Erik walked through the rooms of his new home, examining every feature created specifically for him. He found representations of his beloved corvettes in several places, art treatments designed to make a house feel like his home.
“Wow,’’ Erik kept saying, his eyes wide as he walked from room to room. “Wow.”
Erik’s house in Nashville is the latest fascinating exploration into what Resources for Human Development is calling Environmental Design – creating unique and uniquely personal elements in a house that reflect the client living in it, designed to be not only functional but increase the client’s enjoyment and quality of life by making it feel unlike a residential facility and more like their home.
Erik loves corvettes, so there are representations of corvettes throughout the house. He loves “Charlotte’s Web,” so there is a likeness of Charlotte’s Web in the living room, with a personal message written to him. Throughout the house, Erik has elements that are fun, and functional.
“Most institutional settings are a very sterile environment, cement-block buildings, dark and cementy and just … blah,’’ said Barbara Hammer, RHD Property Acquisition Coordinator. “We have an opportunity to create some stuff to make it more fun. We get to know the individuals, we involve the staff, and we create an environment that’s theirs.”
In Nashville, Erik’s house is part of a fantastic success story. Erik has autism with several challenging behaviors, and he can become easily aggressive. Staff at his house filed 265 incident reports with Erik in his first month.
Last month the staff recorded 14.
He eats dinners with his family, goes on trips in the community. Last month when Nashville was hit with an historic flood, the RHD staff at Erik’s house lost power. Surrounded by water with no way in or out, they were stranded with no idea how Erik would react. He surveyed his surroundings, had some lunch and took a nap. He handled the situation wonderfully.
“Six months ago, if you’d told me that would happen? That was unfathomable,’’ RHD Nashville director Jordan Allen said.
Of course, it is not simply the art on the walls and the creative design of the home. Environmental design is part of a rich tapestry of RHD’s person-centered approach to human services that focuses on quality of life.
“It reflects our values, and our focus on a person-centered ethic,” said Dale Anderson, RHD corporate assistant director at RHD Boston and the driving force behind this effort. “We want to create a place that meets their needs and that they will be happier in. It’s a huge challenge. But we’re so excited by the things we’ve seen come out of it.
“It’s pride – they’re proud of the house. It’s a place that met their needs, and it’s a place they wanted to be.”
Leah Forrest is RHD’s Environmental Design Specialist, a post the corporation created to take advantage of her artistic talents so that she could work full-time on personalizing homes for RHD clients. Her work on a house in Boston a ‘50s diner theme in the kitchen, and different mirrors and textured fabrics on the walls to engage the clients.
“It started with Dale, he instilled that in us – learn about the individuals and make the house an environment that reflects their interests,’’ Forrest said. “We want to set a tone where the room reflects the person. We want to make the home comfortable to them, which is not a sure thing. But when you spend the time with people, engage the staff, and help them fix up their rooms and their homes, they will take pride in their living space, their belongings and themselves.
“In that kitchen, for example, we went through a lot of furniture. We had a lot of wear and tear. But we found out that Dave loved Elvis, for example. So the ‘50s diner theme grew out of that. And they really like it, they enjoy being there and they take much better care of it.”
Dave enjoys walking visitors through the house and showing it off.
“This is the best place I ever lived,” he said.
In Connecticut, and RHD client named Justin sometimes struggled with his surroundings and would occasionally punch holes in the walls. Forrest and Hammer spent time with him and the RHD staff there and learned that Justin liked fish and aquariums. So they built a wall for him that simulated a giant fish tank, sturdy plexiglass and fake fish that could light up.
Almost a year later, his room has sustained no damage; Justin simply likes his room and his surroundings better now.
“Barbara and Leah are just amazing,’’ Anderson said. “My job is the easy part – I just say, ‘Well, we need something like this,’ and they find a way to create it.”
In Nashville, Erik’s mom Sara talked about how much they like the house – but noted the staff there led by Allen and project manager Ifeanyi McClain do so much more to make it work.
“It took a lot of different people, and they all came together and helped create a wonderful environment for our son,” Sara said. “The staff here is so wonderful. What put us at ease from the beginning was the way Jordan talked about Eric’s quality of life. That’s their focus at all times, and of course that’s the most important thing to us.
“We've really had to rely for guidance on the recommendations of people who are experts at this, and who have experience will a lot of different providers. The thing we kept hearing was: If it were my child, I'd go with RHD. And that was what we wanted to hear."