Choices for Inclusive Living Program: Transforming Lives

In this episode of Community Living Out Loud, host Peter Reynolds speaks with Madeleine Larby about her journey to independence and the vital role Community Living Mississauga's Choices for Inclusive Living Program has played in supporting her and her brother.

Madeleine reflects on the challenges they faced before finding the program and how its person-centered approach—focused on their unique strengths, needs, and goals—helped them build a stable, independent life.

She shares how this support not only provided practical resources but also fostered a sense of community and belonging. Join us to learn more about Madeleine’s inspiring story and how Community Living Mississauga is empowering individuals and transforming lives through inclusive support.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_LSiybwxSI8

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Community Living Out Loud
• 0:38 Philosophy of Person-Centered Support
• 0:49 Guest Introduction: Madeleine Larby
• 1:16 Madeliene's Background and Family Tragedy
• 1:57 Struggles After Returning to Canada
• 2:29 Finding Temporary Shelter
• 3:11 Challenges with Financial Support
• 4:08 Moving to Peel Youth Village
• 5:01 Educational Pursuits at George Brown
• 5:38 Current Living Situation
• 6:11 Empower Canada Program
• 6:54 Community Living Mississauga's Ongoing Support
• 7:46 Importance of Day-to-Day Support
• 8:29 Advocating for Her Brother
• 9:02 Overcoming Early Challenges
• 10:07 Balancing Personal and Brother's Needs
• 11:42 Importance of Housing and Food Security
• 13:51 Learning About Healthy Eating
• 14:09 Educational and Job Goals
• 15:02 Support for Madeleine's Brother
• 15:35 Managing Bulk Buying and Budgeting
• 17:22 Holistic Approach to Support
• 18:11 Holistic Approach to Support
• 19:26 Future Focus for Community Living Mississauga
• 20:37 Empowerment Through Person-Centered Programs
• 21:42 Self-Discovery and Personal Growth
• 24:27 Final Thoughts and Encouragement
• 26:15 Conclusion and Audience Appreciation

Transcript

Community Living Out Loud

Episode 12: Choices for Inclusive Living Program: Transforming Lives

Peter Reynolds: 00:00.40 - 01:10.74

Welcome to Community Living Out Loud brought to you by Community Living Mississauga. I'm your host, Peter Reynolds. On this podcast, we celebrate the lives of people who have an intellectual disability and the incredible work being done to advocate on behalf of them and their families. Through conversations with experts, advocates, and people with lived experiences, we hope to inspire and educate listeners on the importance of building strong, supportive communities. Let's get loud. The core philosophy of Community Living Mississauga is that all of the supports offered must be person-centered and based on the choices of the person being supported. Today, we'll be joined by Madeline Larby, who, along with her brother, receives support through Community Living Mississauga's new Choices for Inclusive Living program. We'll be exploring how the program has enhanced her life and why she feels others could also benefit from receiving this type of support. Madeline, welcome to Community Living Out Loud.

Madeleine Larby: 01:12.74 - 01:15.80

Hello, Peter. It's great to be here. How are you doing?

Peter Reynolds: 01:16.44 - 01:27.85

I'm very well. I'm very well. I'm looking forward to our conversation. Madeline, can you tell us a little bit about what brought you to Community Living Mississauga and the support that it has offered you?

Madeleine Larby: 01:29.51 - 01:43.50

Of course. So basically, me and my brother and our single parent mother, we went overseas on a vacation. Unfortunately, though, she died on that vacation.

Peter Reynolds: 01:43.52 - 01:44.68

I'm sorry to hear that.

Madeleine Larby: 01:46.56 - 05:31.20

Yeah, at that point, I was a fight or flight mode because I honestly know that she was the only breadwinner in our entire house. And pretty much we were kind of homeless at that point after she died. So when we arrived back into Canada, thanks to the COVID, thanks to the COVID regulations that the government has placed in, you know, the only one thing that I'd be able to say that the government has done right in my, in that situation was I was able to stay in a hotel for two weeks. And I took those two weeks to pretty much find a place for me and my brother to stay, any shelter that could take it. At first, I didn't disclose to any of the shelters my brother's disability because our mom basically taught us from a young age that you shouldn't let your disability define you and you need to work hard to get to where you are. But I came towards a point after talking with a family friend that actually did, well, step up at certain points I did end up disclosing his disability to, I think, the Peel Family Shelter. And that's when me and my brother were able to, you know, be accepted by them. We stayed there for a couple of months. I was trying to, I knew that our stay there was temporary. And I was trying to look for a place for us to stay. You know, like in terms of rent and everything. But let's just say O.W. money for two people is not enough for a house or a rent that was including all utilities or even with a certain percentage of utilities at that point. Unless me and my brother were willing to eat instant ramen all day for the rest of our stay. So it got to a point where our caseworker at the time, she was trying to find us a place to stay, or at least she gave us options. But those options, I turned them down because they were not really sustainable for me and my brother. So then a family friend, that same family friend who stood up, who stepped up, to help us out. She was the one that recommended to. Her boss at the time had had the boss recommend to us Peel Youth Village, which is in Mississauga. We went over there, we signed up with Peel Youth Village, and we stayed there for a year. I took that year to be an accelerated course by George Brown to be an ECE, just so I can have income coming in. now housing requires you to have pay stubs or at least proof of income and OW was not going to cover it. So I went over there, stayed there for a year. I had a very awesome, what do you call it, caseworker over there, two very awesome caseworkers and Through that, we actually had a meeting one day on a Thursday morning, I believe, getting into an afternoon. And that's when I met up with Lorraine, the community living Mississauga manager over there.

