Customized EmploymentAn Overview

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Customized Employment-An Overview

• Pat Tucker
• Advocates for Human Potential, Inc.
• 2-E-Comm Sq./324 Broadway
• Albany, NY 12207
• Pattucker_at_comcast.net

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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Prior to the
establishment of institutional care and
treatment, communities addressed the needs of
persons who struggled with symptoms, self worth
and identity issues through engagement,
acceptance, support and prayer

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Moving towards a New Model The old Paradigm

• Residential Treatment
• Placement
• Supervision
• Client role
• Staff control
• Grouping by disability
• Transitional preparatory settings
• Standardized levels of service

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New Disability Paradigm

• Disability is a natural part of the human
  experience
• Societys obligation is to fix the environment to
  provide effective and meaningful opportunities
• Represents major shift from traditional
  approaches to MH treatment

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Equality of Opportunity

• Treat people on the basis of facts, not
  generalizations and stereotypes
• Genuine, effective, and meaningful opportunity
  (provide reasonable accommodations and
  modifications)
• Inclusion and integration

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Full Participation

• Involvement in decision-making by people with
  disabilities at the individual and systems levels
• Ensure informed choice
• Provide for self-determination and empowerment
• Recognize self-advocacy

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Housing, Jobs Supports How should they work
together?
Client
Client
Outreach
Housing
Job Programs
Support Services
Housing
Support Services
Job Programs
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ASSUMPTIONS/RESOURCES

• PLANNING OBJECTIVES

1. Assume employability
2. Join resources effectively
3. Refine/advance successful techniques
4. Partner for success
5. Implement and follow through
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Principle 1 Assessment is Ongoing

• Assessment during outreach and engagement
• Assessment during the interview
• Assessment through the process of discovery
• Assessment during search and acquisition
• Assessment after placement

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Principle 2 Use Tools Appropriate to the
Individual and Stage of Change

• Think about the customized methods and tools you
  might use during
• Outreach and engagement
• Interview and enrollment
• Discovery
• Job search, acquisition
• Job retention, advancement, transition
• Support services planning across all phases

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Customized Employment

• Grew from a US Department of Labor/Office of
  Disability Employment Policy Initiative
• 30 CE projects (including 5 addressing chronic
  homelessness) throughout the country
• Sought to better engage people with diverse
  disabilities into mainstream employment
• Partnerships with One Stop Centers
• http//www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/custom/index.htm

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Successful Customized Employment Opportunities
are Built on Four Key Elements

• Meeting the job seeker's individual needs and
  interests.
• Using a personal representative to assist and
  potentially represent the individual. This can be
  a counselor, job developer, advocate, employment
  specialist, or other qualified professional.
• Negotiating successfully with employers.
• Building a system of ongoing supports for the job
  seeker.
• US Department of Labor/Office of Disability
  Employment Policy

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Customized Employment (NCWD)

• Individualizes the employment relationship
  between job seekers and employers to meet the
  needs of both.
• Driven by a persons strengths, requirements, and
  interests
• Not a program, but rather a set of employment
  principles and strategies
• Builds on proven services like supported
  employment
• Results in individually designed services,
  supports, and jobs negotiated to fit the needs of
  a specific job seeker or employee.

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Some Of The People Were Talking About who Use or
Can Use Customized Employment.

• Persons Who Are Underemployed Or Changing Careers
  Are Customizing
• YOU may be customizing your job now
• Returning Veterans whose careers have been
  disrupted and now need accommodations
• Persons With Mental Illness who need more than
  entry-level, dead-end jobs
• People transitioning from homelessness where
  steady employment is a major role shift
• Anyone seeking to match their skills and gifts to
  employer needs

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Customizing Employment Expected Outcomes

• Changes among the people we serve
• Improvements in when and how people access
  employment
• Improvements in peoples self-esteem and
  self-efficacy
• Improvements in satisfaction
• Improvements in outcomes
• Changes within and across programs that serve
  them
• Positive changes in staff attitudes
• Positive changes in staff skills
• Positive changes in program capacity
• Positive changes in partnerships
• Changes in the systems and program operating
  environments
• Better linkages between programs and the
  mainstream workforce system
• Better focus on blending and braiding resources
• Better attention to sustainability throughout
  systems, not only among core partners

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CE Assessment/Discovery

• Explore their unique needs, abilities, and
  interests, as well as their complexities
• Engages the job seeker, friends and family in
  controlling the planning process and captures
  their preferences and connections in the
  community.

