February 15, 2024 • 15 mins
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On the first episode of Season 2 of "The Nathan Markley Show," Nathan talks with Susan Raposo from Best Life RI. To learn more about Best Life RI visit their website at https://www.bestliferi.com/ or contact Susan at sraposo@bestliferi.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, everyone. Welcome to The NathanMarkley Show.
I'm Nathan, and I'm here with Susan Raposofrom Best Life RI.
So, What is Best Life?
So it's an organization that supportsadults with developmental disabilities.
It was started probably about a year ago,which is really exciting.
But we were fortunate enough to receive
(00:22):
some transformation dollarsfrom the state of Rhode Island
and we were able to start it.
We provide a variety of different servicesfrom support brokerage
to employment supports, communitysupport, building networks.
It's really about customized life support.
(00:43):
So it's really working with peopleand their chosen allies
to figure out what they wanttheir lives to look like.
Sounds cool.
What did you decide to set up an agency?
I've been working for another organizationin Rhode Island for 30 years.
I started when I was 21.
I worked in a variety of different roles,and probably
(01:06):
about three or four years ago,I started to meet these younger families
and people that really wantedsomething different in their lives.
They didn't, you know, they just wantedtheir lives to look different.
And I wasn't sure that those supportswere out there.
So I started tothink about how I could do it.
I started to put an, I found a partner.
(01:26):
I have a partner in this as wellnamed Sherry Sorrell.
She's more of theshe does a lot of the background stuff
where I do more of the frontend stuff,We got together
and we started to thinkabout how to shape this
and we started to talk to peoplenationally
and in state and to just kind of seewhat it could look like.
(01:48):
So we invited probably about eightor ten people to be on advisory committee
and help us to start thinkingabout where to begin.
Once we did that
shortly after is when the state you know,the state of Rhode Island
due to the consent decrees, they wereoffering some money for organizations
(02:09):
that were really thinking abouttransformation, transformational services.
So one of the ladies on the advisorycommittee called me and said, Sue
now's the time. And I saidoh no, this is my 3 to 5 year plan.
I don't have enough done.She said, No, no, now's the time.
And she said, You go home
and you put a pen to papermission, vision, values, services,
(02:31):
and you start there.
So I, of course, did what she saidand I did it.
And we started thereand we created a proposal
and we were awardedthe funds, which was great.
And we started and as of today,so about a year
and a few months later, we're actuallyworking with 30 people in their families.
And so you provide, you'rea support broker What does that mean?
(02:55):
Support brokerage, it's kind of a new wordin the state, probably for the last
maybe three or four years.
But it to me and to best life,it really almost could be anything.
So it's really again,what do you want your life to look like?
How do we help you get there?
So there's a few components
(03:16):
many components to support brokerage,but there's a few.
Like I can kind of go over.
So sometimes for families,it's just help navigating the system.
So what does that look like?
You know, the system in RhodeIsland is pretty complicated.
So, you know, sometimes they're tryingto figure out who do you call for this?
Who do you contact for this?
So we will help them with that or,you know,
(03:38):
there's a problem with their benefits.So we'll help them with those things.
So it's there's navigating the system.
There is for some people you meet themand they might be looking for employment
services. So we’llyou know, kind of help them with that.
There's some people that may have a job,but they need
they might not have any friends,so they might not be connected
(04:01):
to the communities in which they choose.
So we can help them navigate that.
We help them in their families, navigatethat to their chosen allies.
We try to look at it
on, you know, who are the peoplethat you want to be with
to help navigate your life.
So you mentioned youprovide helping find jobs.
Can you explain a little how you do that? Sure.
(04:22):
It really again, we start with the person.
You know, I always try to use the wordsinterests, gifts, skills and talent.
So what are your interests,gifts, skills, and talents.
We figure out, you know,what is the person really looking for?
It's really and we think about this a lot,but it's really about deeply listening
to people and really understandingwhat they want their lives to look like.
(04:46):
So that's kind of where we start.
And then from there, we just, you know,we'll try to navigate and figure it out.
If your interest is horses,you know, we can Google my maps.
How many horse farmsthere are in Rhode Island?
There's a million of them by the way.
So we can utilize those.
We utilize whatever tools we can.
(05:08):
We also have partnered with Doug Crandall,
and he will with the,the Discovery Staging Record.
So that's another option for people.
Again, it depends
where people are in their journeyand what that looks like for them.
Yeah.
So you find out what they
what the person's interests are,what they like to do,
(05:28):
and then you go outand look for what's out there
and then you make those connections.
Exactly. And what the matches, you know,where the matches.
I think the match
for really any relationship, opportunity,employment, connection, anything.
