Developmental Disabilites

Why Journeys Who We Are Our Purpose

Table of Contents

A Health Service Organization

What Services Do We Provide

Who Benefits From Our Services? Testimonials

What can you do?

Get involved

Contact Information

Why Journeys
A Health Service Organization
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and researchers from the Health Resources and Services Administration published a study that shows the prevalence of developmental disabilities (DDs) in U.S. children. Data from the study showed that about 1 in 6 children in the U.S. had a DDs in 2006-2008. This data also showed that prevalence of parent-reported Developmental Disorders has increased 17.1% from 1997 to 2008. The study provides concrete evidence that conveys the rising need for more expert health services. The specialized health service organizations meet the health, educational, and social needs for individuals with DDs. According to Idaho Disability Statistics, there are an estimated 213,000 people in the state of Idaho over the age of five who have a form of disability. Approximately 35,000 of people in Idaho have disabilities which add great difficulty for them to perform activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, or moving around inside of their homes. The Rexburg/Rigby area only has two certified organizations for members in the communities who have DDs. These two specialized organizations consist of Journeys and Upper Valley Options. Also, Journeys is the only organization in Rexburg/Rigby area that specializes in meeting the educational and living assistance needs of those with DDs.

Who We Are
What Services Do We Provide
For 10 years Royal Journeys has served as a Developmental Disability Agency serving adults and children with special needs. Journeys has locations in Rexburg, Rigby, and is adding a location in Idaho Falls. They serve approximately 200 special need clients ranging from ages 3 to 83. There are roughly 85 kids and 115 adults. All have been diagnosed with a developmental disability. Traditionally this means an IQ of 75% or less and a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum, Epilepsy, Mental Retardation, or Cerebral Palsy. Some are high functioning enough that they live on their own, work, and have a drivers license. Some need total support including help eating, toileting, communicating, etc. The services they provide include: Developmentally Therapy (life skills training), Adult Day Care and Respite (recreation and socialization), Behavioral Intervention, and Job Coaching. Their services are built around increasing independence and social inclusion of participants.

Our Purpose
Who Benefits From Our Services
With the growing need for organizations like Journeys, it is important to understand the effects that these organizations will have on those with developmental disabilities as well as the community. Anyone who cares for someone with developmental disabilities will tell you that it is a full time job. Add to this the fact that many of them have full or part-time jobs as well and you can see the stress list start growing. Journeys provides a way to aid the families and caregivers of those with developmental disabilities as well as the developmentally disabled themselves. Journeys is also a way to build our community. With all of the educational programs and activities that are provided to those in need, Journeys staff members are given a unique view of how much service Journeys provides.

Our Purpose
Testimonial From Family
My son, Jake, has been attending Journeys for 7 years. I knew the reputation of the owner and trusted her completely. Jake was already attending another facility; however, he was looking for a change. He is a very quiet person and his current facility had a very noisy and busy atmosphere. Journeys seemed to have what he was looking for, which was a more relaxed atmosphere. Jake has uncontrolled seizures and a learning disability due to a rare brain tumor. He needs constant supervision because of his seizures. Journeys provides this for him. They always ask us what we want and need and make their plans and schedules around us. As a parent, I call often and the staff is always accommodating to our changes in schedules, etc. due to the seizures.Jake enjoys attending Journeys. It has been very good for him to be able to interact with other people his age. He enjoys them very much. I would have to say that the greatest benefit of him attending Journeys is having the opportunity to interact socially with other people. If we did not have this facility or others like it, Jake would be home all day long with no interaction with other people besides myself (mom). It would be very hard to expose him to the various activities that have been so good for him there. Because of his seizures I do not take him out into the community alone for safety reasons. He loves the interaction with the other people. While Jake is attending Journeys, it allows me to be able to do the things I need to do outside of our home, so that when he gets home each afternoon I can focus my attention on him and his needs.The staff takes such good care of him when he has a seizure. They follow the protocol that we set up in his IEP. Jake would be very sad if he wasnt able to attend Journeys. He loves all the staff and his friends there. It gives him a purpose for each day. He looks forward to the activities they have planned and seeing his friends.

Our Purpose
Testimonial From Employee
This summer is my second summer working at Journeys. Before I worked with developmentally challenged kids, I was completely ignorant of how life is around them. And being ignorant about people or groups of people leaves little room for love and compassion towards them. After being with them on a daily basis for many months, Ive come to love them just as much, if not more, than the people I have loved forever. Most of all, those people at Journeys have taught me charity. Theyre so pure and innocent, and so is their love when you become their friend. Theyre so easy to befriend, if the world was more like them, it would be a whole lot nicer. Ive also learned patience. A lot of the problems they have will never go away or be fixed by therapy. Therefore they are found making the same mistakes day after day [which is a real struggle for them]. Patience and love are the two quickest things I learned in my time working at Journeys, and I feel like Ive had no better preparation for my own family and children one day. -Derek Hartman

What Can You Do

How to Get Involved
Journeys loves to have BYU-Idaho Students working for them. They hire interns from BYU-Idaho who are interested in helping the developmentally disabled for their future careers. They also have potential jobs for students that apply and get them. The track system at BYU-Idaho makes it hard for them to have a full staff year round, and they are always accepting applications. If you are not a student but are willing to volunteer your time, they have volunteers come in and spend time with the people at Journeys. Journeys is not a not-for-profit organization, but a government run program. Due to the recent medicaid cuts, their funding has gone down substantially. Donations are always welcomed and encouraged by people willing to help out.

Contact Information
Rexburg Adult Center 265 E 4th N Rexburg, ID 83440 208-356-4836 Rigby Adult Center 111 E Main Rigby ID, 83440 208-745-1334 Rigby Children Center 182 E Fremont Rigby, ID 83442 208-745-0521 Journeys Activity Center 173 E Main Suite 2 Rigby, ID 83442 208-745-1300

Call Andy Crossman at 208-709-0537 for more information.