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CE Customized Planning

• A blueprint for the job search using tools like
  profiles, portfolios, etc to capture, organize,
  and represent the information that was collected
  during exploration

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CE Negotiating

• Negotiating job duties and employee expectations
  to
• Align the skills and interests of a job seeker to
  an employer's needs
• Result in a job description that depicts a
  customized relationship between employer and
  employee.
• Provide new options including
• job carving, negotiating a job description, job
  creation, job sharing, job supports, hours or
  location of the job, and specifics of supervision
  

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Discovering Vocational Aspirations

• The Challenge
• Creating lasting, satisfying, person-directed,
  employment beyond the confines of traditional job
  development

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Discovering Vocational AspirationsHanging Out
With Intent (HOWI)

• Discovery is a structured Process
• We are not here to ask What job or business
  would be best?
• The more folks involved, the more diversity of
  activities locations
• The more activities locations, the more
  diversity of thought
• The best way to get a great idea is to get lots
  of ideas

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Discovering Vocational AspirationsCritical
Questions

• Where When are you at your best?
• Where When do you have the highest support
  needs?
• Other than your immediate family, who knows you
  best?
• What gets you out of bed in the morning, besides
  work?

Courtesy of Ellen Condon, Rural Institute
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Discovering Vocational AspirationsAssessment

• Vocational Evaluation is not functional
• Data taken in Segregated settings is false
• Checklists do not offer a diversity of choice
• Unpaid Work Experiences are often Stereotypical
• Are you at your best when being tested, or rather
  when you are exploring familiar and/or new
  places, people things?

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Discovering Vocational AspirationsWhat Were
Looking for

• The Ideal Conditions of Employment
• Strengths, Interests, Gifts, Talents, Supports,
  Contributions
• Relationships that matter that help us get lots
  of ideas

Griffin Hammis Callahan Condon Crandell
Brooks
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Discovering Vocational AspirationsRelationship
Mapping

• Identify people known to the job seeker
• Identify people known to
• the Team who know the community
• Create a Community Inventory
• of both Formal Informal Associational Life
• Start visiting places people of Relevance

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Discovering Vocational AspirationsDeveloping a
Vocational Assessment Profile

• Discovery should lead to a solid Vocational
  Assessment Profile that captures the essence of
  the individual
• What Works What Doesnt (How will you know if
  things dont work until youve tried them?)
• Best Settings Support Needs Talents
• What Home is like Demonstrations of chores
  hobby tasks, revealed Interests, the impact of
  disability.
• What other things we need to observe or
  investigate both formally informally

Griffin-Hammis Associates, LLC Callahan, Condon
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The Skills of Developing a Vocational Assessment
Profile

• Create a connection with the client using
  interpersonal skills
• Gathering information about the persons
  background
• Exploring Strengths and Gifts
• Identify personality traits
• Conferring with the client about obstacles
• Reviewing the clients current routines and
  community contacts
• Eliciting clients aspirations and dreams

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Profile and Strategic PlanIndividualized
Ongoing Work-based Assessment

• Background learn about the family
  dynamic,living situation and religious/spiritual
  interests

Strengths gain an understanding of what the
person has demonstrated skills at and is gifted
in
Personality understand the person beneath the
symptoms and what type(s) of personalities
with whom s/he prefers to interact
Obstacles what has in the past or currently
gets in the way for this client to achieve what
s/he thought they would achieve in their life?
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Profile and Strategic PlanIndividualized
Ongoing Work-based Assessment

• Life Experiences gain a chronological picture
  of the clients school and work experiences
  pull out names of people who were significant
  supports

Current Routines gain a day in the life
perspective routines, people and places
Dreams/Aspirations find out what the client
thought they wanted to be or do with their life
prior to the onset of illness
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Interviewing Skills

• Demonstrating understanding
• Reflecting the emotion in the clients experience
• Asking open-ended questions
• Disclosing appropriate information

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Now Lets Practice Discovery!
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Wrap Up Why Customize?

• Challenges and breaks down stereotypes
• A realistic portal to mainstream One Stops
• Build strengths, skills, supports, self-awareness
• Involves more than therapists
• Transcends systems and silos
• Its what people say they want!