Who here has lived in a group home?

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I'm curious... who has lived in a group home? And why were you there? And how did you get into there? And how long were you there? And why/how did you get out of there? And what was it like? What kind of people were there?

group homes...have lived in an institution complex,and regular community residential home.
was moved from the institution as they are closing them all down in the UK.

the institution was bad and good,in places.
staff=mostly horrible,the most misunderstanding,ignorant uneducated b..................s have ever met,they never believed the sensory difficulties am had because one of the LFAers who lived there didn't have any sensory [hearing] extremes whatsoever,the thing is-why would she? she is profoundly deaf! idiots!
am speech therapist,social worker,parents etc had to get involved to get them to properly support and understand am.

the lfa lady used to sit on the toilet a lot and rock on it,am was like her in that am needed to use the same toilet and could not change to the other one,but the staff treated am like was worth less than her-they never attempted to get her to hurry up [which does not bother her] and said why should they and that am was only trying to cause trouble-am ended up in hospital with a kidney infection as a result of having to hold it in all the time-and now the kidney is regulary getting infections-again,speech therapist,social worker etc got involved and complained about it,nothing was done.

they had never even done a support plan [which should have been done before am moved in] and they didnt do it until am was moving out-too late,think it was illegal/broke government rules.
they did not do risk assessments on the new home either,which has turned out to be sensory hell [read am blog for more info on that] the fact they put am,with extreme sensory difficulties and processing,into a house where one of them bangs doors all the time as part of his ocd,where one of them shouts all day from the moment she gets up to the moment she goes to bed,where one of them has the tv up so loud am can hear it down the road etc. shows just how crap this council is.

some the staff at current home who come on to work with am end up going straight to the office to watch tv or go to talk to the other lady when she has staff with her already.
there are so many bad things at that place,it has tired am just remembering those.
they have also not bothered to get am wall fixed for many months which has been knocked down through meltdowns,am wake up with snotty nose and sore throat every morning because of the wind that comes through.

good things about the place=lots of cats around here,near to longford park,near to parents house so can see cats a lot.

What's it like though?


Back up; what IS a group home? What's day to day life like there? What are the people like there?


I realized that I had misconceptions about them before.

Group homes can vary, but I think people here are talking about the type where they have several people living in a home. I think they usually get their own room, almost like an apartment, though it can be like a room in a house, They have a person assigned to them, I think the person is generally assigned a few people, that helps out with day to day things, like bills, government paper work, household chores, etc... I have heard of some cases where they have people to help with things like exercise, diet, and entertainment.

BTW my step brother lives in one. He is MR. As I recall, it is a home with about 4 people in it. His mother pays a guy and he does things as eclectic as paying the bills, doing laundry, and getting him a job. of course, WE are in the US. I don't imagine the UK is consistantly any different.

Last edited by 2ukenkerl on 16 Sep 2007, 9:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've lived in sort-of group homes. They were three week shelters for kids in forster care.

That sounds like an orphanage.

do want to live in a group home,Ana54?

it's good...can't think of another word really..
a group or residential home is for people who might have to be around other people for different reasons,eg, have meltdowns that need help with,are a danger to self etc,have too much support needs to live in sheltered housing/support in own place.
some group homes,like the one sister used to work in [owned by a company called creative support,for people with conditions like schizophrenia],allow the person to stay there for a maximum of two years,before moving into their own place.

the type am in is lifetime,unless things change and the person is able to live with very little support.
they teach a lot about independance-although there are some people who are completely lazy b...........s who make staff do things for them they are more than capable of doing[the lady here for instance,will scream if she needs to tidy her room,so staff end up doing it for her to stop her shouting].

each house is different so there can be really different types of people,have only ever been under the councils learning disability service so most people have a learning disability or asd+ld,have met one pervert schizophrenic so far [he seemed aspergan but hasn't been diagnosed],have lived with,and met [ones going through respite unit] many autistics and they do seem the easiest of all to live with when compared to those with LD only,because most like to have own space,it works out,but that is not exclusive as there are attention seeking ASDers,and ASDers who like talking a lot.

day to day life.....
everything in what am do day to day is written on a planner of routines,for the person,it can be a day full of as much as they want,or as little as possible,but staff try to get people doing as much as possible,the boys who live in this house go to a club which does pottery,arts and crafts...
for am,most time is spent in the house, as too much time out causes meltdowns from sensory overload.
go to park everyday am down here,as they have a mini zoo there...well,it's more like a rabbit farm really,and they have a goat called horrice.

we get a ford focus rented out through the council so staff take us on days out to where we want to go.
they let am have a day on own without anyone else because of the noise in the car,am going to a place called robbinsons this month,somewhere in liverpool [a big equestrian shop,like wallmart probably but for horse stuff].

Oh, so you can't have a life?


I'm wondering if my shrink even knows what a group home is.

Unsure what you mean by "group home", but have lived in places with groups. Have been in homeless places, both government and independent, as well as barracks life in the military and live in a Domiciliary right now. Oh, and I have been to and even lived in Hostels through my life as well. They are all different from each other, but all have the air of lots of people being around. If anything, its fun just listening to people talk about stuff. What type of group home are you speaking of and what of it do you want to know? Oh, and which country are you in? If you are in a different country than I can't give much of them unless I've been there.

what do mean by life ana54?
not sure what mean....we are all living?

I was institutionalized in 1985, in The Brown Schools- the diagnosis was depressions- anti social behaviour. Totally useless for treating AS. Some dorms were more open than others- depended on flight risk- mostly troubled kids with bad family structure. Some dorms were locked down most of the time, where staff members escorted patients. Classes were provided on campus, Off-campus trips depended on each dorms treatment progress.
The other place I was at was a half way house. Most of these kids seemed to be less medicated as a whole, we were encouraged to mingle with and interact with the local residents in a divergent school program for troubled kids. Both places had cafeterias, and were accredited, allowing students to get GED's and the like. The routines were geared to closely simulate normal life, in a supervised environment while receiving treatment. I would have done better in the half-way house or in any form of AS treatment.

Routines and regimens are a staple of my life.

By having a life, I mean, aren't you allowed to go out? Or have people over? Or talk on the phone? Or are you forced into a schedule others make for you???


So it isn't just to help you... you also have to be their slave... there's always a catch.

I would just dislike how different my lifestyle would be compared to everyone else there and how it might cause conflict, and the fact there would be staff around all the time. That would make me feel SO uncomfortable.

I know; what if they ask you every single thing you are doing?

understand now......yes,everyone here apart from am has people come over,and anyone who can use it,can use the phone if they want.

schedules are not forced on us..........and if anything it's some residents who use staff as slaves,rather than the other way.
all of us have meetings if have any complaints and to say what want to do,buy go to etc.
if don't like certain staff working with us,can report that,for example,with am,they have it written down never to use agency staff, only to use the same few regular staff so it's not a lot of changing about.

staff do not do that,they have to respect peoples privacy and they even go on courses about things like this.
but,agency staff are different,they don't have as much training or as much understanding quite often.