The Supported Living Group

12/22/2025

🌱 Celebrating a Milestone Moment for JT! 🌱

We are incredibly proud to celebrate the success of JT, an ABI Waiver participant who has achieved a major milestone on his recovery and vocational journey. Through hard work, perseverance, and the right community connections, JT successfully utilized SLG’s partnership with Healing by Growing Farms to build meaningful skills and hands-on experience, leading to his recent competitive employment with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). 👏

Healing by Growing Farms offers a truly unique and empowering environment for individuals living with brain injuries who have an interest in farming, horticulture, animal husbandry, and land stewardship. The program provides opportunities to develop real-world skills, confidence, routine, and purpose, often serving as a bridge between recovery and competitive employment.

JT’s success is a powerful example of what’s possible when person-centered support, community partnerships, and individual strengths align. We are grateful to Healing by Growing Farms for the meaningful opportunities they create and excited about the potential this partnership holds for SLG ABI Waiver and Private Pay participants who may be interested in similar vocational paths.

Congratulations, JT, we’re honored to be part of your journey and can’t wait to see what’s next! 🌾💙

12/19/2025

Our holiday party was a beautiful reminder of what makes SLG so special ❤️🎄
For our ABI and ASD Waiver participants, this isn’t just a program—it’s a community, a place of belonging, and a family. Moments like these highlight the power of connection, shared joy, and feeling truly supported, especially during the holiday season. We are proud to create spaces where individuals feel valued, included, and celebrated—today and all year long.

12/12/2025

🎄✨ Creativity, Community, and Christmas Spirit in Bethany! ✨🎄

At our Bethany location, our talented artists have been channeling their holiday spirit in the most imaginative way — up-cycling everyday waste items into festive reindeer sculptures! 🦌♻️

For the brain injury survivors we support, opportunities like this are far more than seasonal crafts. Creative expression offers structure, connection, empowerment, and a meaningful outlet for identity and emotion — all of which play a vital role in healing and long-term wellbeing.

These moments of joy, purpose, and artistry remind us why community-based programming matters. And our Bethany artists? They continue to prove that with a little vision (and a lot of heart), even discarded materials can become something magical. ❤️✨

12/11/2025

Join Jamie Arber, Executive Director of The Supported Living Group, for an in-depth exploration of Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) through human needs and grief models. Perfect for professionals looking to deepen their skills and understanding!

📅 Date: Wednesday, Jan 7, 2026
⏰ Time: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
📍 Location: 2321 Whitney Ave, Hamden, CT
🔗 Register: https://womensconsortium.configio.com/pd/1368/on-site-foundations-of-community-based-brain-injury-support-understanding-abi-through-human-needs-and-grief-models

Don’t miss this chance to enhance your practice and earn CEUs! 💙

6 CECs | Clinical Skills

12/11/2025

The story of Turner Prize winner Nnena Kalu is not only a celebration of artistic brilliance, it’s also an important moment for disability visibility and representation in the arts. Kalu, an autistic and learning-disabled artist, has built a body of work that is powerful, rhythmic, and deeply expressive. Her recognition challenges long-standing assumptions about who is seen, valued, and celebrated in creative spaces.

Her achievement shines a light on something that is often overlooked: neurodivergent individuals possess extraordinary creative voices, and when they are supported, understood, and given space to create, their talents can flourish.
https://apnews.com/article/turner-prize-art-winner-nnena-kalu-2ccbe34528197c71114423e4a3886d86

At The Supported Living Group, this belief is at the heart of our Inspire Arts program, designed specifically to give individuals served through Connecticut’s ABI Waiver, MFP/ABI Waiver, and ASD Waiver programs the opportunity to explore art as a form of communication, identity, and empowerment. For many, art offers a channel that feels natural, safe, and authentic, especially when verbal expression may not capture the fullness of their inner world.

Inspire Arts CT provides:
• Creative workshops tailored for neurodivergent thinkers
• Community inclusion through exhibitions and collaborative projects
• A supportive space where expression, not perfection, is the goal
• Opportunities for confidence, autonomy, and emotional growth

Kalu’s success is a reminder that disability is not a barrier to artistry; it is often a source of perspective, depth, and innovation. We are proud to offer a program that helps individuals access that same sense of creative voice and visibility.

