs of the clients with whom they work eg. Sign Language, etc.

Our Goals for the Footprints Program

We feel that a very important aspect of program planning and service delivery involves the direct feedback from the participants and stakeholders, whether it be verbal or non-verbal. From this feedback we develop our goals for the Footprints program that we would like to achieve. The achievable outcomes for 2002-2003 are described as follows:

• Increase social skills
• Increase communication programs
• Increase alternative therapy
• Increase vocational/volunteer programs
• Increase or maintain physical exercise

We feel that these outcomes will play an important role in the establishment of specific components vital to our success as a customized program.

For more information about Footprints Unlimited Day Program please contact:

Loretta Rucchin, Director of Operations
203-218 Blue Mountain Street
Coquitlam, BC V3K 4H2

Tel: 604-936-9944
Fax: 604-936-9003

Email: loretta@howesound.net