Residential

Wayfinders particpants receive individualized supports by Residential core staff to learn the skills necessary to successfully maintain a tidy apartment, set and maintain a budget, plan and prepare their meals, successfully shop for groceries, and pay rent.

To view photos and information about the Palazzo student housing where Wayfinders particpants live please click here.

Self-Care Practices

Participants work with residential coaches to master the following tasks:

• Maintaining a morning routine (waking up on time, engaging in hygiene, dressing appropriately, preparing meals, leaving the apartment on time)
• Time management skills to successfully manage a daily routine
• Personal hygiene - maintaining good grooming skills and learning how to utilize local resources for this purpose
• Self-advocacy - learning how to respectfully communicate one's needs to roommates, Wayfinders staff, Palazzo staff, etc.

Chores

Participants work with residential coaches to learn how to successfully complete the following chores:

• Community chores in the living room and kitchen
• Individual chores in the bedroom, bathroom, and ironing clothes

With the support of staff, roommates will work together to develop community chore calendars, laundry schedules, and equally share food kitchen storage areas. 

Nutrition

With the assistance of a residential coach, Wayfinders participants learn how to conduct the following:

Meal planning:

• Inspecting food items on a weekly basis for expired dates
• Creating a food inventory to be aware of what they have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer
• Developing a 7-day meal plan to anticipate what meals to shop and prepare for the week
• Creating a grocery shopping list

Grocery Shopping:

• Understanding how to stay within a set budget
• Calculating prices based on a product's weight
• Following a shopping list
• Keeping a running total
• Learning how to get to the grocery store using public transportation

Participate in cooking classes to:

• Learn how to research, follow, and prepare complex recipes
• Further knowledge of how to prepare meals on the stove top and in the oven
• Practice and master measuring and chopping skills
• Understand how to prepare a balanced meal and maintain a balanced diet 

Apartment Living

Wayfinders participants live with roommates in 4-bedroom apartments. Residential coaches are on the Palazzo premises to provide support as needed 7 days a week from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm.

Participants receive supports from Residential staff so they may learn the following:

• Time management for a daily schedule
• Safely prepare meals on a daily basis
• Conflict resolution with roommates
• Working as a group to maintain apartment duties
• Sharing common areas such as the kitchen and living room
• Submitting a service request to the front office at the Palazzo
• Paying rent on time each month
• Maintaining personal safety in apartment living

Personal Finance

Participants meet with the residential coordinator weekly in Personal Finance Workshop to develop and set a weekly budget. All particpants start with a dual debit card/cash system in which students use their debit card to expense their grocery and personal items and use cash only to expense entertainment and eating out. The residential coordinator will initially hold onto all particpants' debit cards and the student must demonstrate responsible debit card and cash use before the student can retain their debit cards permanently. The student must demonstrate that they can follow their budget, make wise spending choices with their available cash and bring all of their receipts 5 times in a row to the budget workshop before earning their debit card permanently.

Some of the many areas of focus during the weekly Personal Finance Workshop include:

• Learning how to manage their online banking accounts
• Setting and following a weekly budget for groceries, personal items, entertainment and dining out
• Depositing cash and checks at the ATM
• Understanding what it means to responsibly use their debit card and cash
• Writing checks
• Tracking expenses
• Understanding the relationship between the bank, debit cards, and checks
• Troubleshooting with the bank if experiencing a banking issue

 

If you are interested in becoming a Residential coach please visit the Auxiliary Human Resources website to search for open positions.