Transcript Improving Employment Outcomes for Individuals with the

Welcome to Southeast TACE Webinar
Improving Employment Outcomes
for Individuals with the Most
Significant Disabilities
February 24, 2011
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Improving Employment
Outcomes for Individuals with
the Most Significant
Disabilities
Abby Cooper
Kennedy Douglas Consulting
February 24, 2011
Webinar Series - Helping Your Team
Improve Employment Outcomes
Serving Individuals with Most Significant
Disabilities
1. How Can You Establish a Climate that is Excited about Serving
Individuals with the Most Significant Disabilities - Archived
2. Impact of How VRCs View Individuals with the Most Significant
Disabilities on their Caseload - February 24
3. Approaches to Understanding What an Individual Has to Offer an
Employer - March 31
4. Steps of Customized Job Development Whether Developing Job
Yourself or Contracting with a CRP - May 5, 2011
5. Self-Employment as a Viable Option for Individuals with the Most
Significant Disabilities - June 9, 2011
3
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Areas To Be Covered
• How we view people matters
• Information that will highlight the individual’s
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•
•
contributions
Seeing the contributions through the
complexities
Different ways to view business
Looking at tasks rather than job descriptions
4
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Looking for the Positive
5
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
The Difficulty in Being
Positive
We are taught to be critical, to analyze and view that as
being:
 Realistic
 Smart
 Effective
Frequently we assume a person who is positive is just naïve.
 Play the yes but game
 Or the we tried that years ago
 Forget that in order to see possibilities, you need to think what
if….?
 To be positive you have to be willing to take risks and responsibility
 The VR “system” is not always helpful
6
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
How we view people matters
• Many Individuals with significant disabilities are fragile
when they come to our doors
• Frequently either the person with the disability or people
in their lives do not believe that can work
“All you can see is what you lack”
Tom Waites come on up to the house
7
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
How we view people matters (cont.)
• Sometimes our intake process can reinforce that
employment may not be feasible
 Have you been previously diagnosed with a
psychological problem
 Have you been exposed to a traumatic event(s)
including physical abuse
 Have you ever had problems in school
 Problems with reading
 Problems with panic attacks, anger management,
hallucinations
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TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Reframing
Everyone wants to present themselves in the best light, how
can you add some questions to your intake/ eligibility that
allows a person to do that?
• If the person has worked ask which tasks did he or she
enjoy?
• Ask what his employer liked about his/her work?
• What is one of the best things someone has said about
them?
• Who have they helped lately?
• Rephrase what someone says about themselves in a
positive or neutral light.
9
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
What is Conveyed Lays the
Foundation
“Most people think that everything is just what they assume”.
Van Morrison
Careful of your assumptions & Language
• Know your bias, influences,
• Think of ways to check out your assumptions
• We label so quickly –sometimes we don’t see the person
• How many intakes do you do in one day
• Perception is based on unique experiences
How does your office make people feel valued?
• Is it welcoming?
• Is it impersonal ?
Information – share all, neutral, good, and bad
Explain - your thinking and validate theirs
10
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
If I don’t believe I can work
why would I care about the IEP?
11
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Thinking about Developing a
Plan Differently
• As a region you do a great job in achieving
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•
successful outcomes for the individuals who
make it to plan.
Think about who in your agency drops out
before a plan is developed?
Frequently it is the individuals with more
significant disabilities
12
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Thinking about Developing a
Plan Differently (cont.)
• What if we could:
•
 Establish trust – you are both working towards the
same goal
 Create ownership of or investment in the IPE
 Obtain information around what the person needs to
be successful
 Learn what type of tasks the person could do for pay?
 Create a picture of the person working
Would this help develop more effective IPEs for
individuals significant disabilities?
13
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Why Think in Terms of Tasks?
• Many people with significant disabilities will never meet the
•
•
requirements and duties in most job descriptions.
Job descriptions frequently reinforce all the contributions the
person does not have.
