Linda Johnson has been a volunteer in Valley Village’s Saturday program since August 2019. The Saturday program organizes community-based outings and trips each weekend for program participants in Valley Village’s residential program. The Saturday program relies on coordinatio...

Derek Moran, Program Director at the Valley Village Adult Day Health Center (ADHC) in Winnetka, has been with Valley Village for almost 2 years.  His desire to help others and make the world a better place has been with him his whole life. He has spent his life volunteering with...

Susie Effatian is the new Residential Program Director at Valley Village, but she isn’t new to the organization. Susie has been working at Valley Village for almost 20 years. “My sister in law was an administrator in the residential program (a QIDP - Qualified Intellectual...

Cathy and Stan live as a big, happy family in their Valley Village group home where they care for six men with developmental and intellectual disabilities. In that home, they shared major life events with the guys. “We’ve shared our wedding and we raised our son Stan.” They...

Tiffany began working for Valley Village’s Adult Day Health Center in 2006. Over her 13 years at Valley Village as an assistant social worker, Tiffany enjoys each new day with its unique opportunities and challenges for the people we serve. As a social worker in a skilled nursing program, she...

Talking with Araceli about the relationship she’s built over the last 10 years with her one on one client at the Valley Village Adult Development Center’s day program, you can see their bond with no words being exchanged between them. You see it in the looks they exchange and the way he...

“I’ve found a way to connect with people that makes them feel happy and comfortable,” shares Giselle about her work at Valley Village.  Each day, she engages with clients. They talk, sing and dance together, depending on clients’ choices and what they’d like to...

Yanira started as a a Program Aid at Valley Village in Winnetka’s Day Program with a behavior group almost twenty years ago. In that time, she’s assisted clients in various ways, including:  Arts and crafts, toileting, feeding, daily routines, activities, giving attenti...

Erwin Garcia loves working at Valley Village. “My clients give me a greater sense of purpose and responsibility.” Erwin started his work at Valley Village over seven years ago when a friend introduced him to the organization.  “I didn’t know about the program before working at Valley...

“Our clients thrive on consistency, and after having the same one on one care provider for six years, she was not happy about me becoming her new one on one care provider,” says Sonia, a program aid at Valley Village, regarding her relationship with a client in the day program. “I knew I...