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January 2012
MSD Network News Flash
"Improving Employment Outcomes for Individuals with Mental Health Disabilities" Learning Community
In This Issue
Asset Development Exchange
Announcements
Counselor Tips
Customized Employment
National News
Technology
Web Sites

Upcoming TACE Learning Opportunities

Career Exploration, Development and Planning for Consumers w/SMI

February 2, 2012

12:00-1:00 PM ET

Gain knowledge of exploring work options, career planning, and employment training, as well as learn about benefits retention, disclosure and ongoing assessment/support.

 

 

How To Talk About Money in Vocational Planning

February 14, 2012

1:00-3:00 PM ET

This webinar will look at the steps in the rehabilitation process and what needs to be talked about at each stage of counseling and guidance concerning money.

 

Making Work Pay

March 6, 2012

1:00-3:00 PM ET

This session will explain the different work incentives connected to SSA and how to use them as a tool in asset building strategies.

 

Job Development, Placement & Support Strategies for Consumers w/SMI

March 9, 2012 

12:00-1:00 PM ET

Gain knowledge of working with employers, job development, disclosure, reasonable accommodations, supports and the individual placement services model.

 

Strategies to Enhance Successful Closure Outcomes for Individuals with Disabilities with Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) 

March 21, 2012

12:00-1:30 PM ET

This webinar will begin by reviewing the medical nature of traumatic brain injury (TBI), reviewing functional limitations while emphasizing the demographic and employment outcome data.

 

Job Development, Placement & Support Strategies for Consumers w/ SMI 

March 30, 2012 

12:00-1:00 PM ET 

During this webinar, participants will gain knowledge of job development, disclosure, reasonable accommodations, supports and the individual placement services model.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TACE Learning Communities

Job Development Exchange 

Target Audience: Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors and Community Rehabilitation Providers

Started in July 2011

The Exchange focuses on what a counselor needs to know, whether they are buying job development services or doing it themselves. The Exchange launched with an Online Toolkit for Job Placement and Employment Professionalsand a series of webinars, followed by an evolving menu of timely resources, tools and interactive learning opportunities.

  

Improving Employment Outcomes for Individuals with Mental Health Disabilities Learning Community Series

Target Audience: Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors and Area Directors

Started in October 2011

Information, tools, and tips to communicate, interact, and support individuals with mental health disabilities to reach integrated, competitive employment goals.

 

Asset Development Exchange

Target Audience: Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors and Administrators

January through May 2012

This five-webinar series will provide information that allows rehabilitation professionals to help clients think about how to become financially stable.

 

Helping Your Team Improve Employment Outcomes for Individuals with the Most Significant Disabilities-Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Target Audience: Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors and Area Directors

March through September 2012

This four-webinar series will provide vocational rehabilitation counselors and area directors with information, tools, and tips to communicate, interact, and support individuals with TBI to reach integrated, competitive employment goals.

TACE Archives


2010 and 2011 TACE webinar recordings, handouts and PowerPoint slideshows are archived and available for you to access at your convenience.

 

Other Learning Opportunities

Engulfed by the Spectrum: The Impact of the Growing Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders on Law and Policy Webinar

February 2, 2012

4:00-5:00 PM ET

This webinar will review the huge volume of cases in federal and state courts in the areas of vaccinations, special education and early intervention and family law involving ASD. 

 

Natural Job Supports: It's about having fun and the right attitude!

February 2, 2012

2:00-3:00 PM ET

Registration: $50 APSE members/$100 non-members)

The presenter will demonstrate how job development can be more natural, and even fun, when you learn to be yourself and approach employers with the right attitude.

 

Supported Employment for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury

February 6-March 5, 2012

Tuition: $125

This course will offer participants an overview of TBI and the supported employment literature suggestions on specific strategies to use.

 

Foundations of ASD: National Autism Online Training Series

February 13-March 19, 2012

Tuition: $125

This course will provide participants with an overview of Autism Spectrum Disorders, an understanding of the characteristics of ASD, and a discussion of the impact ASD has on the person and the family unit.

 

Utilizing Clients Social Networks to Partner with Business

February 21, 2012

2:00-3:00 PM ET

Registration: $50 APSE members/$100 non-members)

This webinar will discuss successful methods for how to best obtain and utilize clients' social networks as well as how to discover business needs and ultimately define how to connect the two to ensure a successful job match.

 

Career Development for Youth and Adults with Disabilities

February 28-March 12, 2012

Registration: $149
This 2-week online training covers developing career goals through innovative vocational assessment, career development skills, and vocational profiling for youth and adults with disabilities.

