is certified by the State of Missouri to provide services, support, and opportunities for people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities to achieve specific outcomes tailored to their needs. We are a family operated business, believing that an employee-oriented work environment translates to the best possible support for the people in our services. Our devoted employees promote advoca
cy for our consumers, providing the most individualized care possible in our community. Communication is key to the implementation of our support services. we take a team approach in supporting our consumers. We frequently meet with other providers, local agencies, guardians, families, and in-house team members at every level to assure needs are being met. began business on November 1, 2000. Doug and Joyce Nickelson purchased four group homes along with some ISL, PCA, and CI services. At that time each group home had eight consumers residing in each home. There were just five consumers in the ISL program, two in the PCA program, and four in the CI program. Sixty-nine employees were serving a total of forty-three consumers in the Nevada, El Dorado, and Joplin areas. Our main office was located at 125 Main Street in Nevada. In August 2004, the main office was relocated to our present location of 114 W. Hunter Street in Nevada. Through the years Skills Unlimited, Inc. has undergone many changes. In 2006 the group home capacity was reduced from eight beds to six. At that same time our ISL program began to grow. Our El Dorado group home closed in November 2011, moving the consumers into existing vacancies among the other group homes and the ISL program. In July 2015 we opened an office at 602 S.Pearl Street in Joplin. We also built an addition onto our office in Nevada, doubling our square footage. Our greatest expansion has been in our ISL, CI, and PCA programs. We now have an agency total of 170 employees serving a total of 90 consumers. Doug’s vision for Skills Unlimited, Inc. was established from many years of experience in the field, having worked for the Nevada Habilitation Center, a community provider, and long time involvement in the Missouri Special Olympics. From the beginning, Joyce was new to the industry, but had a background in business and quickly became knowledgeable with the operational side. Together with their specialties, Doug and Joyce created the Skills Unlimited, Inc. that has successfully grown throughout the years. In 2006 Doug and Joyce’s daughter-in-law, Krystal Nickelson, joined the agency on a part-time basis providing Quality Assurance for all services Skills Unlimited, Inc. provides. Krystal has over twenty years experience in the mental health, healthcare, and developmental disability fields. In January 2015 Doug and Joyce’s son, Patrick Nickelson, began working for the agency. Patrick has close to twenty years of experience in the mental health and healthcare fields . Patrick came to us after ten years working within the State of Kansas Division of Aging and Disability Services. In August 2016 after more than 40 years of service in the developmentally disabled field, Doug moved to the CEO position. Patrick was named Executive Director taking on more of the daily operations. remains committed to providing the best services possible to the people entrusted to our care.
