Hi everyone! So, I am very new to Supported Employment (and “blog” writing on DKOS) but am writing this because I think it is such an important and amazing service that I want people to know about it. And, because after working for a decade assisting individuals with barriers to employment, many who would have qualified for such programs, I had never heard of it until recently becoming employed in the field. Because I am so new to the field, Kossack Steven Park volunteered to assist me by providing input and advice to this post as well.
Supported Employment (SE) is a service available to individuals who experience intellectual and developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, and severe and persistent mental illness, who want to work. It can be complicated but I’m hoping the following basics will help with understanding:
- What SE offers,
- Who qualifies,
- How to connect with SE, and
- A short history of how these types of programs developed.
First, Steven will tell us about how Supported Employment worked for a few of the customers he worked with.
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Steven Park, here. After I found out that Julie was writing a diary about SE, a field that I have eight years of experience in, I offered to share a few of my experiences with Job Development and Placement. I’m sure there have been many changes in the field since I left it a little over three years ago, but Job Development is often like searching for a needle in a haystack; there is a tremendous satisfaction for everyone involved when a successful placement occurs. Here are a few examples of my experience working in the field (identifying information has been changed to protect individual confidentiality):
Sam: Sam had been a client of the Supported Employment division in the past. He has a developmental disability as well as social issues that presented a barrier to successful long-term employment. Sam was not always appropriate around customers and had lost two previous jobs in the retail environment because of his actions. It was decided by the SE placement team to look for something outside the retail environment. Sam had an interest in electronics and sound systems and helped run the soundboard on the public address/music/sound systems at his church during services. I found a small company of about 15 workers that builds prototype circuit boards that was also within Sam’s range of transportation. The owner wanted to give back to the community and could use a person with Sam's skills for cleaning maintenance, shipping and receiving mail and other odd jobs for 10 hours per week. Sam was thrilled with the electronic aspects of the employment opportunity.
I had first met Sam about 11 years ago. I found out he’s almost 35 now when I ran into him and his mom last week while at the doctor’s office with my own mother. It was great to have the chance to introduce them to my Mom. Sam told me he has just received an award for 10 years of service with the company. I was delighted to find that Sam had continued employment with the same company after all this time.
Chris: Chris was a young man who just graduated from high school and was looking for a full time job that would train him and also include medical, vacation and retirement benefits. Chris has Autism Spectrum Disorder and loves to play computer games; he was very versatile with a computer, learning new programs easily through demonstration and reading.
Soon after meeting Chris, I came across the manager of a hardware store who was having trouble with inventory control. Making sure the inventory represented in the computer system is accurate to what is available on the sales floor is critical to all retail businesses, though with hardware it can be particularly tedious. There were 5 department managers responsible for inventory control, but the important task often was put on the back burner, as very few people enjoy counting, categorizing and inputting various sizes of nuts and bolts into the computer system. The store manager said it had become a mess. Turns out, this job was a perfect fit for Chris! He would never get bored counting inventory as the repetitive nature of the job was in Chris’s wheelhouse. With this position Chris was also shielded from most customer service requirements. During the first year of Chris’s hire, the hardware store showed tremendous improvement in their inventory control and Chris was selected as “Employee of the Month.”
Dennis: Dennis was an older gentleman who lived in an assisted living home. Dennis has a developmental disability as well as both hearing and speech impediments. Due to this, communication with Dennis was a big problem. Although he could only speak in one to two word utterances, he could learn through the demonstration of tasks. Dennis was eager to please and other SE team members taught Dennis how to fold towels, vacuum carpets, wipe off tables, and sweep and mop floors. Dennis was meticulous in his work and worked at slow, but steady pace. Dennis was looking for a part-time employment 10 to 15 hours per week within five miles of his home. I visited nearly every hotel within that range, and after visiting around fifty hotels, I finally found a manager willing to job-carve a position for Dennis utilizing the skills that he had learned.
So, what is Supported Employment? There are lots of definitions but to me, SE is simply a non-traditional path to employment for individuals with significant disabilities that provides for individualized 1:1 support throughout the process (and beyond). Our current conventional employment system with its one-size-fits-all hiring process, job descriptions, and new hire training, is not very effective at finding the best match for employees or employers under the best of circumstances. And it is even more unrealistic for individuals who experience disabilities. So we have to get creative, challenge assumptions and try new ways of doing things.
The legal definition, as amended by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) enacted on July 22, 2014, is “competitive integrated employment, including customized employment, or employment in an integrated setting in which the individual is working on a short-term basis toward competitive integrated employment.” Ouch … that made my head hurt.
In Oregon, where I live, Supported Employment is a service that supports the philosophy and policy of Employment First. Employment First is based on the presumption that working age adults and youth with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) can work in jobs fully integrated in the community. Integrated employment includes typical workplace settings where there are regular opportunities for meaningful interaction with co-workers without disabilities and/or customers or the general public. It also means pay at or above minimum wage.
How does Supported Employment work? Job seekers who qualify (I'll get to that) may “hire” SE providers and can pick from a menu of services that are paid for through funds from state and federal Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) services and state Medicaid funds, and possibly even private insurance.