However, within most job descriptions there are tasks that the
person can do. If you think in terms of tasks:
 You see more of what a person can do
 You start to see how they would bring value to the
employer
 You see how those tasks can address an employer’s need
 It can set direction for what employers should be
approached
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TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Fitting a Round Peg Into a
Square Hole
• The rehabilitation process is
very linear. But sometimes our
clients are not.
• They take one step forward
two steps backward
 Some people hear what
they want to hear
 Need to think carefully how
what we say is heard
15
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Questions as Tools
Questions can help lay the foundation for a solid plan.
Permission Questions – Empathy and concern for the
other party. Is it okay to talk about this now?
Ground Rules – Identifies the parameters – Today I
schedule an hour for our meeting – does that still work for
you?
Factual Questions – Provide objective information; some
people feel more comfortable answering factual questions.
How long have you lived in your own apartment?
16
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Questions as Tools (cont.)
• Feeling Questions – obtain subjective data on feeling,
values and beliefs How would you feel about bringing
your mom to our next meeting?
• Rating Questions – best / least, on a scale to one to
ten, help spot a direction or an opportunity – What was
the best duty you ever performed?
• Reality Questions – A way to check out perspectives –
whether they are realistic. What supports would you
need for this to be successful?
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TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Creating Belief
Think about different ways to get information
• Use the person’s network - Ask your client to talk to three
different people about what their strengths are and bring
that information to you.
• Or you talk to three different people from the client’s life
about when he or she is at his or her best
• Ask the person (or advocate ) to track how he or she
spend his/her day,
• Use that information to establish dependable strengths
• Go on a tour of a business with the client, see the client
in a different environment
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TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Information is Power
Think about what information you are missing to get a
picture of the person working?
• Be able to explain why you need those additional pieces
of information?
• The different options for getting that information
• The pros and cons of each option
• If you use Trial Work Experience- what do you need to
learn and why?
• How can it be set up so it is a successful experience?
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TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Moving Forward
Think about different ways to make each meeting with
the client effective?
• If the person is hard to communicate with - who from his
or her life can be involved?
• Can you set an agenda for each meeting -so they or
their advocate can be prepared?
• Create a contract with them – what they will do
independently, what you will work with them on and what
they need you to do for them.
20
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Shorter Plans?
• We do all the right things and some people still do not see
success. What then??
• Can you to write shorter plans that allow for short term
success you can build on? Or can you do your plan in phases.
• Many people need to see some success before they believe it
is possible.
• You sometimes need to see success in order to believe it is
possible.
• We take being steward of public dollars very seriously. Some
times so seriously we forget to try different approaches.
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TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
What we think businesses
want impacts:
• How we work with
people
• How we plan
• And who we consider
employable
22
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Common Assumptions
• Business wants:





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A competitive workforce
A little bit more than they are paying for
Employees with the ability to multi-task
Employees they can understand with little effort
To have their workers view them as fair
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Common Assumptions (cont.)
• Job descriptions are written by people who know what
they need
• A job is defined by the job description
• Pay is based on work performed – productivity, multitasking, speed
• Businesses are intractable
• Employers will not tolerate continual assistance
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TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
These Assumptions are
Harmful
Why?
Because they reinforce
our fears – that
individuals with
significant complexes
are too difficult to place.
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TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Better Assumptions
• Job descriptions are just outlines, you can help shape
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•
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•
them
What an employer will pay for is widely varied and based
on need if it meets his or her needs.
