We recently connected with Rachel Jelks and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

We serve adults with special needs through day habilitation/ISS and community living homes. Unfortunately, the special needs sector is growing by leaps and bounds. The stats are staggering with no end in sight. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 1 in 36 children in the United States have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) which is more than four times the rate back in 2000. At least 1 in 59 children has one or several learning disabilities. 20% of children in the U.S. have learning and thinking differences such as ADHD and 4 million children younger than 18 have learning disabilities. Add to these stats, the 78 million aging baby boomers are now looking for placement of their adult children with special needs. There hardly seems to be enough programs to impact the growing numbers.

And in the IDD/Special Needs community, there is no one size fits all. There are myriad challenges to consider. Suffice it to say that if one has met a child on the autism spectrum, then they have met just that one. No two are alike. There is no category that if someone is on the spectrum then they will be like this and will behave like that. Forming an assessment of what is deemed a “level of need” can be difficult.

This is why I created TEAM Abilities to accept all levels of need and all levels of support. While some agencies draw the line at accepting potential clients who are wheelchair bound or total care altogether, TEAM Abilities will accept them all. Not only the difference between being ambulatory or not, but there is also the need to accepting candidates who have severe behavioral issues like eloping, physical aggression, self-harming to name a few.

We just decided that we would not turn away a family looking for immediate or long-term solutions. This is where we do things very differently. We have highly trained staff to not only interact with adults with special needs, but to also change ostomy bags, enteral (tube) feedings and more. What we do takes greater care and attention, but it is worth it. We want to provide exceptional care to those in need.

I can think of numerous clients, who we call our Team Members, who have come into our program with severe behaviors only to level out within their first year. Part of the solution is medication and the other part is just the humanity of it all. The Team Member feels safe and secure. They begin to trust us. As they build this security in us, their behaviors reduce or dissipate.

I can remember a potential Team Member touring our facility and one of our 20 community living homes who, by the time we arrived at the home, had completely disrobed in the backseat, unwilling to get out of the car. The parents were just about to give up when our staff got in the back seat with him, helped him get dressed and walked him calmly into his new home.

Another Team Member used to elope at the slightest chance the care giver would turn their head. It became is huge problem where several times a week this member was running off down the street, running into neighborhood yards and even in the woods that surrounded the subdivision. We knew she was just scared. It took a while to build trust, but today she is completely content at her home. No more running off!

These are but a few examples, but honestly nearly every Team Member has had their issues as they acclimated to a new environment, but they eventually settle in. Right now we have 60 Team Members in our residential care.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

TEAM Abilities is an acronym for Together Everyone Achieves More Abilities. This is our philosophy. All together we can do more for our Team Members. We don’t want them to just survive, we want them to thrive. So our day habilitation program is robust and engaging with field trips and experiences that delight them. They love having something to do and places to go. We also have anchor programs so that our members have something to look forward to like our annual Prom, Luau, Sock Hop, Sweetheart Dance, Christmas Skate Party and the like.

We are known in our county and in surrounding areas that we have an active program for our Team Members. You won’t walk in and find our members sitting alone with nothing to do. You will see them engaged in some type of activity. In fact, there are many members that come for our day program just so their loved one can have a social aspect to their life.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I had two false starts to my business. I began and then I was not successful. I just didn’t know enough, but I learned more through this experience. I began again, and again was unsuccessful. Third time is definitely the charm! I also knew to surround myself with great staff. People who do what needs to be done are invaluable.

Also this is a 24/7/365 business. We are taking care of human beings. So there can be every emergency under the sun. After 14 years we can still experience a unexpected situation. But the solution is in meeting the challenges head on.

Now I offer a mentoring program to help others create a business like mine, but avoiding all the pitfalls.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I think this is where many people get tripped up on starting a business. They feel like they need a large bank loan to get started. I started my business with $1,000 that I borrowed and today our revenue earning are in excess of $5M annually. That sentence sounds a lot easier than it actually was, but we did not start out with a huge bankroll. We grassroots everything. Remember, I failed twice so there was not a coffer of thousands or even hundreds of dollars to my avail.

What got me over the hurdles then and now is my passion for what I am doing and having a staff that is just as passionate. Everyone on our team has a great heart for what we do and what we stand for.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://MyTeamAbilities.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teamabilitiesthewoodlands
• Other: Thank you!

Image Credits

Image Credit Team Abilities