Mission & Philosophy

Within the context of our core belief that human life is intrinsically valuable, it is our goal at ACR to provide the best possible physical and emotional support to individuals with disabilities so that they may lead fulfilling lives. We've put the key concepts we use to accomplish our mission right in the name "ACR", which stands for Acceptance, Communication, and Respect. 

Acceptance: individuals with disablities have a need for acceptance just as non-disabled individuals. Therefore, ACR strives to provide homes in which each individual feels valued for who they are, in happy times as well as in challenging times. It is the goal of ACR to provide a home environment where each individual feels understood, supported, and secure, and where people can relax and be themselves mentally, emotionally, and physically within the context of the group living in the home. Having live-in staff who know the residents and the home well and who can enhance the consistency of care is one of the ways ACR fosters a full sense of acceptance within a home retreat. Each person supported by ACR will have personal goals determined by him/herself and his/her team. Ideally, those goals will support personal independence, health, security, interests, choice, social inclusion, relationships, satisfaction, rights, dignity, and respect.

Communication: people are communicating all the time; limitations on the ability to speak and write do not mean a person cannot communicate. It is important to observe, acknowledge and listen to the verbal and non-verbal cues of the people we serve, supporting their communication in the mode, pace, and time frame of their choosing. In doing so, we seek to understand each individual's unique thoughts, interests, requests, preferences, and emotional and physical needs by listening to input fromt them and their team. We support and facilitate each person's communication style, and strive to convey dignity and worth on their communication and help them to be accurately understaood. We also strive to respond to each individual's communication with respect, and to convey to each individual our awareness of their intrinsic value that makes them worthy of dignity and respect.

Respect: respect is conveyed by the way we speak and listen, attend to cues, appreciate, support and respond positively to each person’s communication style. We will seek to understand and facilitate each resident’s personal agenda within the context of other residents’ rights and sensitivities as well as staff professional boundaries and licensing requirements, recognizing that each individual may have a different perspective as to what feels respectful and supportive. Respect is also conveyed by helping each individual to more fully participate in the community as independently as possible, and by recognizing the importance and pre-eminence of family relationships in the lives of people we support. We strive to recognize and support boundaries and preferences of the individual and involved family members without judgment, as long as they are within health and safety parameters, professional boundaries, licensing requirements, and within the context of the home setting and available resources.