Peter Reynolds: 05:31.900 - 05:36.702

Talk to me about your current situation. What's happening with you and your brother currently?

Madeleine Larby: 05:38.483 - 06:52.838

Currently, I live in my own apartment, which it's a plus. It's also subsidized as well, so me and my brother don't have to stress about giving up half of our income to that. And also it includes utilities except for internet, so we don't have to worry about the utilities as well. I am currently in my, in the Empower Canada program for Empower Canada program for junior IT analysts. So I signed up over there. It's a nonprofit. So all you just need to do is for people who have low income or who are new to Canada, basically. So if anyone who's watching this wants to go into IT and you basically have, you basically want to start in IT and you have low income, I highly suggest you go to Empower Canada and sign up over there because their instructors are really incredible. You get at least some hands-on learning over there compared to you just going online and looking up Udemy and all that type of stuff.

Peter Reynolds: 06:54.15 - 07:24.17

So the Choices for Inclusive Living program allowed you essentially to get your own apartment with you and your brother, to subsidize those costs, sort of giving you the freedom to then pursue educational avenues to sort of retake control of your life as it were. Are there any other services that Community Living is providing you, ongoing, to assist you in moving your life forward?

Madeleine Larby: 07:25.81 - 09:58.71

Yes, actually. The staff team that are assigned to me and my brother They also help us with not just my education, but also day-to-day routine as well. For instance, this week, I have a weekly meal planner. Can I name names on the stack thing? Sure, you can name names. Go right ahead. So yeah, the main, the main lady is, well, I have several main ladies, but this one is like, you have Tashana Fletcher, who pretty much introduced like the, the meal planner to us, the weekly, the monthly planner that we have on our board. She basically introduced that to us. She has, she, Rhonda, writes, Samantha, Yannick and Reem, they've all, and even Lorraine too, they've all basically provided me and my brother structure, basically. Because before it was just me, it was literally just me having to keep up with appointments, having to write them down, or even me just basically shutting down and just be it as it may, just whenever it comes, it comes. I don't basically I have more time to think about my education and to have structure in my life, to actually think about other things, except compared to back then, where it was all on me and me just not having to bother to even look at it and everything. Because I remember one day when I was at Peel Youth Village, one morning when I was going to class, Let's just say I had a scary thought about why am I doing this? Why am I going into a profession, an accelerated course where right now they're they're advocating for better pay and better benefits and advocating for subsidized daycare as well? Well, I'm like, why am I going into a profession and doing all this work just so I can end up? Like when you have those scary realizations and you're questioning everything that you're doing, especially early around five or six in the morning, in like a winter, in the winter time, it gets to you. So, yeah.

Peter Reynolds: 09:59.07 - 10:05.26

It's a lot, Madeline. It's a lot. You're not just taking care of yourself and your own future, but your brother's.

Madeleine Larby: 10:07.83 - 10:45.57

Yeah, and my brother's future as well. It was, it's also been a lot for him as well. I was trying to advocate for not just myself to get better stuff, but for my brother. If you speak to maybe even Lorraine or Tayshauna Fletcher herself, they'll be like, yeah, she's a great advocate for her own brother. There was even times when I advocated for him to do certain things that even my brother himself I was advocating for certain things that my brother should be able to do, but they remind me again that it's up to my brother whether he wants to do it.

Peter Reynolds: 10:48.27 - 11:03.02

Because the idea, I guess, of the program is that they provide you the options and the options for services, but you and your brother ultimately make the choice as to what services you want to participate in and the direction of those services.

Madeleine Larby: 11:05.42 - 11:05.68

Yeah.

Peter Reynolds: 11:08.37 - 11:23.15

We've talked obviously about you being an incredible self-advocate for both yourself and your brother. I'm wondering what types of support are most important to you in terms of those provided by Community Living Mississauga?