 

Autism Works National Conference

March 6-7, 2012

St. Louis, Missouri

 

Connections that Work: Pathways to Employment for Young People with Serious Mental Health Conditions

March 22, 2012
1:00-2:00 PM ET

Rise, Inc. and Career Visions will be featured as two examples of programs supporting young people to access employment, and a young adult will share his experience seeking and maintaining employment.

 

Council for Exceptional Children Conference

April 11-14, 2012

Denver, Colorado

Registration is now open for the 2012 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Convention & Expo. The conference will feature a number of strands, including "Transition as an Evolving Field: Our Continuing Successes" and "New Developments in Interventions for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders."

 

2012 Disability Policy Seminar

April 23-25, 2012

Washington, DC

Come together with other advocates, learn about the issues, and speak with your elected officials about what is important to you.

 

APSE 2012 National Conference [PDF]

June 27-29, 2012
Arlington, Virginia

The 23rd Annual Conference theme says it all - Employment First: A Capitol Idea! 

 

Shedding Light on Hidden Disabilities [Recording] is an archived webinar from the TARGET Discovery Series. The session covers strategies and methods for providing accommodation to individuals with unidentified or 'hidden' disabilities.

 

Title I Employment Requirements of the ADA

This free online self-paced course reviews the employment requirements of Title I of the ADA and 2008 ADA Amendments Act.

 

The Job Accommodation Network maintains an archive of recent webinars, including Accommodating Individuals with Limited Dexterity - Common Workplace Situations and Solutions and Understanding and Accommodating Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Workplace.

 

Check your state's TACE web page to learn about state and local training events.

Portals


To use the Portals, visit the TACE MSD Network web site

In the "Login For" section on the left-hand side of your screen, select "Counselor" or "Coordinator." This will take you to the "Login to MyTACE Account." You will use your MyTACE Account to register for available events, seek applicable credit, and access your specialized portal (Counselor or Coordinator). 

 

Attended a TACE Webinar? You may already have created a MyTACE Account. If you have a MyTACE Account and want to access the Portal, email [email protected] and request to join the TACE Most Significant Disabilities Network. If you don't already have a MyTACE account, follow the instructions to "Create a New MyTACE Account" 

and also apply for Portal access. 
About the TACE MSD News Flash

 

This free service is being sponsored by Southeast TACE, the Technical Assistance & Continuing Education (TACE) Centerfor Region IV. TACE is a partnership of academic, governmental, and community expertise that provides technical assistance and continuing education activities to meet the training and organizational development needs of State Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies and their partners in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Southeast TACE supports VR, Community Rehabilitation Programs, Centers for Independent Living, Client Assistance Programs, and other agencies to enhance employment outcomes, independent functioning, independent living and quality of life for persons with disabilities throughout the eight states in the Southeast Region IV.

 

Meet the Southeast TACE staff (click on the person's name to learn more about him or her):

Chip Kenney, Project Director & Principal Investigator

Jill Houghton, Deputy Director

Abby Cooper, Consultant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greetings!

Welcome to the monthly electronic Southeast TACE Serving Individuals with Most Significant Disabilities Network News Flash (MSD Network News Flash)This edition highlights resources for serving individuals with severe mental health disabilities.

 

Visit the TACE MSD Network web site regularly to learn about current events in the world of employment for individuals with the most significant impact of disability.

 

Asset Development Exchange Launched:
Pooh Bear and Money Pot Cartoon 

The Southeast TACE is pleased to announce its new Asset Development Exchange (ADX) and webinar series designed to help improve employment and retention outcomes through financial self-sufficiency. In our current economy we all understand how difficult it is for our clients to attain economic stability. Asset building strategies and information can sometimes make the difference between an unsuccessful closure and a successful employment outcome. SE TACE wants to ensure counselors have the information and resources they need to assist their clients in obtaining financial stability.

 

What does Asset Development have to do with Vocational Rehabilitation? Employment alone does not break down the array of barriers clients frequently face such as poor credit, limited or no assets, predatory lending, a lack of rudimentary understanding of how public benefits are connected, inadequate medical insurance or poor money management skills. Some or all of these factors can impact a person's ability to "obtain and maintain" employment. We have all had clients who lost their jobs due to one or more of these factors and returned to public rehabilitation. If we start to think how economic stability can be a component of counseling and guidance then more clients will be able to maintain employment and be on a pathway to financial self-sufficiency.

 

The ADX provides information that will assist vocational counselors and community providers. The first webinar, An Overview of Asset Development, was held on January 24, 2012, and featured Michael Morris, CEO, Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, providing an overview of asset building, including what is occurring on a national level and the impact changing policies and attitudes could have on Vocational Rehabilitation.

