Our Story

Neighbours Allied for Better Opportunities in Residential Support (NABORS) is a non-profit, community based organization that currently supports and assists people with special needs to live independently in homes of their choosing, participate in community life and make self determined choices.

History of NABORS’ Development

More than 25 years ago, a small group of people, including parents of adults with special needs came together to create an alternative to the Agency approach historically carried out by Government trying to serve people with physical and intellectual handicaps.

In the following years, as the original NABORS group struggled to identify a humanistic model which could provide lifetime security for a person with a disability, they were joined by other people with a young adult with disabilities in their family.

"...supported members could live independently, with the highest degree of autonomy, and self determination."

By the late 1980s, after studying various models for independent living, the group decided that the cooperative community model best represented the vehicle by which NABORS could develop an intentional community where the supported members could live independently, with the highest degree of autonomy, and self determination.

The final element necessary to make the model a reality was securing a commitment from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to provide practical support which would enable the supported members to live in homes of their own choosing and experience the richness of the cooperatives and broader community. The necessary funding was received and is administered by NABORS on behalf of the supported members to provide support for daily living, job assistance, education and recreation.

CIRCLES OF SUPPORT

The most important part of NABORS is the concept of the support circle. This concept underlies and supports the NABORS philosophy. There is an on-going commitment to create and foster support circles for each of the supported members. Circle members, some of them family members, others from the community, but all of them volunteers, make a serious commitment to offer encouragement and support in ways that empower each one of the supported members to reach their individual goals.

NABORS supports the communities of supported members in a practical way by helping to foster community development. 

"All are experiencing life in a way that seemed unattainable all those years ago."

NABORS has been amazingly successful. The supported members live full lives; some have jobs, others contribute to community life by serving on committees and taking the lead in community based projects such as environmental activities, gardening and much more.  All are experiencing life in a way that seemed unattainable all those years ago.