SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — AIM Services, Inc. of Saratoga Springs was recently awarded the state contract to facilitate New York’s Supported Decision-Making model by the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD).
“Supported decision making is a game changer for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities… AIM and OPWDD have been close partners in a number of initiatives in the Empire State – alternative housing, AIMS dementia care residents, which is soon to open, and our massively successful self-direction services, just to name a few – yet none is more important than Supported Decision-Making,” AIM Services Chief Executive Officer Chris Lyons said at the Announcement event.
Supported Decision-Making, which was signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022, is a process that allows people with intellectual and developmental disabilities the opportunity to make decisions about their lives – in areas such as finances, healthcare, and relationships – with support from a trusted third party but without the need for a more restricted guardianship arrangement.
“Today marks an important step forward, not just for New York, but for the rights and the dignity of all people with developmental disabilities,” New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Willow Baer said. “Supported Decision-Making recognizes that people with disabilities are decision makers, and have pushed their voice right at the center where it should be.
“Across the nation, more and more states are recognizing Supported Decision-Making, embracing it in a passive way and in a formal way, but what is so significant about today is that New York is not just recognizing Supported Decision-Making; we are actually making it available to people with disabilities throughout the state.
“We are putting the right tools in the hands of people with disabilities to make sure they can direct their own decisions about their own lives.”
Dwight Joyner, someone who went through the process, shared that Supported Decision-Making allowed him to find the independence and freedom he didn’t have before. The 50-year-old shared he’s now about to have more control over his life through this less restrictive environment.
“I have lived at my place for a couple of years now, came from a rough space, and I have come far. And I appreciate everything I’ve gotten so far,” Joyner said. “I get to have more choices, I get to depend on myself and not other people and to be independent.
“I can make my own choices and I can deal with the things that I want to do – I can make my own meals, take a walk down the street, be able to have a relationship without people telling me that I can’t be in a relationship.”
New York’s Supported Decision-Making initiative began as a pilot program, led by Supported Decision-Making New York (SDMNY) and CUNY Hunter College, and funded by the Council on Developmental Disabilities in 2016.
In 2021, OPWDD dedicated a portion of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to expand and extend the pilot program to promote Supported Decision-Making Facilitation as an effective way to ensure that people are assisted to create effective and sustainable Supported Decision-Making Agreements (SDMA).
This pilot allowed OPWDD to refine its understanding of the process of Supported Decision-Making Facilitation, as well as to implement facilitation training materials, identify and equip providers of SDM Facilitation services, develop a Supported Decision-Making Facilitation resource center model, embed the use of Supported Decision-Making in existing agency systems and practices and advance the use of Supported Decision-Making as an alternative to adult guardianship.
As the now statewide provider for Supported Decision-Making, AIM Services plans to be a “a true person-centered partner” meaning they will walk individuals through the process, ensuring that they are offered access to customized options which will help them “live their most independent/least restrictive life possible,” through choices such as how the individual wishes to spend their money, if they want to pursue schooling or have a job, where and who they live with as well as who they have relationships with.
“Though AIM Services has been collaborating with Supported Decision-Making New York, or SDMNY, since 2019, AIM Services is extremely lucky to come in at this point of the initiative’s evolution, after careful and thoughtful piloting of this model,” Chief of Program Implementation Alexis Harrington shared at the announcement event.
“AIM Services is charged with developing and maintaining the infrastructure necessary to oversee this statewide rollout and provision of Supported Decision-Making, which includes continuing to spread awareness of this alternative to guardianship, engaging with decision makers and educating supporters that the decision maker identifies, training facilitators and mentors who provide the toolbox and resources to decision makers to establish a supported decision making agreement – that is a legally recognized document accepted by third parties, including medical offices, documenting the person’s human right to make their own decisions.
“We are looking forward to continuing to partner with agencies to expand this very important infrastructure to New Yorkers, while building a sustainable program model for all who need this.”
Harrington has been with AIM since February, previously serving as OPWDD’s Associate Commissioner for Program Implementation and Service Access, and shared that her experience with the organization is that it is truly “all about the people they support” and that there are no “ifs, ands, or buts about it.”
Moving forward, she notes that during the implementation process, it is a priority for Aim to make sure they have geography coverage across the state and to ensure they are engaging with potential partners, other agencies that we can subcontract with to provide the facilitation for those seeking Supported Decision-Making agreements.
“We are going to be out there, boots on the streets, engaging with people and building those partnerships – also continuing to build the interest while we’re doing that,” Harrington said. “The very exciting thing about this is that towards the end of the contract, we will be recommending an actual structure for this to be a service beyond what it is now.”
Lyons emphasized that while AIM Services is well known throughout the state for its person-centered services, noting that during his time with the organization, he has seen it shift from an agency-driven agency to one that is now person-driven, with a focus on outcomes, not necessarily the health of the agency. What is important to them is ensuring the individual is at the center of all they do, and this initiative perfectly aligns with that mission.
“What does Person Centered Services mean? It means we’re not in a control model where the professionals tell people with IDD and developmental disabilities what to do to appear normal or to fit into society, but we listen to people with IDD and developmental disabilities,” Lyons explained. “At the heart of this paradigm of service delivery is personal autonomy, and it’s not just a good idea; it’s a basic human right.
This was a sentiment shared by Baer, who also shared that Supported Decision-Making is a perfect example of not just what OPWDD stands for, but what is at the very heart of their mission.
“It is more than a policy, it’s about a person choosing where to live, how to spend their money, who to trust and how to live their life,” Baer said. “It’s about equity, it’s about independence and it’s about dignity. At OPWDD, the ability to choose your own destiny, to forge your own path, is at the very center of everything that we do. We are a service system, a civil rights movement that was founded by people with disabilities speaking up for themselves, telling us what they were capable of and telling us what they deserve.
“This statewide service is another step in our commitment to honoring that legacy.”
For more information on Supported Decision-Making and AIM Services, visit https://www.aimservicesinc.org/supported-decision-making/.
AIM Services Chief Executive Officer Chris Lyons spoke at the announcement event. (Emma Ralls – Medianews Group)
Dwight Joyner, who went through the Supported Decision-Making Process, spoke at the announcement event. (Emma Ralls – Medianews Group)
New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Willow Baer spoke at the announcement event. (Emma Ralls – Medianews Group)
Chief of Program Implementation Alexis Harrington spoke at the announcement event. (Emma Ralls – Medianews Group)
AIM Services, Inc. is located at 4227 Route 50 in Saratoga Springs. (Emma Ralls – Medianews Group)
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AIM Services Chief Executive Officer Chris Lyons spoke at the announcement event. (Emma Ralls – Medianews Group)