About Us

The Rehabilitation and Empowerment of Adults and Children with Handicap (REACH) Foundation is a non-stock non-profit organization that was established in 2005 in response to the need for quality and accessible therapy, health, education and related services for persons with disabilities (PWD).

Our work is anchored on the principles of Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), a sustainable community development strategy endorsed by the United Nations to promote the equalization of opportunities, social inclusion and empowerment of people with disabilities.

Together with Mandaluyong City, Philippines, the REACH Foundation established Project Therapy Education and Assimilation of Children with Handicap (TEACH) in 2007 as its flagship CBR program. Project TEACH was nationally recognized as a best practice model in public service by the Galing Pook Foundation (2012) and the Development Academy of the Philippines (2019) and globally by the United Nations (2015).

The REACH Foundation fosters collaboration among the PWD, the family, professionals and other community stakeholders in extending help to places where services are limited or unavailable. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated difficulties in physically accessing therapy due to challenges in proximity, financing and human resource. This inspired us to venture into developing materials and innovative processes that would allow therapists to extend physical, occupational and speech-language therapy services remotely through technology.

Through an Equity Initiative Grant awarded to our sister organization, the Independent Living Learning Centre, Inc. (ILLC), evidence-based and culturally-sensitive Physical therapy, Occupational therapy and Speech-language therapy Home Programs for children with disabilities were developed by a team of licensed therapists under the co-management of ILLC and the Innovations for Community Health, Inc.

Seasoned experts from the University of the Philippines College of Allied Medical Professions Alumni Association have critically reviewed these instructional materials. Furthermore, research implementation was conducted to pilot these materials’ appropriateness and usefulness with the support of the Philippine Community-Based Disability Inclusive Development Association (PCBDIDA),Inc and the National Council on Disability Affairs. The materials produced are in Filipino and in English making them useful for local and international use. From the first set of instructional materials released in 2022, we aspire to translate our materials to more languages and to produce therapy instructional materials for adult populations in the future.

We are thankful to all our volunteers, staff, donors, community and institutional partners who support us as we continue to extend therapy services through conventional hands-on and technology-based remote interventions.