Independent Living (IL) Skills Training Services:

What is IL? At its core, IL simply means having equal access to the same opportunities as the rest of society and as specified by the ADA. mILp’s professional staff of IL Specialists provides people living with disabilities with instruction and training to assist in living independently. mILp offers the following IL skills training:

• Daily Living Skills: mILp provides learning opportunities for: budgeting, menu and meal planning, meal preparation and cooking, and grocery shopping.
• Community Resource Acquisition: Our staff assists consumers in researching and applying for community resources such as Medicaid services and waivers, Medicare benefits, food stamps, energy assistance, and Meals on Wheels services.
• Support and Recreational Groups: mILp sponsors recreational and support group activities as requested by our consumers.

Peer Counseling Services:

The purpose of Peer Support is to match individuals with similar disabilities to empower each other through encouragement and support. This service assists individuals adapting to life with a disability or transitioning through different life stages. mILp also encourages individuals to seek out new opportunities.

Individual and Systems Advocacy Services:

mILp works in the community to make a difference in the lives of individuals with disabilities by removing barriers and focusing efforts on accessibility to public services, education, and benefits. As an IL Center, we are at the forefront of advocating for access, choice, and self-determination for individuals with disabilities. mILp can help advocate for the rights of individuals living with any type of disability on both an individual and a systems level.

• Self-advocacy: Self-advocacy services help individuals learn to advocate for their individual personal rights. These rights may include health care benefits, access to health care and housing, as well as many more essential services. Self-advocacy is one of the most important skills anyone can have in their tool kit. mILp is dedicated to helping individuals learn to advocate for themselves in order to best maximize their choices and live an independent life.
• Systems Advocacy: Systems Advocacy involves working together to change policies and remove barriers people living with disabilities face in their everyday lives. mILp staff and consumers partner to facilitate system changes, including those related to government policies, transportation, public accommodation, and housing.

Transition Services:

mILp provides options for people living with disabilities and/or those who are aging to move from a nursing facility to a quality community setting that meets their needs and desires. The objectives of mILp transition services are:

• to move people from a facility to the community of their choice;
• identify and eliminate barriers that prevent people from being able to move to the community;
• improve the ability of Montana Medicaid to provide in-home services; and
• to ensure that there is continuous quality improvement of in-home services provided.

mILp also assists youth on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) program that are transitioning from secondary education to postsecondary life.