Welcome

People First Services

PFS is a human services company specializing in high level supports for people with disabilities. We thrive on solving difficult challenges and helping people.

Our Story

About Us

People First Services was founded in 2022 by Mike Thornton. Mike has more than 20 years of experience in the field of human services, including teaching, counseling, employment services and behavior therapy. The foundation of the company is that people—all people—are more important than other things like profit and paperwork.

Our Approach

Services We Provide

1. Positive Behavior Supports

Positive Behavior Supports is a set of evidence-based strategies designed to reduce or eliminate challenging behaviors and improve someone’s life.

Why? What’s a challenging behavior? A challenging behavior is any behavior that an individual engages in that prevents them from reaching their goals. Positive Behavior Supports uses the science of Applied Behavior Analysis combined with person-centered principles.

2. WISA/WIP-C/Benefits analysis and counseling

SSA benefits can be confusing. We are here to help someone understand:
- SSI/SSDI
- Medicaid/Medicare
- How does working impact SSA benefits?
- Reporting wages to SSA

We also help with less common strategies like:
- Employment related work expenses
- Subsidies
- Handling overpayments
- ABLE accounts
- Planning for the future/retirement

3. Pre-ETS (pre-employment transition services)

PFS strongly supports the mission of preparing students with exceptional needs for success in the work place. We do this by:

- Spending time with the student and team to determine the student’s strengths, interests and preferences.

- Customizing a plan for the specific student. We will develop unique work exposure opportunities based on the student’s interests that mimic real world work scenarios.

- Providing expert support and guidance to identify the student’s best ways of learning, strategies for improvement in challenging areas and clear recommendations to help the student achieve their long-term career goals.

4. Supported Employment Services (private pay only)

Our team has extensive experience in helping people reach their employment goals. We believe that success in this area helps build one’s self worth and contributes to society as a whole. We are experts in customized employment and building relationships with employers. All of our services are:

- People focused and person-centered.
- Individually tailored to one person’s strengths, desires, goals and support needs.
- Outcome and results driven.

5. Corporate training/coaching

We provide training in areas such as:
- Training for companies/managers on hiring, training and retaining employees with disabilities
- Training on working with people on the Autism Spectrum
- Training for employment services organizations related to:
Positive corporate culture
- Hiring and retaining staff
- Quality and efficiency regarding service delivery