Generally, a job seeker may “interview” a number of service providers to find one that feels like a good fit. As with everything, services may vary (especially state by state). The job seeker or their representative is in control and can choose who to hire, to change their service provider if they aren't satisfied, or to stop services if they change their mind. Choice is the foundation of SE. Possible services may include:
• A process called “Discovery,” which involves getting to know a person as a means of identifying interests, skills and abilities as opposed to tests and assessments that often label and limit expectations and choice. It is also used to identify preferences and conditions of employment that are most likely to result in successful employment. This could include times of day, environmental conditions such as noise and lighting, and geographical location.
• Job Development, which is the process of having a “Job Developer” find or develop an employment opportunity that is a good match for their customer's interests, skills and preferences. This is the heart of SE.
• Job Coaching, which involves assisting the customer to learn and accurately carry out their job duties, learn new task and duties, and provide support when challenges arise.
But what is Supported Employment practically speaking? It generally means having the support of a designated person (the Job Developer) who assists the job seeker in finding a job match that meets their interests, skills, abilities, and preferences. The process may include having a Job Developer approach employers on a job seeker's behalf with the goal of obtaining a job offer. The Job Developer may provide behind the scenes assistance to a job seeker who prefers to find a job on their own, or work directly with an employer to supersede the usual application and training process which might be un-navigable for someone with significant disabilities. The goal is always to find a job that is a good match for both the job seeker and the employer.
Many times this takes the form of creating what's called a customized job or job carving. Both of these may essentially throw the old-fashioned job description out the window. A customized job could mean creating a position that addresses a specific employer need: a small business collects scrap resource materials in the process of their work but does not have the time to sort the scrap to recycle and sell. Someone who likes to sort and organize things could do this on a part-time basis, earning a regular paycheck and making a profit for the company. Job carving might entail taking a task that has to be done but that the worker(s) whose job description it falls under don't have time to complete the task. Someone who enjoys doing that specific task, let's say gathering carts from a store lot, could do just that specific task, earning a regular paycheck and completing necessary work for an employer.
In addition to finding employment opportunities for their customers, Job Developers will look for creative ways for their customer to get the work done successfully – sometimes this involves accommodations but these are generally low-cost low-tech interventions. An example of this would be to create a picture task list for someone who doesn't read so that they would know what tasks need to be done and in what order. If timing were important, they might set up alarms on the person's cell phone to alert them when certain tasks should be started or completed.
Some individuals may need to have a Job Coach who stays on the job with them for all or part of a shift for a longer term. That person may provide ongoing support in the form of verbal or visual cues, provide line of sight safety support, provide regular check-ins (with the employee and employer), or any variety of assistance that will train the individual to perform the tasks of a position. Ultimately, the goal of job coaching is for the employee to learn to work fully independently or as independently as is possible over whatever period of time it takes to get them there. As is often repeated where I work, a Job Coach is not THE accommodation (meaning they shouldn't be doing the work).
How does someone qualify to participate in a Supported Employment program? If someone has a significant disability and is already receiving services through their state, they should receive information about their options to receive employment services as a matter of law. If someone is not receiving support through such an entity, they might qualify for such services but have no idea they exist.
To find information on services available in your State, I recommend contacting your local Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) office. For a list of contact information for each state's VR office/program go to:askjan.org/.…
Can’t speak for everywhere, but in Oregon, Voc Rehab contracts with community agencies to provide Supported Employment services. I work for one of those agencies. Many of these agencies also provide other services such as supported living and community engagement/activities as “wrap around” services.
A little history: Legislation in the 1970's, specifically the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Rehabilitation, Comprehensive Services, and Developmental Disabilities Amendments of 1978, paved the way to more comprehensive services for individuals with disabilities in many areas of daily living to include employment. Marc Gold was a pioneer of present day Supported Employment - in the late 1960's and 1970's he developed an approach called Try Another Way that opened minds and doors to possibilities of work for individuals experiencing disabilities that did not previously exist. Griffin-Hammis Associates, Inc. is a fantastic resource for those wanting to learn more about what's going on in the field today, and for ongoing training.
Important court decisions include The Olmstead Act and Lane V. Brown.
Currently, the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), is prioritizing its investment in systems change efforts that will result in increased community-based, integrated employment opportunities for individuals with significant disabilities. This priority reflects growing support for the national movement called Employment First, which I described earlier.
Did I miss anything? Probably a lot. This is a complicated service, with complicated regulations, and it feels like it is still in its infancy even though its been around for decades. Please feel free to post questions and Steven and I will attempt to answer. If you think I've missed something important or misstated something, please post – I have already figured out this is going to be the toughest job I've ever loved and, commensurately, probably the most difficult to learn.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to thank Bésame for the invitation and encouragement to write this. And I want to thank Steven Park for his assistance, advice, and support in writing this Post. Steven has years of experience, lots of information, and will hang out in the comments section with me to answer questions.
I also want to express gratitude for my good fortune to work at a fantastic organization, with an amazing and inspiring boss, and amazing co-workers who are a wealth of information and quite probably the most supportive people I have ever worked with — and I have worked with the best.