The match is the most important piece.
You know,if you're not well matched to a job or,
(05:50):
you know, relationship, community setting,anything like that,
it's never going to work.
I don't do well in a library.I talk too much.
Now, after you provide a service,do you follow up with them
to keep in touch with them,
see how things are going,and they can always contact you?
Absolutely.
So the way that it works is people intheir families are chosen
(06:10):
Allies will actually decideon an amount of hours or time
that they will write us into their ISPfor utilizing their self-directed support.
So they kind of decide that and based onthat and based on what people want
and need, we will actually stay engagedwith them in that way.
(06:34):
What I will say is that if let's saythe person finds a job,
he has friends, everything's all setand they don't they don't need us anymore,
then that's great.
Then call us when you do or, you know,ask us to reconnect whenever you're ready.
So that's kind of the way we look at it.
other than helping with finding a jobwhat are other things
(06:56):
you help with and experiences from peopleyou help with.
So we I can actually give yousome examples of that if you'd like.
So wewe actually are working with a gentleman.
He's going to college.
He's not quite ready for a job just yet,but he really
what he asked us forwas to he's really into sports.
(07:21):
He loves to play golfhe's really into sports.
So we I actually worked with himto figure out some different ways
that we could kind ofget him connected to those two places.
So we were fortunate.
I actually know
someone at the on the Brown Universityfootball team who's connected to them.
So he and I were able to govisit their office
(07:42):
and meet with the head coach of the Brownfootball team
and to really kind of get an understandingof how they play the game.
He got to see the backend of what they do.
It was really it wasit was an excellent time.
he and I volunteered at a golf tournament
so he could kind of meetsome other golfers and really connect
with other peoplewho like to play golf as well.
So we did that.
(08:05):
He's also a runner,so I was able to connect him.
He runs in his neighborhood,but he's never run a 5k,
So he and I have done
three 5k’s over the last year andhe finished the first one in 29 minutes,
the second one in 27 minutes,and the third one in 25. Wow.
I know he was amazing.
So anything like that Again,it's based what, what, anything that we do
(08:29):
is based on people's interest,gifts, skills, and talents.
So, thinking about all those things.
that's the way that we kind of shapehow we're working with people.
Nice.
I'm always thinking,
I think support brokerage for peopleand families is oftentimes
it's a really very good term.
I feel like
and I think sometimes it's hard for peoplein their families to really grasp it.
(08:53):
And I think I guess the what I would say
is really just think about Itcould be anything, you know, so
it could be anything to anyonebased on who you are
and where you are in your journey of lifeand where do you want to get to.
So we can kind of explore anythingalong that path.
(09:17):
And another thing I think that familiesshould understand about support brokerage
is that we can actually help find staff
for people to workwith through their self-directed plans.
That's that's always a good thing.
It's definitely difficult to find someoneYeah.
And, you know, there's different waysto do it, too.
(09:39):
I always ask, I always share with familiesto think about who the who they know
and who the person knows already.
I always think about anyone that I know,and I always try to think
about a good matchwho would be well matched to the person.
The other piece of support brokerage
that I forgot to talk aboutwas our advisor services.
(10:03):
we have nine advisors on staff rightnow, part time.
And the advisor role actuallyreally kind of focuses with people
on where they are in their journey andwhat they want their lives to look like.
So the advisor,
if it's a person that again wantsto connect with the sports community,
(10:24):
the advisor will help them connectto the sports community.
The advisor can also help kind of seewhat's available in their neighborhoods.
Or they could walk the neighborhoodsand see what the resources are
there for them to connect to.
And the way that we look at
the advisor again is wewe ensure that they're well-matched.
(10:45):
So if the person really like sports,
we will connect them to an advisorthat really likes sports as well.
And then the person ultimately choosesif they feel that advisor
is a good match for them.
So and then the way thatthat relationship works
is that's actually considered supportbrokerage, but utilizing an advisor.
(11:08):
So that's another piece of it.
And sometimes the advisor, again,it could be weekly hours,
it could be monthly hours.
It you know, it's really individualizedto who the person is.
It's always niceto have someone to help out who knows how
to access the systemsand make those connections for you.
(11:28):
I totally agree.
Even if it's a little bit of timeor a lot of time.
And you know what?
Sometimesit might need to be a little bit of time,
and sometimesit might need to be a lot of time.
So it really dependson, you know, where you are on that path.
So I always think about that.
So with the transformation grant you got,sounds like you done
(11:49):
a lot of work with it to help build
an agency to help otherswith the self-direct support
can you tells us a little moreabout what you've done. Sure.
So we are actually a fully licensed DDO.
