Divergent Empowerment provides consultation services and capacity building for Neurodivergent individuals and their families in Dane County, Wisconsin to increase personal empowerment, self-advocacy and self-determination skills.  We create Individual Empowerment Plans to help support a wide range of communication needs and increase self-advocacy skills for clients with disabilities and their families. We go beyond traditional approaches to behavior management by focusing on the strengths of each individual we work with, understanding their specific needs, and developing systems of support that empower the client as well as those in their circle of support.

Services are offered in person as well as virtually to clients and parents or other unpaid care providers. We provide both individual services at clients’ homes as well as group workshops in community settings.  We serve children of all ages up to the age of 18 or as long as they continue to be enrolled in Children’s Long Term Services (CLTS) with Dane County. When a client turns 18, if they are eligible for adult long term services and select the IRIS program, we are able to transition with them and continue to provide training to develop self-advocacy and self-determination skills to learn to direct their own support services.

Besides providing Consumer Education and Training services to IRIS participants, Divergent Empowerment also offers Support Broker services to assist with benefit management and fulfill other identified long-term care needs and outcomes by providing the participant with flexible and individualized support.

Our focus is on building meaningful and supportive relationships with our clients and their families that build skills grounded in self-awareness and personal empowerment for life long resilience. We believe everyone has dreams and the right to be supported in achieving them, no matter what the challenges are in their personal journey. We believe everyone has the right to be heard and to be supported in learning to advocate for their needs effectively. Grounded in Independent Living Philosophy and Self-Determination, we  specialize in helping children and teens develop transition skills to prepare for adulthood and directing their own support services.

Self-determination is all about taking control and responsibility for your life. It means setting goals and working on making them a reality. It means making your own choices, learning to solve problems as they arise, and taking responsibility for your decisions. Developing self-determination skills is a lifelong process and involves learning attitudes and skills that foster self-awareness, assertiveness, personal empowerment, creativity, problem solving and self-advocacy.

Many people with disabilities or who are Neurodivergent do not have the same opportunities as their peers to learn self-determination skills through real-world experiences, which often involve risks, making mistakes, and reflecting on outcomes. When those opportunities are provided, teens have more positive transition outcomes as adults in terms of employment, independent living, and being involved in directing their own support services. Divergent Empowerment works with children and their families to develop advocacy skills on both individual and systems levels so they can effectively participate in developing their Special Education services with school staff and their long-term support services to increase independence.

Divergent Empowerment is a contracted provider with Dane County Children’s Long Term Services (CLTS) as well as an approved vendor for adults enrolled in the IRIS program. Divergent Empowerment also accepts private pay clients. We are not able to accept any private insurance or other forms of funding at this time.

Requests for services are added to our waitlist, which varies in length over time, and potential clients are notified when an opening becomes available. Please reach out if a more urgent need exists and we will try our best to accommodate the client and their family.