The State of America's Direct Support Workforce Crisis 2026
Podcast: The Quest for the Good Life, Episode 3
by Staff at GoodLife Innovations, Inc.
We are seeing the evidence again and again: especially in a post-COVID world, people don’t want to seek care in traditional, congregate settings. It’s hard to feel safe in facilities like this without becoming isolated. But as we face an ongoing health crisis across the nation, this is a time when we need care to include community and connectivity more than ever.
GoodLife’s Neighborhood Network is our answer and has been in development for decades. In this episode of the Quest for the GoodLife with Dr. Mike Strouse, we introduce you to the building blocks of the Neighborhood Network. From the way we select our neighborhoods, to how we equip them to maximize resources, everything has been intentionally designed to make it easy and affordable to get help in your own home at the moment and place of need.
We realize that typical neighborhoods are filled with people who have a variety of skills, abilities, backgrounds and experiences. This diversity is worth celebrating and GoodLife is driven to eliminate the barriers that would keep people from living independent, fulfilling lives in their own homes and communities.
So the Neighborhood Network was designed to take small communities that are already filled with a tapestry of need and infuse support into the neighborhood by organizing and amplifying existing resources, as well as innovating new ones. We cultivate a space where neighbors bring their skills and abilities to help each other. Where it’s easy to ask for and self-direct support. Where the intrusiveness of putting staff in a home just in case is eliminated because we staff the entire neighborhood. Where using cutting edge technology requires nothing more than the press of a button.
Here, care is accessible, self-directed, personalized, inclusive, affordable and safe. This is a place where each person adds value and interdependence is prized. Research shows that healthy communities create healthy, purpose-driven people. When barriers for independence are eliminated and the wrap-around support we all need is coordinated by and through a safety net of well-designed resources, magic happens. Social isolation is as harmful as smoking but human interaction remains integral to GoodLife’s Neighborhood Network.
GoodLife’s New Paradigm of Care is redefining what’s possible; to learn more, visit our website.