Wall Residences LLC was formed in 1995 with a purpose of providing individualized support to individuals who have significant support needs. Wall Residences is licensed by the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services. We are also affiliated with over 10 Local Human Rights Committees throughout the state. We currently provide services to individuals with a diagnosis of mental retardation (MR Waiver / Comprehensive Services Act funding), mental illness (Discharge Assistance Planning funding) and / or other developmental disability (DD Waiver funding). We also work with private resources.

The founders of the organization are Jack Wall, M.Ed and Kamala Bauers, LCSW. Jack worked as the Director of Mental Retardation Services for two Virginia Community Services Boards and had over 25 years of experience in the field before founding this agency. Kamala Bauers comes to this work primarily as a sister of an individual with significant support needs.

Since the beginning, the primary focus of Wall Residences is to provide a service around the needs of the individual who receives those services, instead of making an individual fit into an existing service setting. The individuals we support sometimes choose to participate in a traditional day program or workshop, but often, they are provided an individualized schedule of community participation opportunities with the support of their residential support provider. These include paid work, volunteer work, and becoming a regular at the local YMCA, park, or coffee shop. Our job is to explore with the individual and the natural family what works or doesn’t work in supporting the individual and to work together to put together a daily routine that works for the person. We work very hard to create “ordinary” lives for the people we support. It is important that people have meaningful activity and relationships with others in their day to day lives.

The family providers that work with Wall Residences LLC are the best in the state. Often, they are people who have years of experience in the field in other service settings and are excited about the opportunity to really make a difference. Our family providers are evaluated to determine that they have the necessary commitment to share their lives with an individual with significant support needs. They are highly qualified and committed to the individuals they support and attend Continuing Education Training each year. We are currently working with over 90 family provider homes in many parts of the state and have plans to expand our services to additional areas.

Wall Residences' Program Managers are experienced professionals who are provided significant training and access to state resources. They visit each service site each month and assure licensure, human rights, and Medicaid compliance. They are available to provide support to the individuals, natural families, and the professional family providers who work with Wall Residences.

The philosophy of Wall Residences is based upon the following principles:

• People with disabilities who require continuous available support often prefer to live in a home rather than a segregated facility or group home.

• People with disabilities benefit from the consistency of knowing who will be there to assist them day after day. While the provider families have trained and certified back-up workers, the primary care is delivered by the same people. Shift changes, which can be disruptive for some people, disappear. The daily schedule is created around the needs of the individual, rather than the needs of the program.

• The respect that the community grants to a well-established family will be naturally extended to a person with a disability who lives with the family. Inclusion into the community occurs naturally without the negative reaction and fear that can occur when a multiple bed group home is built in a neighborhood.

What is unique about Wall Residences LLC services? Here are a few examples:

• Wall Residences LLC contracts with highly qualified families to deliver services in their home and community. We are constantly seeking out couples and individuals with the best qualifications, the best homes, and the highest motivation to include the person they serve within their family and community life. Our contract families are referred to as “Family Providers”. Our family providers dedicate themselves to helping the individual in their care to be accepted and included as one of the family. Our services are small and well staffed to meet the needs and preferences of each person referred and placed.
  

• Placement decisions are made using a detailed interview process and evaluating a wide range of possible placement options for location, characteristics of the home environment, availability of daytime activities, and compatibility with others in the home and for finding the best match of individual needs to the skills, experience, and personality of the family providers. With over 90 family provider services throughout the western areas of Virginia, we have services to meet almost any need. We are locating new services every month to keep up with the needs of new referrals.
  

• Wall Residences LLC attracts the best family providers because we provide the best pay and support. All family providers are treated with the highest professional regard and are continually trained to understand how to improve their services and to meet or exceed the highest standards of care available in the field. In addition to ongoing training and professional supervision, all family providers participate in frequent networking with other family providers through regional peer review sessions and agency-wide meetings. Family providers are encouraged to contact other family providers for social support, advice, and consultation. New family providers are often paired with an experienced family provider to have access to extra help from a nearby peer family.
  

• Wall Residences provides a highly qualified Program Manager to provide support and supervision to the professional family provider. The ratio of Program Managers to the number of individuals supported is one to twenty-five.