A Life-Sharing Model
Discover how shared living, meaningful relationships, and individualized supports create a community where everyone has opportunities for lifelong belonging, purpose, and growth.
Introduction to Life-Sharing
Life sharing is built on a simple but powerful idea: people thrive when they live in genuine community with one another.
Rather than separating housing, supports, work, and social life, the life-sharing model brings them together in a way that encourages meaningful relationships, shared experiences, and mutual support. It recognizes that every person has unique gifts, talents, and perspectives to contribute, and that a strong community is one where everyone has opportunities to participate, grow, and belong.
At Ptarmigan Commons, life sharing extends beyond receiving services. Residents, support professionals, volunteers, and neighbors share in the everyday rhythms of community life—preparing meals, caring for gardens and animals, creating art, celebrating traditions, learning new skills, and supporting one another through life's joys and challenges. These shared experiences help foster lasting friendships, personal growth, and a true sense of home.
Individualized supports remain an essential part of the community, but they are thoughtfully integrated into daily life rather than defining it. As residents' needs evolve over time, supports evolve with them, allowing people to remain in the community they know and love while continuing to live with dignity, purpose, and independence.
Life sharing is not simply a different way to provide housing—it is a different way of thinking about community. It is built on the belief that every person deserves meaningful relationships, opportunities to contribute, and the security of belonging to a community for life.
Daily Life at Ptarmigan Commons
Life at Ptarmigan Commons is shaped by shared experiences, meaningful routines, and opportunities for every resident to contribute in ways that reflect their interests, strengths, and goals. While each day will look different, community life is designed to encourage independence, build relationships, and support lifelong growth.
Meaningful Participation
Residents will have opportunities to contribute through gardening, animal care, woodworking, food production, groundskeeping, creative enterprises, household responsibilities, and other activities that strengthen both individual skills and the community as a whole.
Creativity & Lifelong Learning
Creative expression is woven throughout community life. Residents may explore visual arts, fiber arts, music, theater, woodworking, and other creative pursuits while continuing to learn new skills, share talents, and celebrate accomplishments.
Connection to Nature
The surrounding landscape is an important part of daily life. Gardens, walking paths, outdoor gathering spaces, and seasonal traditions encourage recreation, stewardship of the land, and appreciation for Alaska's changing seasons.
Community & Well-Being
Shared meals, celebrations, volunteer opportunities, and neighborhood gatherings help foster meaningful relationships and a strong sense of community. Guided by values of gratitude, compassion, dignity, and mutual respect, Ptarmigan Commons welcomes people of all faiths and backgrounds while nurturing each person's physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being.
Guiding Philosophies
Wholeness of Every Person
Each person possesses unique gifts, strengths, and potential. We honor every person as a whole human being and create opportunities for those gifts to be recognized and developed.
Deliberate Reflection
Community life includes time for reflection, observation, learning, privacy, and personal growth. This practice helps deepen relationships and community connections.
Inclusive Community
Strong communities are built through shared experiences. Residents participate together in daily life, meaningful work, celebrations, and the care of the community.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is life-sharing?
Life sharing is a community-centered approach to living that emphasizes meaningful relationships, shared experiences, and mutual support. Rather than separating housing, work, recreation, and daily life, people live and participate in community together. Residents, support professionals, volunteers, and neighbors contribute to the life of the community through everyday activities, creative pursuits, celebrations, and shared responsibilities. The goal is to create a lifelong community where every person is known, valued, and supported to pursue a meaningful life.
Is Ptarmigan Commons a group home?
No. Ptarmigan Commons is not a traditional group home. Instead of a single residence with a fixed number of occupants, it is designed as an intentional neighborhood made up of multiple homes and shared community spaces. Residents receive individualized supports based on their unique needs while remaining active participants in community life. The focus is on creating opportunities for independence, choice, meaningful relationships, and long-term belonging.
Is Ptarmigan Commons a facility?
No. Ptarmigan Commons is not a licensed institution or institutional-style setting. It is designed as a neighborhood where adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities live in real homes within a welcoming community. Residents remain connected to the broader Mat-Su Valley through employment, recreation, worship, healthcare, shopping, volunteer service, and other aspects of everyday life.
Who provides supports?
Residents will receive individualized supports from Hope Community Resources and other provides based on their assessed needs and personal goals. Supports are designed to follow the person—not the home—and may evolve over time as needs change. This approach allows residents to age in place while remaining part of the community they know and call home.
How is this different?
Ptarmigan Commons combines permanent housing, individualized supports, and community life into one intentional neighborhood. While many residential models focus primarily on where a person lives or the services they receive, the life-sharing model emphasizes building lasting relationships, contributing to the community, and participating in everyday life alongside neighbors and friends. Rather than replacing existing disability services, Ptarmigan Commons expands the range of housing and community living options available to Alaskans with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Can residents age in place?
That concept is one of the most distinctive aspects of Ptarmigan Commons, and families will almost certainly want to know the answer. It also reinforces your message that supports evolve as residents' needs change, allowing them to remain in the community throughout their lives.
