Being an EFH provider involves a significant investment of hard work, time and personal sacrifice! I try often to encourage the clients I work with to be kind to their providers and grateful for the work they do. My biggest piece of advice for EFH clients is to always be appreciative and kind. Do you have any advice for people considering becoming an Extended Family Home provider or the clients you work with? I feel like my heart is in the right place when I do this work. I knew through these experiences that I wanted to continue to help people. I also worked in a nursing home in high school and college. I grew up with three younger siblings who I babysat often, as well as other young kids. I have always had a big heart, so working in this field and wanting to help people came naturally to me. What made you choose to work in this field? When the provider expressed their gratitude and thanked me for helping in even the simplest ways, it made me proud of the work I do. Another time, I went to help a provider with a young, non-verbal child with autism who was difficult to redirect from entering a neighbor’s home. I can recall a time I visited a home early in the morning to transport a youth to school to provide extra support to our EFH family. I am continuously growing, learning new things, and being challenged, so I never find myself bored! Do you have a memory of a proud working moment?Īnytime I can help de-escalate a situation and problem-solve with my team or a client’s EFH provider to prevent a disruption makes me proud of the team I work with! This job means being on-call 24/7 and supporting providers when they are experiencing difficult times. Our employees are always finding ways to show appreciation for each other, which makes for an open and caring work environment. I also get to be around fun, friendly people who make me laugh and enjoy my time while at work. Working at KVC allows schedule flexibility, which is very important to me as a young mom.
“It has been very exciting for me to be part of this team and watch the number of people we serve continue to grow.” – Ally Kirschenman What is it like working at KVC? Watching the provider families open their homes and make sacrifices to ensure the needs of their clients are met is truly inspiring. There are so many things about working in this field that are rewarding on a regular basis! Each day is different, but helping individuals find stability and happiness in a family environment is what makes me so proud of the work I do. What do you find most rewarding about your job? Read our Q&A with Ally below to learn more about her role and why she loves helping people with disabilities find loving homes where they can grow and learn new skills.
Learn more about becoming an EFH provider and helping people with disabilities in our FAQ. Whatever the case may be, EFHs provide round-the-clock support to help these individuals achieve their goals and live a more independent and community-driven lifestyle. For example, the client’s parents may feel they lack experience with disabilities, the client is an adult wanting the experience of living outside of their childhood home, and other scenarios. These clients have moved out of their biological family home for several reasons. EFH providers welcome the client into their own home and help them learn independent living and social skills. Our EFHs provide individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) a structured, safe and loving home. Mandt is a comprehensive, integrated approach to preventing, de-escalating, and if necessary, intervening in harmful behavior. A new challenge for her in this position was becoming a Mandt trainer, which is important training for our EFH providers. In this role, Ally is helping grow KVC Nebraska’s services helping people with disabilities by recruiting new EFH providers and working with existing providers to ensure training requirements are met.
Learn more about becoming an Extended Family Home today!Īfter 13 months in that role, Ally began transitioning to a new role as an Extended Family Home Program Support Specialist. Provide a home where children, teens and adults with disabilities can learn social and independent living skills. She routinely visited the providers’ homes, helped families discover community resources and activities, attended team meetings, ensured clients learned independent skills, and advocated for clients to help them achieve success. In this role, Ally supported EFH providers, which are the individuals and families helping people with disabilities by opening their homes to provide care, education and connection to community resources.
Ally Kirschenman (pictured above) joined KVC Nebraska in July 2017 as an Extended Family Home (EFH) Specialist.
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