Healthy Community Living
What Is It?
The purpose of Healthy Community Living is …to help CIL consumers live healthy lives in the community in the context of their disabilities??? It is composed of two peer-led skills workshops: Living Well in the Community and Community Living Skills. Living Well in the Community is a group workshop that consists of ten 2-hour sessions that focus on a wide range of topics, including goal setting, healthy reactions, healthy communication, eating well, and physical activity. Community Living Skills is also a group workshop and consists of ten 90-minute sessions. These sessions cover such topics as disability identity, peer support, self-care, housing, and transportation. Centers for Independent Living (CILs) can become providers of Healthy Community Living and deliver the workshops to their consumers.
Why Did We Include It?
Identified as an evidence-based program as part of our systematic review, we chose to include this website because it provides CILs with training that can be used to teach their consumers a variety of skills for healthy living. We also chose this website because it encourages peer-led workshops. Although there is an initial fee to become a provider and obtain the training materials, this well-tested program can be a valuable tool in promoting health and independence for people with disabilities. Additionally, the website offers free snapshots of the workshop sessions that give an overview of the content and learning objectives in each session.
Who Benefits?
It is ultimately the consumer who benefits from these workshops. However, CILs also benefit as they receive the training to conduct workshops that benefit their consumers and help them develop skills to be peer-leaders.
How Can It Be Used?
CIL staff members can access the website and download snapshots of the workshop sessions. They can also identify times when there are facilitator trainings to become a provider and sign up for them on the website. The website also has a place to sign up for their provider newsletter.
The contents of this website were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RT5043). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this website do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.