California-Based Company Empowers Adults with Disabilities

TW: Suicide, self-harm

“I really wanted to do things differently for the community, for adults with developmental disabilities,” Carlos Cienfuegos says, explaining why he started Sentry Living Solutions, a California company devoted to providing support services, education, and skills training for people with developmental disabilities, back in 2016.

Sentry Living Solutions empowers adults who need assistance with living independently. The company creates goal-oriented plans for each person and provides 24/7 staff support along with supported and independent living services, a behavioral analyst, and an employment academy with a job coach that helps individuals stay in the workforce. Better yet, it’s state-funded—The California Department of Developmental Services pays a regional center that refers clients to agencies like Sentry Living Solutions, which receive funds for every service provided.

Cienfuegos had worked for similar organizations in the past but found their systems old-fashioned—It seemed like the companies were just going through the motions, and clients weren’t progressing toward independence. He wanted to create something more in-depth than a black-and-white checklist for each client. Sentry Living Solutions provides services that are personalized with specific goals in mind. “You can actually see the progress of the person, from not being able to cook to cooking, not knowing how to use public transportation to them being independent on their own,” he says. “So here we focus on that. We focus on the results of things.”

Most of the organization’s business comes through regional centers, but some individuals can utilize the behavioral program through private insurance referrals, and the company has taken a few private clients.

Although Sentry Living Solutions has only been operating for seven years, Cienfuegos has already seen major shifts in some long-term clients. “(She was) someone that was into drugs and developmentally disabled,” he remembers. “Someone that tried to set herself on fire, commit suicide, and (went) through a lot of different mental issues. So we were able to get her connected with doctors that would help with the addiction, so we started trying a medication that was on a monthly basis. And that really has helped her so much and now she’s like a different person.”

“We have really focused on empowerment,” he adds. “Empowering clients, empowering families to live independently, and we really focus not so much on numbers or anything like that, but on the changes we can make in each individual.”

Photo courtesy of Sentry Living Solutions