 

On February 14th Thomas Jensen from CASA of Oregon will address how to talk about money, what needs to be talked about at each stage of counseling and guidance concerning money.

On March 6th Elizabeth Jennings from the National Disability Institute & Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University will talk about how to use work incentives as a tool in asset building.

On April 3rd Jackie Wilks-Weathers from the Center for Financial Independence & Innovation, Inc. and Richard Keeling from the IRS will talk about concrete strategies to leverage programs together to build a better financial future for clients.

On May 8th Mike O'Brien, Executive Director for the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Service, will talk about the connection between financial stability and job retention.

 

Please encourage your staff to join Southeast TACE in this new strategy that will enhance Vocational Rehabilitation's capacity to help jobseekers achieve financial stability and meaningful, sustainable employment outcomes.

 

Announcements: 

Paving the Way: Meeting Transition Needs of Young People with Developmental Disabilities and Serious Mental Health Conditions [PDF] summarizes a number of programs and best practices for serving young adults with dual disabilities.

 

Episode Nine of the Charlie Rose Brain Series, The Mentally Ill Brain [Video], features an informative discussion of mental illness with Kay Redfield Jamison of Johns Hopkins, Elyn Saks of University of Southern California, Jeffrey Lieberman of Columbia University, Helen Mayberg of Emory University, Stephen Warren of Emory University, and Eric Kandel of Columbia University.

 

The Wayne State University Developmental Disabilities Institute in Michigan has created the Possibilities Series, brief (4-7 minutes each) videos focusing on the lives and accomplishments of individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The videos show what is possible in terms of inclusive education, friends, community participation, community work, and home ownership.

 

The Office of Disability Employment Policy has added a number of new videos to their Policies in Practice series. The videos profile people with disabilities working in their communities.

 

Visit the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities web site to read guest blogger David Egan's story of inclusion and community employment.

 

On January 3, 2012, the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration and Office of Disability Employment Policy released a joint Training and Employment Notice (TEN) on Transportation Services [PDF]. Although the guidance was directed toward the public workforce system, it offered a number of links to transportation-related resources and included practical suggestions for anyone providing employment services. For example:

  • Participate in a community transportation planning process; connect with agencies and organizations that serve the same customer base.
  • Use labor market information and other workforce data to facilitate the creation of van pools.
  • Support regional transportation initiatives.
  • Invite transportation partners to speak at in-service trainings.
  • Talk about transportation with students/consumers/customers - can they get to and from work? Can they afford their chosen mode of transportation? Do they have a back-up plan?
  • Involve local businesses in identifying transportation barriers and designing creative solutions.
Counselor Tips:

On October 6, 2011, the Southeast TACE hosted Adults with Severe Mental Illness, a webinar presentation by Charles Bernacchio, Ed.D., CRC and Eileen J. Burker, Ph.D., CRC. Martha Brock, Freelance Writer, and Laurie Coker, Director of NC Consumer Advocacy Network and Support Organization served as consultants.

 

This first webinar in the Mental Health Disabilities series introduced participants to three types of Serious Mental Illness: Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder, and reviewed the symptoms associated with each. The presenters emphasized that rehabilitation specialists need to recognize and understand the symptoms in order to empower consumers with psychiatric disabilities. The diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) describes the disorders in detail.

 

SMI can impact vocational functioning in a number of ways. For example, people with Major Depressive Disorder may experience job loss, absenteeism, and decreased at-work job performance and productivity as a result of their illness.

 

Examples of evidence-based practices for this population include:

 

          Illness Management and Recovery (IMR)

          Integrated Treatment for Co-Occurring Disorders

          Supported Employment (Individual Placement & Support)

          Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)

          Family Psychoeducation (FPE)

 

Practice Principles of Supported Employment (IPS) include:

  • Eligibility is based on consumer choice
  • Supported Employment services are integrated with comprehensive mental health treatment
  • Competitive employment is the goal
  • Personalized benefits counseling is important
  • Job search starts soon after consumers express interest in working
  • Follow-along supports are continuous
  • Consumer preferences are important

The presenters offered a number of suggestions and recommendations for Rehabilitation Counselors:

  • Consider the power of supports (including peers) and the importance of engaging consumers to be actively involved in their rehabilitation plan.
  • Recovery involves learning effective self-advocacy and self-determination.
  • A Wellness and Recovery Action Plan provides skill development and illness management facilitated through peers.
  • The focus of IMR involves: psycho-education, behavioral tailoring, relapse prevention and coping skills to help consumers manage their mental illness.
  • VRCs play a key part in helping people to achieve recovery and live meaningful lives.
  • Employment is fundamental to facilitating recovery; work has a therapeutic benefit improving clinical outcomes as well as vocational outcomes. 