Creativity belongs to everyone.
Expression belongs to everyone.
And every person deserves the chance to be seen for their gifts.

Scottish artist Nnena Kalu has won the Turner Prize for her vivid abstract drawings and sculptures. She is the first artist with a learning disability to receive Britain's most famous visual art award.

12/11/2025

Recent research is shedding light on how the brains of children respond to traumatic brain injury at the cellular level, and it could help shape more personalized approaches to recovery in the future. Scientists have identified changes in DNA epigenetic markers after pediatric TBI that aren’t visible on standard clinical tests like brain scans or consciousness evaluations. These changes may help explain why some children recover more smoothly than others and could one day guide tailored treatment plans.
Medical Xpress

For families and professionals involved in brain injury support, this underscores what we see every day: no two brain injuries are exactly alike, and recovery is a deeply individual process. At The Supported Living Group, we’re committed to providing comprehensive, person-centered supports, from clinical care and community engagement to vocational and residential services, that reflect the unique needs of each individual on their recovery journey.

As science continues to uncover how factors like epigenetic changes influence healing, our goal remains the same: to offer compassionate, informed, and effective non-medical community-based supports that help individuals rebuild meaningful lives after brain injury.

Read more about this promising research here: https://theconversation.com/newly-discovered-link-between-traumatic-brain-injury-in-children-and-epigenetic-changes-could-help-personalize-treatment-for-recovering-kids-271453

Some children recover better after traumatic brain injury than others, despite appearing similarly to doctors. Looking at the genetic and cellular level, however, reveal key differences.

12/10/2025

At The Supported Living Group, we’ve been closely following the recent reporting by Connecticut Public, especially the December 4th story that revealed how slots recently added to the state’s autism waiver program are still sitting empty, even though hundreds of families remain on waitlists waiting for support.

That article exposed a painful truth: although additional waiver slots have been funded, systemic under‑resourcing at the state level — including a shortage of case managers and a limited pool of willing providers- is preventing many of those slots from ever being used.

At SLG, we believe in turning concern into action. We are proud to offer high-quality, fully encompassing ASD services that combine clinical supports (therapy, behavioral supports, life‑skills development) with community‑based supports (social engagement, job coaching, individualized support planning). We have the infrastructure, the trained staff, and the commitment to deliver for individuals and families who can’t afford long delays or uncertainty.

We know that for many families, waiting lists and empty “reserved” waiver slots don’t feel like hope; they feel like abandonment. That’s why our mission is to help more people access real, immediate, and reliable support.

If you or someone you know is struggling to find consistent, quality ASD supports in our state’s current system, reach out. We’re here because we believe everyone deserves a chance to live with dignity, support, and community, no matter how long the wait is elsewhere.

Records show the Connecticut Department of Social Services doesn't have enough case managers to run the program, leaving families on the autism waiver waitlist in limbo.

12/09/2025

🎨 Celebrating Creativity, Recovery, and Resilience 🎨

At The Supported Living Group, we are proud to highlight the creative journey of Grace K, a stroke survivor participating in our ABI Waiver programming through our Inspire Arts program.

Grace lives with expressive aphasia, which can make verbal communication challenging. Through art, she has found a powerful way to express her heritage, family, and life journey, developing a unique artistic style that speaks volumes without words.

With individualized, community-based brain injury supports, Grace has gained the confidence and platform to share her work across Connecticut. In 2025, her artwork has been featured in multiple shows statewide and has even opened the door for her to teach public art classes, sharing her creative techniques with the community.

Grace’s determination, creativity, and positive outlook are a beautiful example of what’s possible when person-centered, trauma-informed brain injury supports are in place. We are honored to support her journey through Connecticut’s ABI Waiver program.

💙

12/08/2025

At Supported Living Group (SLG), we believe that disability doesn’t define a person, but their spirit, creativity, and humanity do. That’s why the message from the recent article on Today Magazine Online — “Artistic Association – Reflecting on TBI-disability connection” — really resonates with us.
https://www.todaypublishing.net/post/reflections-tbi-disability-connection

The essay reminds us that we all have strengths and struggles, that disability can be both visible and invisible, and that labels alone don’t tell someone’s full story.

