The core goals of Ridge Area Arc’s Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program include helping the participant feel:
- Empowered: Each individual should feel that they can set their own goals and have the power and autonomy to pursue those aims.
- Hopeful: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities often feel discouraged. Psychosocial rehabilitation focuses on helping them feel hopeful about the future.
- Skilled: This form of rehabilitation aims to teach people skills to help them manage their condition and live the life they want to live. This includes life skills, work skills, and social skills.
- Supported: Mental health professionals offer support and help individuals build relationships and social connections.
Guiding Principles of PSR
- Right to Self-Determination: Every individual has the right to make their own choices.
- Individualized Needs: Each person’s needs are unique, but everyone possesses potential that can be nurtured and enhanced.
- Strength-Based Approach: Focus on an individual’s strengths rather than their symptoms or behaviors.
- Present-Focused Recovery: Emphasize the present in the recovery process instead of fixating on the past.
- Normalized Environment: Provide professional services in a normalized setting, surrounded by peers and support staff.
Meet Maddy Leonhardt, Director of PSA
Holding a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, with distinction, from the National University of California, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Simpson University, CA, Leonhardt brings over two decades of dedicated leadership with a compassionate heart to her work. Born and raised in Sweden, Leonhardt developed an enthusiasm for helping others early on, and her
upbringing instilled in her the values of empathy and resilience.
Leonhardt can be reached at 863-452-1295 Ext. 113 or by email at mleonhardt@ridgeareaarc.org.