We're a developmental disabilityorganization in Rhode Island.
we are a medicaid provider.
We've done all that.
(12:09):
We actually were able to kind of startto create a
really strong foundation for the businesswith outside professionals,
with Sheri and I and different trainingsthat we were a part of,
We actually were ableto put all of our policies
and procedures and we are infull compliance with all regulations.
(12:30):
So we were able to createall those things.
We have all the technologythat we need, all the insurances,
and we're actually we employnine part time advisors Awesome.
Do you have, Are you working onany upcoming projects that you can share?
Yeah, good question.
So we actually recently have partneredwith the Developmental Disabilities
(12:51):
Council of Rhode Island and StarFire Council out of Cincinnati, Ohio, And
we are actually going to start a familyleadership network in Rhode Island.
The kickoff for that is February 12th.
There's a sign up on our websitewhich is best life ri dot com.
(13:13):
But what that what that will look like isand the at the kickoff.
Tim, who is the founder of StarFire, he's going to kind of
help us to shape what it's like and whatit's going to look like in Rhode Island.
But it's really about families with eitherchildren or adults with disabilities
(13:35):
connecting to their communitiesin a way that really focuses on gifts
and belonging and doesn'tfocus on the label of disability.
Awesome.
That's always good to have.
Yeah. So we're excited for about that.That's coming up.
That's actually going to be a yearlong project.
We're hopingthat ten families will be involved
(13:57):
and Tim will be doing monthlyinfo sessions and there will be a mentor,
a family mentor as well. Awesome.
I think another part of what we offer topeople is really to discover
what it is that they're interested inor what they want their lives
to look like, what's out there,what are the different opportunities.
(14:20):
Again, if you've never been fishing.
We can try fishing.
If you've never been to the arcadeto free play arcade,
we can go check it out. and also.
It's good to help people
maybe they try new things,
maybe they don't know they like fishingor like running or playing sports.
And you give an opportunity to do thatand find what they're really like
(14:44):
and what interest is to help themlive a meaningful life.
Yeah. Be successful.
I agree.
I totally agree, Nathan.
If an individual or family wants tocontact you, how they go about doing that?
So they could utilize our website,
BestLifeRI.com, there's info tabsafter each section of information.
(15:06):
So that's an easy way.
My email address is SRaposo@bestliferi.com
or I can be reached by phone as well,which is my phone number is
401-230-2708.
Well, thank you Sue for joining us today.
and good luckand have fun. Thank you, Nathan.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to The NathanMarkley Show.
I'm Nathan, and I'm here with Susan Raposofrom Best Life RI.
So, What is Best Life?
So it's an organization that supportsadults with developmental disabilities.
It was started probably about a year ago,which is really exciting.
But we were fortunate enough to receive
(00:22):
some transformation dollarsfrom the state of Rhode Island
and we were able to start it.
We provide a variety of different servicesfrom support brokerage
to employment supports, communitysupport, building networks.
It's really about customized life support.
(00:43):
So it's really working with peopleand their chosen allies
to figure out what they wanttheir lives to look like.
Sounds cool.
What did you decide to set up an agency?
I've been working for another organizationin Rhode Island for 30 years.
I started when I was 21.
I worked in a variety of different roles,and probably
(01:06):
about three or four years ago,I started to meet these younger families
and people that really wantedsomething different in their lives.
They didn't, you know, they just wantedtheir lives to look different.
And I wasn't sure that those supportswere out there.
So I started tothink about how I could do it.
I started to put an, I found a partner.
(01:26):
I have a partner in this as wellnamed Sherry Sorrell.
She's more of theshe does a lot of the background stuff
where I do more of the frontend stuff,We got together
and we started to thinkabout how to shape this
and we started to talk to peoplenationally
and in state and to just kind of seewhat it could look like.
(01:48):
So we invited probably about eightor ten people to be on advisory committee
and help us to start thinkingabout where to begin.
Once we did that
shortly after is when the state you know,the state of Rhode Island
due to the consent decrees, they wereoffering some money for organizations
(02:09):
that were really thinking abouttransformation, transformational services.
So one of the ladies on the advisorycommittee called me and said, Sue
now's the time. And I saidoh no, this is my 3 to 5 year plan.
I don't have enough done.She said, No, no, now's the time.
And she said, You go home
and you put a pen to papermission, vision, values, services,
(02:31):
and you start there.
So I, of course, did what she saidand I did it.
And we started thereand we created a proposal
and we were awardedthe funds, which was great.
And we started and as of today,so about a year
and a few months later, we're actuallyworking with 30 people in their families.
And so you provide, you'rea support broker What does that mean?