Madeleine Larby: 11:25.88 - 12:32.61

Well, I would most definitely say the ones that are most important are basically the housing and food security ones, and also the day-to-day supports as well. Because I know that Community Living also works with people who were born with very, very, born with I'm trying to word this in a way where it doesn't sound insulting, but born with basically. There are a lot more disabled than like they're dealing with heavy disabilities with adults required that requires basically. Every day, all around every hour support, so I would advocate for day to day support. especially for people who most desperately needed housing support and food security support. Because thanks to community living, I was actually able to eat properly instead of eating out all the time.

Peter Reynolds: 12:34.95 - 12:46.38

People forget about that, you know, about something as simple as a food plan, you know, not telling you what to eat, but telling you what is good for you to eat. And then you can make those choices within that list.

Madeleine Larby: 12:48.34 - 13:17.22

Yeah, especially when you're looking at like the vegetarian aisle because, not aisle, but when you're looking at vegetarian menus as well, because I know when I was talking to Tishana, I wanted to look into the vegetarian menus and to make something over there. But she also told me that just because it's vegetarian, it does not always mean it's healthy, such as fried tofu. That's not healthy at all.

Peter Reynolds: 13:17.84 - 13:32.87

Absolutely. Fries is very vegetarian, but it's terrible for us. Tell me a little bit about, I know we've talked about some of your, uh, your educational goals. Tell me about some, a little bit more detail and how Community Living Mississauga is helping you to achieve them.

Madeleine Larby: 13:35.01 - 16:37.90

About my educational goals? Well, yeah, job goals. Oh, okay. So with. community living. They actually have like a program called Job Path, I believe. And they can help the people. They can help the people who want to get into that program with finding jobs, finding internships, getting them job ready with skills, either soft skills or maybe industry skills. I know that I signed up for it. So I'm trying. And so I'm basically Wait, I'm basically waiting to do the interview with them since they have confirmed that I have been accepted. So they help out with the in the job department a lot as for what they they help me out with my brother. They really do. because there are times when my brother has been dealing with difficult things, or dealing with difficulties, and instead of me having to go over there to help him out, the staff ends up going over there and helping him out, helping him understand where he is and all that type of stuff. And for me, they also help me out with literally my planner, with my weekly planner and stuff, because To be honest, back then I would not even be thinking about menus for the week and all that type of stuff. I'd just be opening up my fridge and seeing what can I scramble, what can I make with 100% stuff, or even they even helped me with regulating my my bulk buying addiction, because I grew up with more one person household and that one person, not one person, also one parent household. And that one parent has been telling me that, you know, bulk buying is actually good. You know, you could buy like food and like bulk and then you won't have to worry about food for a couple of weeks. Or you could buy necessities like toilet paper, like was some necessities and bulk and all that type of stuff. And with the staff here at CLM, they actually told me the reality of bulk buying is that if you bulk buy, then you have to use up a lot of your money. And if you use up a lot of your money, then potentially fund stuff that we do during the month. like fun activities like going to a Broadway show and all those types of stuff that I would have never been able to experience with my mom. With my mom. They would have told me basically of those fun stuff that they would end up that we would we would probably end up doing. We wouldn't be able to do them if I don't have enough money. Not to mention that I have to be mindful about how much space I have in my space. Including my fridge.

Peter Reynolds: 16:38.44 - 16:37.90

100%.

Peter Reynolds: 16:39.16 - 16:40.94

Toilet paper takes up a lot of space.

Madeleine Larby: 16:44.82 - 16:46.88

Not just that, but frozen foods as well.

Peter Reynolds: 16:48.95 - 17:19.01

Well, a word that we love using on this podcast is holistic. A holistic approach that Community Living Mississauga is providing that it's not just about housing and it's not just about jobs. It's really about those soft skills, about life skills. you know, to sort of help you, you know, sort of not only plan, but sort of live your best life, to allow you and your brother to live your best life.

Madeleine Larby: 17:21.15 - 17:36.89

Yeah, that is, that is really true. Living your best life is better than living by, is just by lower, not lower living, but living your best life is what everyone should be striving for.

Peter Reynolds: 17:37.59 - 17:49.70

Well, from what you were telling me, it seemed like before, you know, you're just in kind of emergency mode, living day to day. Where do I live? What are we going to eat? There's no time to think about the future.

Madeleine Larby: 17:52.26 - 18:43.43

That is correct. To be fair, before she died, I thought my future was just going to be working with her. But after she died, I knew how bad of a situation we were in. You know, like no one wants to come back on vacation and realize they don't have a house anymore. True. Yeah. So I was in alert mode, not even alert mode, I was in fight or flight mode. I had to, I knew what I had to do and I knew I had little time to do it. And so the stuff that I would have actually want to do, I didn't, I couldn't achieve them. So I had to go with the option that was whatever was in my sight or whatever was in reach. I had to just grab at anything.

