Frequently Asked Questions
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General Questions
We are poorly suited for people experiencing a crisis. Our services often take longer than most people in crisis are able to wait, and changes in service sometimes occur in these scenarios. We recommend that you contact REACH through your service coordinator, and when the crisis has stabilized and you are able to make more permanent solutions, please contact us.
A Referral Form must be completed, preferably by your Support Coordinator.
- If your Waiver qualification is not met, A Notice of Decision (NOD) letter be sent to the person who submitted the Referral. The referral process will stop here.
- If your Waiver qualifications are met, your Support Coordinator will be contacted and sent additional forms to complete the Referral process.
- Forms must be completed by the Support Coordinator and submitted to Branches of Life (BOL).
- Upon receiving the completed forms, an Intake Packet will be provided to the Support Coordinator to send to the service user & their Substitute Decision Maker (SDM).
- Upon completion of ALL Intake forms, the SDM will receive an email through SignRequest for an electronic signature.
- Support Coordinator will need to add Branches of Life as a new provider in WaMS in order to submit a new service authorization.
- A Service authorization will indicate the start date of services.
Your Support Coordinator should complete a Referral. If someone other than the Support Coordinator completes a referral, you must immediately notify your Support Coordinator as they are the only person that is able to initiate services. Support Coordinators must inform the service user and Substitute Decision Maker so they are aware of the referral and the process.
The Substitute Decision Maker (SDM) will be contacted and sent additional forms to complete the Referral process.
- Forms must be completed by the SDM and submitted to BOL.
- Upon receiving the completed forms, an Intake Packet will be provided to the SDM.
- Upon completion of ALL Intake forms, the SDM will receive an email for an electronic signature.
We accept Family and Individual Supports (FIS) and Community Living (CL).
Teams are made up of the people that surround and provide care for the focus person. This usually includes the focus person, a member of their family, guardian or caregiver, friends, supporters (day support employees, supervisors, residential employees, supervisors), other service providers (employment services, educational services, OT / SLP services), and their support coordinator.
That’s okay! Learning how to make good decisions is a skill that takes practice. Our job is to support people to make their own choices – even bad choices – in a way that doesn’t jeopardize their health or safety.
Quality of life is not about how cared for a person is, but is measured by how satisfied they are with their life and how much freedom and power they hold in decision making for themselves.
No. We often work with psychiatrists and PCPs on the team to give them additional information or seek their feedback, and we might make recommendations to speak to a doctor about, but we are not able to prescribe medication.
No. Branches of Life as an organization is ethically against any form of physical restraint or therapeutic hold, and will not condone its use as a part of a support plan.
We can work together to try to get the team on board and explain the benefits of this process. If that doesn’t work, we can help provide guidance and support to find a different team that will be more supportive.
The focus person needs support, and that might mean they need to learn new skills – even if that’s the case, they will need someone to teach those skills. Often it’s easier to change things than a person – and it’s more respectful that way, too.
We stay with a team as long as there is still work to do. We move on when the work is done, or when the plan we agreed upon is not being ethically or consistently followed-through, or when there are not enough team members able to carry out a plan.
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