Individualized Home Supports (IHS), Explained: With Training vs. Without

If one service shows up in more Minnesota support plans than any other, it's individualized home supports — IHS. It also generates the most questions, because it comes in three flavors that sound nearly identical. Here's how they differ.

IHS (without training): support alongside daily life

Staff work with the person through the real tasks of the day — preparing meals, medication reminders, keeping the household on track, getting to appointments, and spending time in the community. The goal is a stable, well-supported daily life in the person's own home.

IHS with training: teaching toward independence

Here the emphasis shifts from doing-with to learning-to. Staff teach specific skills — cooking a week of meals, budgeting a paycheck, riding the bus route to work, managing health and safety routines — with written goals and progress the whole team can see. Over time, the support fades as the skill sticks.

IHS with family training

Skills stick faster when the whole household reinforces them. Family training coaches parents, siblings, or other caregivers on the same strategies staff use, so progress continues between visits instead of resetting every week.

Which one gets authorized?

It flows from the person's assessment and goals, decided with the county case manager. Plans often evolve: someone might start with IHS for stability, then add training hours when a goal like "get my own apartment" or "shop for myself" comes into focus.

What it looks like in real life

One of the best days in this work: a person who spent months practicing a bus route and a grocery budget makes the whole trip solo — list, bus, checkout, home — and calls their mom from the kitchen to brag. That's IHS with training doing exactly what it's for.

Wondering which version fits your family member? Call or text (612) 454-7040 and we'll walk you through it with warmth and patience.