Independent Home

One bedroom, furnished apartment, close to the NextWork space. Residential Manager living on site.

Socializing

Optional 3 organized activities per week, plus free participation in existing NextWork classes (LifeLink, Adulting 101, and Adapting to the Workplace).

Work

Individualized services focusing on preparing for, finding, beginning, and/or keeping employment in the community. These services include job shadow opportunities, internships, networking, and job coaching, with good fit employment as a primary goal.

Learning

As a Learn4Independence licensee, we understand the value applied learning experiences in the community. From taking a “foodie” class at Harmons to finance classes at AAA Fair Credit, NextWork staff facilitate learning experiences with experts in the community and travel to most locations using public transit.

Community

Learn about transitioning into the community, accessing services and support networks, safety in the community and time management with work, transit, and community activities.

Etiquette

Learn about the benefits of etiquette and practicing social norms, especially in certain settings.

Finances

Learn about problem solving with money, budgeting, saving, protecting your information, and creating a personal financial plan.

Health

Learn about personal care, including managing medication, health care, and living a healthy lifestyle to support mental health and deal with stress.

NextWork Transition Academy Services and Pricing

Residential Transition Academy: $3900/month for 2 years (maximum 8 students per cohort)

This price includes:

• One-bedroom apartment at the Hub
• Utilities for the apartment
• 20 hours per week focused on individualized employment services
• 20 hours per week focused on life skills and social skills—classroom learning and applied learning in the community
• 3 optional activities per week
• NextWork support staff available to students 14 hours per week day, 5 hours on Saturdays
• On-site Residential Manager
• On-call staff during unscheduled hours
• At completion of program, a notarized Supported Decision-Making Plan identifying future supports
• Quarterly webinars for parents
• UTA transit pass
• Referrals for area therapists who specialize in autism
• Collaboration with therapists (with signed release form)
• Connection with state and federal benefits
• Benefits Counseling
• Parents updates on progress and student needs for success

Non-Residential Transition Academy: $2800/month for 2 years

This price includes:

• 20 hours per week focused on individualized employment services
• 20 hours per week focused on life skills and social skills—classroom learning and applied learning in the community
• 3 optional activities per week
• NextWork support staff available to students to students 14 hours per week day, 5 hours on Saturdays
• Life skills support staff to assist with hands-on learning
• At completion of program, a notarized Supported Decision-Making Plan identifying future supports
• Quarterly webinars for parents
• UTA transit pass
• Referrals for area therapists who specialize in autism
• Collaboration with therapists (with signed release form)
• Connection with state and federal benefits
• Benefits Counseling
• Parents updates on progress and student needs for success

Learn4Independence Training: $2000/month for 2 years

This service includes:

• 15 hours per week focused on life skills—classroom learning and applied learning in the community (1-4 PM M-F)
• UTA transit pass
• Quarterly webinars for parents
• Referrals for area therapists who specialize in autism
• Collaboration with therapists (with signed release form)
• Connection with state and federal benefits
• Benefits Counseling

Individual Classes: $500 per class per term (terms based on Salt Lake Community College schedule) Learning levels and classes offered vary per term. Social skills class prices are listed on the classes page (add a link to the classes page here, and maybe add a link to the classes page for the three classes highlighted below)

List of classes:

• Safety
• Transportation
• Finance
• Relationships
• Community Living
• Health
• Nutrition
• Living on my own
• Etiquette
• Identity
• Solutions
• LifeLink (social skills)
• Adapting to the Workplace (social skills)
• Adulting 101 (social/ coping skills)

Financial Assistance

We are mindful of the need for financial aid to meet the tuition expense of this program, and we would like to help. Chosen applicants who have financial need may qualify for assistance from Columbus. In the Screening Form, the question “Will your family be able to afford the tuition, or will you need financial assistance?” should be answered “We will need assistance.” If the applicant is identified as a good candidate for the program and this item is selected, we can discuss financial options.

Tuition

Transition Academy tuition includes the apartment lease, utilities, bus passes, and programming costs. For details on pricing and inquiries about financial aid, please contact the Program Director. Tuition does not include food, extracurricular activities except for those scheduled through LifeLink classes, or personal items. Suggested budget for monthly spending is an additional $750 per month or a typical SSI payment. We will use these monthly funds in finance management classes to budget and pay for the expenses not covered by tuition.

Tuition must be paid monthly (due on the 1^st of the month) or in advance.

Intake

Along with the admission letter, the student and family will receive instructions on orientation, moving into the apartment, and planning for the next two years. You will also receive a student manual with details about living at the Hub.