(02:55):
Support brokerage, it's kind of a new wordin the state, probably for the last
maybe three or four years.
But it to me and to best life,it really almost could be anything.
So it's really again,what do you want your life to look like?
How do we help you get there?
So there's a few components
(03:16):
many components to support brokerage,but there's a few.
Like I can kind of go over.
So sometimes for families,it's just help navigating the system.
So what does that look like?
You know, the system in RhodeIsland is pretty complicated.
So, you know, sometimes they're tryingto figure out who do you call for this?
Who do you contact for this?
So we will help them with that or,you know,
(03:38):
there's a problem with their benefits.So we'll help them with those things.
So it's there's navigating the system.
There is for some people you meet themand they might be looking for employment
services. So we’llyou know, kind of help them with that.
There's some people that may have a job,but they need
they might not have any friends,so they might not be connected
(04:01):
to the communities in which they choose.
So we can help them navigate that.
We help them in their families, navigatethat to their chosen allies.
We try to look at it
on, you know, who are the peoplethat you want to be with
to help navigate your life.
So you mentioned youprovide helping find jobs.
Can you explain a little how you do that? Sure.
(04:22):
It really again, we start with the person.
You know, I always try to use the wordsinterests, gifts, skills and talent.
So what are your interests,gifts, skills, and talents.
We figure out, you know,what is the person really looking for?
It's really and we think about this a lot,but it's really about deeply listening
to people and really understandingwhat they want their lives to look like.
(04:46):
So that's kind of where we start.
And then from there, we just, you know,we'll try to navigate and figure it out.
If your interest is horses,you know, we can Google my maps.
How many horse farmsthere are in Rhode Island?
There's a million of them by the way.
So we can utilize those.
We utilize whatever tools we can.
(05:08):
We also have partnered with Doug Crandall,
and he will with the,the Discovery Staging Record.
So that's another option for people.
Again, it depends
where people are in their journeyand what that looks like for them.
Yeah.
So you find out what they
what the person's interests are,what they like to do,
(05:28):
and then you go outand look for what's out there
and then you make those connections.
Exactly. And what the matches, you know,where the matches.
I think the match
for really any relationship, opportunity,employment, connection, anything.
The match is the most important piece.
You know,if you're not well matched to a job or,
(05:50):
you know, relationship, community setting,anything like that,
it's never going to work.
I don't do well in a library.I talk too much.
Now, after you provide a service,do you follow up with them
to keep in touch with them,
see how things are going,and they can always contact you?
Absolutely.
So the way that it works is people intheir families are chosen
(06:10):
Allies will actually decideon an amount of hours or time
that they will write us into their ISPfor utilizing their self-directed support.
So they kind of decide that and based onthat and based on what people want
and need, we will actually stay engagedwith them in that way.
(06:34):
What I will say is that if let's saythe person finds a job,
he has friends, everything's all setand they don't they don't need us anymore,
then that's great.
Then call us when you do or, you know,ask us to reconnect whenever you're ready.
So that's kind of the way we look at it.
other than helping with finding a jobwhat are other things
(06:56):
you help with and experiences from peopleyou help with.
So we I can actually give yousome examples of that if you'd like.
So wewe actually are working with a gentleman.
He's going to college.
He's not quite ready for a job just yet,but he really
what he asked us forwas to he's really into sports.
(07:21):
He loves to play golfhe's really into sports.
So we I actually worked with himto figure out some different ways
that we could kind ofget him connected to those two places.
So we were fortunate.
I actually know
someone at the on the Brown Universityfootball team who's connected to them.
So he and I were able to govisit their office
(07:42):
and meet with the head coach of the Brownfootball team
and to really kind of get an understandingof how they play the game.
He got to see the backend of what they do.
It was really it wasit was an excellent time.
he and I volunteered at a golf tournament
so he could kind of meetsome other golfers and really connect
with other peoplewho like to play golf as well.
So we did that.
(08:05):
He's also a runner,so I was able to connect him.
He runs in his neighborhood,but he's never run a 5k,
So he and I have done
three 5k’s over the last year andhe finished the first one in 29 minutes,
the second one in 27 minutes,and the third one in 25. Wow.
I know he was amazing.
So anything like that Again,it's based what, what, anything that we do
(08:29):
is based on people's interest,gifts, skills, and talents.
So, thinking about all those things.
that's the way that we kind of shapehow we're working with people.
Nice.
I'm always thinking,
I think support brokerage for peopleand families is oftentimes
it's a really very good term.
I feel like
and I think sometimes it's hard for peoplein their families to really grasp it.