Business is fluid
Define the job by how it meets the employer’s need
 Not dissimilar to the “Efficiency Movement” happening
in health care
We have something employers need
We can be proactive, negotiate, establish a long term
relationship with business
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TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Recap
•
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•
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Need to create options for success
Important to be positive or at least open
Think about different ways to get information
Think of Tasks rather than job descriptions
Understand your biases and know how to
keep them at bay
• Develop a board view of business
27
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Upcoming Webinars
Serving Individuals with Most Significant
Disabilities
March 31
Approaches to Understanding What an Individual Has
to Offer an Employer
May 5, 2011
Steps of Customized Job Development Whether
Developing Job Yourself or Contracting with a CRP June 9, 2011
Self-Employment as a Viable Option for Individuals with
the Most Significant Disabilities
28
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Comments & Questions
29
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
MSD Learning Team Community
• For our purpose a learning community is a group of
vocational rehabilitation professionals who engaged in
active collaboration over the next four months to improve
the rehabilitation processes and outcomes. The learning
community is committed to presenting their results to
agency leadership.
• Purpose- To create a vision amongst professionals that
leads to innovation and improvement in the vocational
rehabilitation process
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TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Learning Community March 17
• Areas of Focus: Looking at the application process to
determine what questions can be asked that would
provide the VRC with a more robust picture of
individuals’ strengths or contributions.
• Prior to March 17th each team member will send out
their agency’s application and with suggestions of
questions that could be added to provide a fuller picture
of the person. For example, instead of just asking a
person about past work experiences, also ask about
volunteer experiences.
31
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Learning Community April 21
• Area of Focus: Many individuals have extensive
•
complexities but not all our barriers to employment. How
does the VRC focus on the right areas during
assessment; how to highlight a person’s strengths while
developing strategies for barriers or issues that need to
be addressed.
This session will look at best practices of different
approaches to assessment that are occurring nationally.
The team will make recommendations of what we can
implement.
32
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Learning Community May 26
• Area of Focus: This will be one of two sessions
focusing on CRPs Many CRP’s do not know how to do a
community work evaluation that is set up to highlight a
person’s strengths and still provide measurable
objective feedback that can be used in planning. We will
look at when to do a work evaluation, what a CRP’s
expertise needs to be in order to provide useful
information from a work evaluation.
33
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Learning Community June 27
• Area of Focus: Strategies for improving CRP’s
expertise’s when working with individuals with the most
significant disabilities.
34
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Who Should Join
• If you are interested in improving services to individuals
with the most significant disability
• Have about 4 hours a month you can devote to the
learning community
• Are interested in working across agencies for innovative
solutions
35
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Contact Information
Abby Cooper
Kennedy Douglas Consulting
Email: [email protected]
36
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
THANK YOU!
37
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
TACE Center: Region IV
Toll-free: (866) 518-7750 [voice/tty]
Fax: (404) 541-9002
Web: TACEsoutheast.org
My TACE Portal: TACEsoutheast.org/myportal
Email: [email protected]
38
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Education Credits
DEADLINE: Friday March 4, 2011
CRCC Credit - 1.0
Approved by Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor
Certification (CRCC)
To earn CRCC credit, you must:
• Login to your MyTace Account & score 80% or better in 3 attempts
on Post Test.
• Complete: CRCC Request and send a copy to the CRCC office.
CEU Credit – 0.1
Approved by the University College at Syracuse University
• Participants must submit an online CEU Request Form via the
MyTACE Portal.
My TACE Portal: TACEsoutheast.org/myportal
**For CRCC credit, you must reside in the 8 U.S. Southeast states served by the TACE
Region IV [AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN]. If beyond TACE Region IV, you may apply for
CEU credit.
39
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer
This presentation was developed by the
TACE Center: Region IV ©2011 with funds from the
U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation
Services Administration (RSA) under the priority of
Technical Assistance and Continuing Education
Projects (TACE) – Grant #H264A080021. However,
the contents of this presentation do not necessarily
represent the policy of the RSA and you should not
assume endorsement by the Federal Government
[34 CFR 75.620 (b)].
40
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved
Copyright Information
This work is the property of the
Southeast TACE Region IV
Permission is granted for this material to be shared
for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided
that this copyright statement appears on the
reproduced materials and notice is given that the
copying is by permission of the authors. To
disseminate otherwise or to republish requires
written permission from the authors.
41
TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.
Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved