At The Arc, the people we serve are at the center of everything we do. We recognize that people’s thoughts, emotions, goals, desires, and past experiences—both good and bad—drive how they interact with the world around them at any given moment.
People are complex. Our thoughts, emotions, and experiences influence how we show up in any given situation. The Arc’s Behavioral Health team supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health diagnoses to develop the tools and resources each person needs to navigate life’s many moments.
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities often have co-occurring mental health and disability diagnoses. While they experience some of the highest levels of need, there is a nationwide lack of services specifically tailored to the mental health support that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities want and deserve.
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities have lives that are just as rich and complex as anyone else’s. People want to talk about how to come out to their parents, their desire for intimate relationships, how to deal with the death of a loved one, and how to take greater control over decisions in their everyday lives.
The Arc’s Behavioral Health team exclusively supports these overlapping disability and mental health diagnoses, meeting people where they are and creating environments where they feel supported and encouraged. This approach means our team considers a person’s whole life, not just a few limited behaviors or assessments.
Behavioral Supports
The Arc’s team seeks to truly understand each person, the behaviors that get in their ways, and the type of life they want to lead. Together with that person, our clinical team plans how to move forward with the support of the person’s community, providing them with lifelong tools and healthy coping skills they can rely on.
Mental Health Counseling
The Arc employs a team of highly trained, licensed clinicians with experience providing mental health support to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Our team delivers individual and group therapies through the lens of trauma-informed care.
What is Trauma-Informed Care?
When we talk about trauma-informed care, we’re talking about supporting people to understand their experiences from a place of deep compassion and understanding. Trauma is hurt. Trauma is pain.
Trauma-informed care is about understanding that no matter what kind of trauma a person has experienced or is going through, pain and hurt must be identified, acknowledged, and reframed so people can think of new thoughts and have new experiences.
Our clinicians understand that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities often experience more major, minor, and constant forms of trauma than people without disabilities and that the key to providing care is remaining aware of that reality.