(08:53):
And I think I guess the what I would say
is really just think about Itcould be anything, you know, so
it could be anything to anyonebased on who you are
and where you are in your journey of lifeand where do you want to get to.
So we can kind of explore anythingalong that path.
(09:17):
And another thing I think that familiesshould understand about support brokerage
is that we can actually help find staff
for people to workwith through their self-directed plans.
That's that's always a good thing.
It's definitely difficult to find someoneYeah.
And, you know, there's different waysto do it, too.
(09:39):
I always ask, I always share with familiesto think about who the who they know
and who the person knows already.
I always think about anyone that I know,and I always try to think
about a good matchwho would be well matched to the person.
The other piece of support brokerage
that I forgot to talk aboutwas our advisor services.
(10:03):
we have nine advisors on staff rightnow, part time.
And the advisor role actuallyreally kind of focuses with people
on where they are in their journey andwhat they want their lives to look like.
So the advisor,
if it's a person that again wantsto connect with the sports community,
(10:24):
the advisor will help them connectto the sports community.
The advisor can also help kind of seewhat's available in their neighborhoods.
Or they could walk the neighborhoodsand see what the resources are
there for them to connect to.
And the way that we look at
the advisor again is wewe ensure that they're well-matched.
(10:45):
So if the person really like sports,
we will connect them to an advisorthat really likes sports as well.
And then the person ultimately choosesif they feel that advisor
is a good match for them.
So and then the way thatthat relationship works
is that's actually considered supportbrokerage, but utilizing an advisor.
(11:08):
So that's another piece of it.
And sometimes the advisor, again,it could be weekly hours,
it could be monthly hours.
It you know, it's really individualizedto who the person is.
It's always niceto have someone to help out who knows how
to access the systemsand make those connections for you.
(11:28):
I totally agree.
Even if it's a little bit of timeor a lot of time.
And you know what?
Sometimesit might need to be a little bit of time,
and sometimesit might need to be a lot of time.
So it really dependson, you know, where you are on that path.
So I always think about that.
So with the transformation grant you got,sounds like you done
(11:49):
a lot of work with it to help build
an agency to help otherswith the self-direct support
can you tells us a little moreabout what you've done. Sure.
So we are actually a fully licensed DDO.
We're a developmental disabilityorganization in Rhode Island.
we are a medicaid provider.
We've done all that.
(12:09):
We actually were able to kind of startto create a
really strong foundation for the businesswith outside professionals,
with Sheri and I and different trainingsthat we were a part of,
We actually were ableto put all of our policies
and procedures and we are infull compliance with all regulations.
(12:30):
So we were able to createall those things.
We have all the technologythat we need, all the insurances,
and we're actually we employnine part time advisors Awesome.
Do you have, Are you working onany upcoming projects that you can share?
Yeah, good question.
So we actually recently have partneredwith the Developmental Disabilities
(12:51):
Council of Rhode Island and StarFire Council out of Cincinnati, Ohio, And
we are actually going to start a familyleadership network in Rhode Island.
The kickoff for that is February 12th.
There's a sign up on our websitewhich is best life ri dot com.
(13:13):
But what that what that will look like isand the at the kickoff.
Tim, who is the founder of StarFire, he's going to kind of
help us to shape what it's like and whatit's going to look like in Rhode Island.
But it's really about families with eitherchildren or adults with disabilities
(13:35):
connecting to their communitiesin a way that really focuses on gifts
and belonging and doesn'tfocus on the label of disability.
Awesome.
That's always good to have.
Yeah. So we're excited for about that.That's coming up.
That's actually going to be a yearlong project.
We're hopingthat ten families will be involved
(13:57):
and Tim will be doing monthlyinfo sessions and there will be a mentor,
a family mentor as well. Awesome.
I think another part of what we offer topeople is really to discover
what it is that they're interested inor what they want their lives
to look like, what's out there,what are the different opportunities.
(14:20):
Again, if you've never been fishing.
We can try fishing.
If you've never been to the arcadeto free play arcade,
we can go check it out. and also.
It's good to help people
maybe they try new things,
maybe they don't know they like fishingor like running or playing sports.
And you give an opportunity to do thatand find what they're really like
(14:44):
and what interest is to help themlive a meaningful life.
Yeah. Be successful.
I agree.
I totally agree, Nathan.
If an individual or family wants tocontact you, how they go about doing that?
So they could utilize our website,
BestLifeRI.com, there's info tabsafter each section of information.
(15:06):
So that's an easy way.
My email address is SRaposo@bestliferi.com
or I can be reached by phone as well,which is my phone number is
401-230-2708.
Well, thank you Sue for joining us today.
and good luckand have fun. Thank you, Nathan.
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The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.