The kind of help each of us needs to make decisions can look very different. We may need more or less support depending on the kinds of decisions we are faced with. ONI can help you learn about your support options and figure out what will work best for you. Reach out to us at referrals@ohionetworkforinnovation.com so we can get started.

To discuss our current prices for partners and non-partners, contact us at (740) 485-5869.

Reach out to us at referrals@ohionetworkforinnovation.com to inquire further.

Supported Decision-Making happens when we ask trusted people in our lives to help us make important decisions. Most of us already use Supported Decision-Making, even if we don’t refer to it that way. We may ask others for their advice, expertise, and opinions, or for help to understand a complicated situation. It’s often seen as a sign of maturity, responsibility, and even wisdom to ask for help when we need it. For people with disabilities, this hasn’t necessarily been the case. Many times, when someone with a disability needs help to make decisions it is seen as a sign of weakness or an inability that needs to be “fixed,” even though they may only need additional assistance.

Supported Decision-Making can look different for each person, but it respects a person’s dignity and basic civil rights to make their own choices about their life. The Decision Maker, or the person asking for help to make decisions, will: Choose who will support them with decision-making (family, friends, neighbors, church members, professionals, etc.) Decide what decisions to get help with (e.g., where to live or who would make a good roommate, how to spend large amounts of money, what medication to take or which medical procedures to agree to, etc.) Decide what help from others should look like (pros & cons lists, online research, role-playing, etc.) Make the decision – it’s still the person’s right to make his or her own decision! The Supporters, or the people who help, will: Be willing and able to help in the ways the Decision -Maker is asking Provide the kind of support requested by the Decision-Maker so that person can make his or her own decision Sometimes an arrangement between the Decision-Maker and Supporters is documented in a Supported Decision-Making Agreement. You can find some examples here.

There's a continuum of decision-making supports from less- to more-restrictive. Informal Supports, like role-playing, making pros and cons lists, and getting advice from experts are on the least-restrictive end of that continuum. You still make the final decision! Formal Supports like Chosen Representative and Power of Attorney involve you voluntarily giving someone else the right to make certain decisions for you, but you can still make changes to this agreement later on. Guardianship happens when Probate Court appoints someone else to make decisions for you. The guardian should still include you in decision-making, but the Probate Court has the final say about things. Guardianship is on the more-restrictive end of the continuum.

You can contact us, but there are a lot of great resources about Supported Decision-Making out there, too. ​ Here are a few to get started: https://www.ohionetworkforinnovation.com/sdmresources http://supporteddecisionmaking.org/ http://jennyhatchjusticeproject.org/ https://www.aclu.org/other/faqs-about-supported-decision-making https://www.aclu.org/other/supported-decision-making-resource-library?redirect=supported-decision-making-resource-library

We’re glad you asked, because there are a lot of them! Below are just a few examples. It’s really important to consider all less restrictive options before pursuing guardianship. Payee A person appointed to manage someone else’s benefits to meet their financial needs. Trust Fund Often for large amounts of money, it’s a way to protect and manage the person’s financial assets that involves someone else overseeing those assets. Trust funds can be set up in a way that allows a person to remain eligible for benefits. Technology Personal Home Assistants like Alexa, Apps on our phones to help us connect to others, remember important things or keep checklists, or find our way around, Online Videos to help us learn more about something or to learn how to do something. Life Coaching Help from an experienced person to learn, grow, and make progress towards specific goals. HIPAA Release A document that allows other people to know important health information about a person. Protective Order A court order to keep a person safe. Informal Supports Review our page on Informal Supports if you feel like some of these options are still too restrictive

There's a continuum of decision-making supports from less- to more-restrictive. Informal Supports, like role-playing, making pros and cons lists, and getting advice from experts are on the least-restrictive end of that continuum. You still make the final decision! Formal Supports like Chosen Representative and Power of Attorney involve you voluntarily giving someone else the right to make certain decisions for you, but you can still make changes to this agreement later on. Guardianship happens when Probate Court appoints someone else to make decisions for you. The guardian should still include you in decision-making, but the Probate Court has the final say about things. Guardianship is on the more-restrictive end of the continuum.

If you are in an emergency, please dial 911. If you are not in need of emergency consent or need to inform your guardian of a major unusual incident, please contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible. If you are in need of emergency consent or informing us of a major unusual incident, call our emergency line at 740-224-0111.

Once ONI is appointed guardian, you will be assigned a guardian services representative to help address your needs. From there, we will collaborate with you and the people in your life to assess the needs and wants that you have, while also considering safety. ONI's guardian's aim for least-restrictive options when providing consent. Every client's life is unique, and we utilize a person-centered approach to our efforts.

Guardianship is an extreme measure taken to remove the rights of a person to make decisions about his or her own life. Probate Court appoints someone else to make decisions for the person instead. A guardian gets to make decisions about where the person lives, where the person works, whether or not the person gets medical care and where they get it, who the person spends time with, and in some cases when and how the person dies.

Guardianship is neither good or bad. In certain situations, guardianship is helpful and even necessary. Some people do need a substitute decision-maker to act on their behalf if they are unable to make decisions for themselves. Other times, a person might need a guardian to make some decisions for them, but not all of them. The rules and laws about guardianship make very clear that it’s intended to be used as a last resort.

There's a continuum of decision-making supports from less- to more-restrictive. Informal Supports, like role-playing, making pros and cons lists, and getting advice from experts are on the least-restrictive end of that continuum. You still make the final decision! Formal Supports like Chosen Representative and Power of Attorney involve you voluntarily giving someone else the right to make certain decisions for you, but you can still make changes to this agreement later on. Guardianship happens when Probate Court appoints someone else to make decisions for you. The guardian should still include you in decision-making, but the Probate Court has the final say about things. Guardianship is on the more-restrictive end of the continuum.

There are several kinds of guardianship in Ohio that can impact the rights of the person differently. You can learn more about them here. However, even though there are multiple types of guardianship, all may not apply to your situation. Please contact us directly so we can learn more to assist you.