Alex is one of our Compass veterans, having started with Compass in mid-2012. At the time, Alex was living in a residential care home and dreaming about moving into his own place. Although he appreciated the care and support he received in his home, he believed he was capable of living independently and of course,
Compass agreed! Alex worked with several different Independent Life Coaches over his tenure with Compass, improving his independent living skills and making great strides. And any time he encountered a setback, Alex took it as a challenge to work even harder.
Within 9 months of working with Compass Alex achieved one of his goals by moving back to the town where he spent his high school years. He also started an amazing day program that focused his life passions: creating film and media projects. And after another 6 months, Alex transitioned out of his residential care home and moved into his first independent living situation. He was ecstatic about living in his own house with a few other roommates and eager to utilize the skills he had been practicing.
Since then, Alex has continued to grow in his place at his program and within his household. He is seen as a leader at his program and has been invited several times to work on professional film projects. At home he works hard on being a respectful and responsible roommate by contributing to household chores and ensuring he budgets his own finances to pay his share of the household. Just as we all experience bumps in the road, Alex has had some moments that weren’t always easy to overcome. However, his persistence and commitment to living successfully on his own has prevailed each time, and Alex has always come out on the other side having learned valuable lessons and having continued improvement in his independent living skills.
Since the beginning – and to this day – Alex is the bright comedian of Compass and enjoys sharing the stories he has written or come up with in his head. He tosses around the idea of starting an internet vlog as a platform to share his writing. He also continues to enjoy attending his film program as an outlet for his creativity. Alex loves attending Compass community activities and recently went on the Compass Cruise, where he had a great time exploring the California coast. If you get a chance to meet him at the next East Bay community event, make sure to ask this funny guy to tell you a joke!
Everyone at Compass is so proud of how far Alex has come in his journey to independent living. We congratulate him on all he has accomplished and feel honored to have been able to walk alongside him on his incredible journey for this long. I can’t wait to see where Alex takes his dreams next!