Peter Reynolds: 18:46.36 - 18:52.12

What do you think Community Living Mississauga should focus on in terms of support in the future?

Madeleine Larby: 18:52.14 - 20:01.02

Oh, that's really easy. I have three things that they should focus on. One, they should focus on basically like employment and job. Number two. Well, number one should be housing, considering that this program basically definitely helps with people with mental disabilities and people who with physical disabilities. Number two is definitely the. Employment and and financial support, which they've already kind of covered with all that, and so it is basically the day to day support. Like what I said before, there are people who have been in unfortunate situations more severe than myself and they require day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute care. So I would say that, that those three are like the most important supports that community you live in, especially the third one has been doing a great job at doing.

Peter Reynolds: 20:01.86 - 20:02.48

Fantastic.

Peter Reynolds: 20:03.64 - 20:30.00

So you've been supported through the Choices for Inclusive Living program. And I'm wondering if you could speak to those people watching this, um, who may realize that, you know, they need support as well. And can you talk to them about person centered or person driven supports, the value of that kind of support and, uh, and your advice to them, uh, uh, moving forward?

Madeleine Larby: 20:32.23 - 23:42.6

Yeah, I can. To be fair, to have this type of those types of programs is actually really empowering for the people who are attending them. Because thanks to these types of programs, you'll be able to not really stress out about the emergency, like the immediate things that you need to do, such as or not the immediate things that you need to do, but the immediate things, the immediate needs that you need to have, such as housing, stability, food. You know, through these self-advocacy, through these programs, not only will you be able to find like maybe a place to stay like I have, but you'll also be able to do things that you yourself always wanted to do or even self-discover yourself a bit on what things you would that you like or dislike or what industries you would like to, you know, have a hobby in or even to turn those hobbies into jobs. You know? So basically a lot of the serious stuff that every adult or every human being has to deal with would be taken care of already or you would have help in navigating the answers to those things. You already know, Peter, from what I was talking to you, that literally all of everything that led up to here, I was doing it by myself. I had to think about what we had to eat. I had to think about pretty much our rents and making sure that everything's fine. I had to even you know, had to go and had to go and search and well, like every other adult, they had to go and search up for jobs. But for an adult like me, who only had like a certain amount of skills working in like, you know, general labor jobs, you would have to look for a job in that district or all those types of things. And, you know, we both know that the job market is kind of really, really, really competitive at the moment in terms of certain sectors. But if it wasn't for this, if it wasn't for this program, I wouldn't be housed with my brother. I wouldn't get the help for the day to day stuff. And I wouldn't even be in Empower Canada because of them, you know. Because it was only when I actually found a place where I actually or found a place to stay where I didn't have to worry about where I was going next or, you know, how much the landlord is going to increase my pay or increase their rents where I can actually start self-discovering myself. It's- 100%. It was really a deep thing. Well, after my mom died, where I had to, comes the realization where not only do I have no place to stay, but I honestly don't know what I wanted to do with my life. So now I'm, thanks to community living and thanks to me finding this place, I now have the time to actually search what I want to do for my life.

Peter Reynolds: 23:45.06 - 23:51.37

That's fantastic. Any final thoughts? Any, anything that, uh, that you'd like to share with us?

Madeleine Larby: 23:53.13 - 25:15.33

I would like to share for people out there who are in, who are listening, who know someone who's in. a situation like me and my brother were or who in a much more severe situation. Please, I beg of you to please find help. Try to research it. Go to even go to find social services that will be able to help you or even come to CLM and ask them, you know, if you can apply for this course or not this course or this program. Or if you feel for the people who have, who are in this industry, and I am in this industry, I'm sorry. If you feel for the people who are in worse grapes than I am, and you, yourself, who inspires to become like a personal, well I'm not a personal worker, or either a PSW worker or a personal staff such as the ones at CLM, I encourage you to don't give up, please. We all understand that if it wasn't for you guys, I would not be here and you guys have a heart of gold. Lord understands that if it wasn't for you guys, your efforts, I think a lot of us would be left behind.

Peter Reynolds: 25:17.40 - 25:36.95

That's fantastic. Madeline, thank you so much for sharing your inspiring story with us today. It's clear Choices for an Inclusive Living program have had a profound impact on your life, and I hope your experiences encourage others to explore this type of person-centered support. Thanks again for taking the time to speak with us.

Madeleine Larby: 25:38.63 - 25:40.27

Thank you, Peter, for having me today.

Peter Reynolds: 25:41.86 - 26:06.52

And of course, thank you to our audience. Your continued support means everything to us. And remember, whether you're watching this on YouTube or listening on your favorite podcast app, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. We'd love to hear your thoughts. So for Madeline and everyone here at Community Living Mississauga, I'm Peter Reynolds. You've been listening to Community Living Out Loud. And until next time, stay loud.