As part of the orientation, the student and h/er support team will create a “self-determination plan.” This plan describes the goals the student wishes to accomplish during the program. This plan will also be a step toward answering the following questions:

• What does the student want to get out of the Transition Academy?
• What does the family hope the student will get out of the Transition Academy?
• What is the student’s goal for the term?
• Who is in the student’s support team? (may include any of the following. If the student doesn’t already have these supports in place, we will help identify needed supports)
  • Parents/family
  • NextWork staff
  • Therapist
  • Medical doctor/ primary care
  • Advisors such as Vocational Rehabilitation counselors and/or DSPD support coordinators
• What areas of independence are easiest for the student? Students who excel in certain areas will mentor other students who are struggling. This provides an opportunity to deepen knowledge and understanding through educating someone else and will provide leadership experience in areas of strength. If students finish early with meeting curriculum requirements, students will spend the remainder of their 2-year lease/ contract as mentors for other students.

Transition Academy and Living at The Hub

The Transition Academy is designed to provide support and train neurodiverse individuals on living more independently, creating their community, and managing their own lives according to their self-determination plan. Part of community living is interdependence, which is a step beyond being able to take care of yourself. Interdependence occurs when we take care of each other as well as ourselves. This is an additional goal of the academy as we assist participants with community engagement.

Communication is an extremely important part of success in this program. Academy students and their families will have access to a program called LifeLoop. This is like a social media platform, but will only be accessible to students, family, and staff. Through this platform, everyone can track activities, events, deadlines, and schedules. They may also share comments and photos.

Service animals with appropriate paperwork are allowed in the Hub, but no pets are allowed. Participants with service animals must maintain cleanliness equal to participants without service animals.

Apartments are strictly non-smoking.

Safety

Students in the residential program will be treated as adults. In short, there will be no lock down hours, no bed checks, and no rights restrictions. Students will experience natural consequences for their actions.

Safety concerns will be addressed primarily through education. Curriculum instructs students on being safe in their apartment, in the community, using transit, using their telephones, using the internet, and interacting with neighbors. Students will have key cards to access their apartments and to access the NextWork space. Students who live in the Transition apartments above the NextWork space will be near the Residential Manager.

Students will be informed each week about staff members who are on call for emergencies, and they can reach staff through LifeLoop and staff mobile phones. Students will also be taught about using emergency services and when to call 911.

The applied part of this education includes spending time with police officers, firefighters, and other first responders. Students will have the option of CPR and first aid training and certification, and the program will practice various emergency drills.

Students in the program will have unscheduled time during the day and will have unscheduled time and between 10 PM and 6:30 AM. During this unscheduled time, students determine their own schedule, such as when and where they eat lunch or dinner, what time they go to bed, and what time they wake up. However, they are required to attend all scheduled classes, work time, and advisory or training meetings unless they are ill. During unscheduled time, they will have emergency-only access to on-call staff.

This means if they decide to stay up all night and play video games, they still are expected to show up for work the next morning. Excessive failure to attend scheduled time will result in a re-evaluation to determine good fit of the program.

Students must learn to use their time wisely. They must also exercise good judgment to be safe during unscheduled hours—always have someone with you during unscheduled hours unless you are in your apartment or in the NextWork Space. If you need to go off site, tell a staff member where you are going and when you expect to be back, and keep in contact using LifeLoop.

NextWork will provide supports to assist participants to meet the requirements of their leases. This will include weekly apartment checks for cleanliness, quarterly checks for physical health, and regularly scheduled meetings with therapists for mental health. We will request that we can communicate with therapists and they can communicate with us when necessary, to ensure the mental health of our participants.

Since anxiety and depression are very common in this population, and often cause more challenges than autism itself, we want to take extra steps to support good mental health. Health can also become a safety issue, particularly when you have a health problem while you are in the community. It is important to be honest about how you are feeling, particularly during your monthly health checks with staff and in every meeting with your therapist.

Financial training is also key to independence and well-being in adulthood. For financial education to be effective, parents and students must agree to only make available the designated monthly funds they will use for their budgets ($750/month). This will help them realize that they must manage how often they eat out, what types of food they purchase, how to save and prepare for things that “come up,” and to recognize that when they run out of money, they can’t purchase things they want.

They must learn to protect their money and not spend it accidentally while playing games or looking at items on websites like Amazon. In the digital age, there are many ways to send money, and these methods will be discussed along with ways to keep your digital funds safe.