The L.I.F.E. Service

L.I.F.E. stands for Learning, Inclusion, Friendship and Employment. CLBC staff, individuals, families, and service providers designed this service together.  

The L.I.F.E. service is part of CLBC’s Community Inclusion category of services. It is available to anyone served by CLBC who has an employment goal, and who also want support to increase confidence and independence, connect to the community, learn new things, build friendships and a network of natural support around them. 

The L.I.F.E. Service: 

• Explores and creates personalized supports related to employment, community connection, relationships, and lifelong learning. 
• Is offered throughout a person’s community.  
• Changes over time. The number of hours, location and type of support will adjust over time based on their changing goals and needs.  
• Is regularly evaluated by the person to continually improve their service experience as well as improve how the service works overall for everyone. 
• Makes a difference in a person’s life by strengthening confidence and growing a network of natural support around them. 

How the L.I.F.E. Service Works

The L.I.F.E. service responds to the natural rhythm of a person’s life (for example, does not have to be a set schedule of 9AM-3PM during the day) and adjusts over time in response to their changing goals and needs. The service enables people to personalize, direct and evaluate their services in a way that works for them. People receiving   service and their staff work together to establish ongoing check-ins and adjustments to services that evaluate the support being given and the difference the service is making in the person’s life. Evaluation is part of the service for each person. 

The L.I.F.E. service: 

• is provided in community and occurs when and where the person’s goals will best be achieved including weekends and evenings. 
• is directed and evaluated by the person (and their network/family) by a regular schedule of check-ins and tune-ups 
• is flexible and responsive and offers support when it is needed and not when it is not  
• is not about a set number of support hours each week– it is about receiving the right support when you need it and using personalized approaches for planning, service development and evaluation to make that happen, and  
• evolves as people are supported to develop informal support networks and build their confidence and independence 

To see L.I.F.E. in action, watch Sabrina’s video in the Resource section below. 

Expansion of the Service

The L.I.F.E. service is first being offered in a select number of communities and will be expanded across the province over the next several years. This approach to expanding the service will help people learn about it and help service providers get ready to deliver it.  

While it is not available everywhere yet, people can still request L.I.F.E. no matter where they live (even if it is not yet offered in their community). CLBC will use the number of requests to understand where there is demand for the service to support the continued expansion of the service across B.C..  

Resources to learn more about L.I.F.E.

These videos, fact sheet and other resources can help you learn more about the L.I.F.E. service. 

• Information Sheet – L.I.F.E. Service
• L.I.F.E. Service Policy
• VIDEO: Sabrina’s Story – How L.I.F.E. Works – A Case Study 
• VIDEO: Webinar – Welcome to the L.I.F.E. Service, presented by Shelley DeCoste, CLBC Strategic Initiative Advisor
• Dave’s Story – A Story Demonstrating the Rhythm of the L.I.F.E. Service

 For people interested in how the service was designed, or how it is delivered, find other resources on the L.I.F.E. page for service providers here.