Through our Inspire Arts program, we aim to support individuals living with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and other disabilities, providing creative outlets, connection, and a place to belong. We believe in uplifting each person’s potential, celebrating art and resilience rather than focusing solely on limitations.

If you or a loved one have experienced TBI (or any disability), know this: you are not defined by a diagnosis. You are defined by your heart, your gifts, and the ways you share them with the world.

The distinctive Inspire Arts initiative helps TBI survivors pursue the arts as a life calling and shines light on the disability realm — begging a question: What comes to mind when you hear the term "disability"?

12/03/2025

We’re excited to share that our Executive Director, Jamie Arber, was recently featured on the Home Care Strategy Lab podcast with host Miriam Allred.

Jamie had the opportunity to speak about The Supported Living Group’s service philosophy and our commitment to helping individuals maximize their Medicaid waiver benefits through truly person-centered, community-based brain injury support. We’re grateful to Miriam for creating a platform where meaningful conversations about high-quality care can take place.

Our hope is that this episode inspires providers across the country to engage more deeply in the brain injury support space, helping raise the standard of care for survivors everywhere.

We also highly recommend the Home Care Strategy Lab podcast to anyone working in non-medical home and community care. The series is full of insight from innovative leaders across the U.S. and is a great resource for agencies striving to strengthen their services.

You can watch the episode here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffey9R6LaHY&t=26s

Thank you again to Miriam and the Home Care Strategy Lab for featuring this important conversation.

#38 Most home care agencies talk about “differentiation,” but the Supported Living Group in Connecticut is actually doing it. In this episode, Executive Dire...

12/02/2025

A major breakthrough in brain health is underway in the UK, where researchers have developed the world’s first fully mobile MEG brain scanner to study how blast exposure impacts the brain within minutes of an event. This technology, funded by the Ministry of Defence, can be brought directly to training grounds, field hospitals, and rehabilitation centers, allowing scientists to observe real-time brain changes following shockwaves and trauma.

While this innovation is being created for military use, experts believe it will have wide-reaching applications for the broader brain injury community, including research into concussion, dementia, epilepsy, and long-term neurological changes.

At The Supported Living Group (SLG), we are encouraged to see such progress in early detection and understanding of brain injury. The more the global community learns about how trauma affects the brain, the better we can advocate for informed care, meaningful support, and improved quality of life for survivors.

SLG remains committed to providing compassionate, community-based, non-medical brain injury support services throughout Connecticut, ensuring that individuals living with acquired or traumatic brain injury receive the structure, dignity, and specialized assistance they deserve.

Advancements like this move all of us one step closer to earlier intervention, greater awareness, and better outcomes for brain injury survivors everywhere. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23e0k41kxeo

It will be able to monitor changes in brain function just minutes after weapon use, scientists say.

11/27/2025

🧠 Reflections on TBI & the Human Connection: A Powerful New Read from Today Magazine! 🌟
Ever played the word association game with “disability”? What comes to mind for you? In the latest from Today Magazine Online, Editor-in-Chief Bruce William Deckert dives deep into this profound question, exploring how traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) aren’t just a “disability” label—they’re a universal thread in our shared human story of strengths, flaws, and resilience.
This commentary (Part 4 in an inspiring series on our very own Inspire Arts program!) spotlights how creativity becomes a lifeline for brain injury survivors. From the heart of Connecticut’s Farmington Valley, it’s a reminder that healing thrives in community—much like the laughter and artistry we celebrated at our recent Bethany Thanksgiving Feast. Everyone has “abilities and disabilities,” Deckert writes, and art? It’s the bridge that connects us all. 💫
Whether you’re a survivor, caregiver, or ally in the brain injury community, this piece will spark reflection and hope. Check it out now and join the conversation—what’s your one-word association?
👉 Read the full article: Reflections on TBI & Disability Connection
Grateful for voices like Bruce amplifying the transformative power of programs like Inspire Arts at The Supported Living Group. Let’s keep building bridges!

The distinctive Inspire Arts initiative helps TBI survivors pursue the arts as a life calling and shines light on the disability realm — begging a question: What comes to mind when you hear the term "disability"?