Headwaters, INC.
Empowering Work, Empowering Community, Empowering Lives
A not-for-profit community based services agency with 50 years of experience providing services for people with intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, serious and persistent mental illness, brain injuries, physical disabilities, and children with special needs throughout northern Wisconsin. We provide a variety of support services that can be customized to fit someone’s specific needs, and we specialize in supporting people to live the kind of life they want in the communities where they want to live. Current counties being served include Ashland, Bayfield, Florence, Forest, Iron, Langlade, Lincoln, Oneida, and Vilas.
Dear Friends of Headwaters, Inc.,
It is an honor to serve as the director of Headwaters, Inc.! I am very thankful for the opportunity to be able to work at Headwaters, Inc. and to live in the Rhinelander community on a fulltime basis. In 2022, the Headwaters, Inc. team worked with a renewed sense of commitment and community towards our mission of “providing individualized services that are designed to maximize each person's daily living and employment skills in order to be integrated into the community to the fullest extent possible”.
Headwaters, Inc. served 77 individuals in Day Service and Prevocational Programs in 2022. Day Services provided community based day services, facility based services, the Focus Plus Transition Summer Program for high school students, and support for the Jump!Start Program at Nicolet College. Highlights of our day services include accessing community resources, volunteering opportunities in the community, and skill development and instruction in areas of independent living, employment, and advocacy skills.
The work services/prevocational programs continued to offer participants with a variety of jobs on our production floor to develop work skills and give participants the opportunity to earn a paycheck for employment. Headwaters, Inc. contracts with local area businesses for jobs including shredding, packaging, assembly, collating/mailing, quality control, and janitorial. In addition, we have rest area maintenance contracts with the state.
Our Supported Living Services team continued to provide services to assist individuals to live independently in the community that ranged from 24/7 assistance to daily or weekly drop-ins. Emphasis is placed on skill and independence building, daily living skill coaching and community connecting. We added housing counseling services for referrals from our care provider Inclusa.
The Community Employment department worked to fill purchase orders from The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), with person centered job development services provided to each individual. Our Community Employment Services focused on job development and customized employment, job coaching and employment supports to assist individuals in seeking and gaining integrated employment.
We are committed to focus on continued growth and the provision of exemplary services to support individuals in northern Wisconsin with disabilities living and working in their communities to the fullest extent possible. A special thank you to all who support Headwaters, Inc. and our mission. We are supported by our dedicated staff, the Catholic Charities Bureau, the Headwaters Inc. and Headwaters Foundation board members, community partners, and many donors!
Warm Regards,
Maureen Parkes
Director or Headwaters Inc.
Rhinelander and Ashland Wisconsin
715-369-1337 Ext: 1213