Supplementary materials from the webinar include:

Family & Mental Illness- Focus on Family Education and Support: Consequences of subjective and objective burden [PDF]

Illness Management Strategies by IMR Module [PDF]

 

The next webinars in the Mental Health Disabilities series were Adults with SMI, Substance Use/Abuse and Corrections - Part 1, presented on December 1, 2011, and Adults with SMI, Substance Use/Abuse and Corrections - Part 2, presented on January 12, 2012. Both sessions featured Charles Bernacchio, Ed.D., CRC and Eileen J. Burker, Ph.D., CRC. Obie Johnson, BA/QMHP, and Laurie Coker, Director of NC Consumer Advocacy Network and Support Organization, served as consultants.

 

To provide perspective on the problem, high numbers of people with Severe Mental Illness cycle through the criminal justice system, often resulting in tragic outcomes for them, their families, and their communities. Some of these individuals will also have a co-occurring Substance Use Disorder.There is general agreement among prison officials and community-based treatment providers that the jail environment is not the best treatment setting for people with mental illnesses and can even exacerbate mental illnesses. Abuses while in jail can have lasting effects on persons with SMI and can escalate their use of substances.

 

When incarcerated individuals begin their preparation for re-entry into the community, work release can be an important step. Work release should occur at least within the final 6 to 24 months of the person's term, and provides actual work experience in the community before re-entry. It provides an opportunity to teach local employers of the benefits and risks to hiring those with a criminal record. For the incarcerated individual, it helps them develop 'soft skills' for retaining jobs, learn appropriate social skills for community and workplace settings, and get exposed to the work ethic needed to retain a job and avoid re-incarceration. The temporary work placement can become a foundation for a permanent job upon release.

 

Pre-release planning should address barriers to re-entry. For example, stress a law abiding attitude, avoid anti-social peers, maximize leisure/recreation time, abstain from substance use, minimize neglect/abuse or any home instability, and foster increasing work and education experiences. Supervision should be 'firm but fair.'

 

Motivational counseling can be an important part of treatment. Motivational counseling:

  • Builds a commitment to change
  • Uses strategies from client-centered counseling, cognitive therapy, systems theory, and social psychology
  • Involves a strong sense of purpose and direction
  • May be integrated with many strategies
  • Recognizes the client's view as important
  • Viewed the client and clinician as equal
  • Uses persuasion and offers support
  • Includes a variety of strategies
  • Requires a focus on ambivalence  

Risk factors for recidivism in inmates with mental health issues include substance abuse, unemployment, fewer social connections, homelessness, and psychotic symptoms (Scheyett et al., 2009). Lack of adherence to medications increases the risk for criminal behavior (Scheyett, et al., 2009). Factors associated with decreased recidivism include adult academic and vocational education programs in prison, having a GED and having a job.

 

Suggestions and recommendations for Rehabilitation Counselors include:

  • Recognize the complexity of working collaboratively in the rehabilitation of people with SMI and a corrections history.
  • Be aware of re-entry efforts and their role in facilitating community re-integration of people with SMI.
  • Partner with mental health-corrections models of re-entry to develop comprehensive rehabilitation services.
  • Promote use of Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) services, as appropriate for mental health consumers with co-occurring disorders, especially those coming with a corrections history.
  • Professionals who work with the offender population need to stay abreast of the resources for rehabilitated offenders.
  • Integrate Mental Health and VR services that are effective treating people with mental illness and a corrections background.
  • Promote job experience in conjunction with treatment - it has a positive effect increasing work potential and skills while lowering the influence of symptoms and consequently, the intensity of treatment.
  • Support the ex-offender and assist with communication with employers.
  • Present ex-offenders' assets to possible employers.
  • Create more employment opportunities for inmates with mental illness by creating positive relationships with employers.
  • Lead to lower rates of re-arrest and misconduct due to gainful employment.
  • Increase private employers' willingness to hire an ex-offender.
  • Once a VRC connects a successful employee with an employer, the employer is likely to accept another person based on their previous positive experience (Harris, 2010). 

Supplementary materials from the webinars include:

Justice Involved Persons and SSA Benefits [PDF]

Best Practices: Access to Benefits for Prisoners with Mental Illnesses [PDF]

Building Cultural Competence in Reentry Service Agencies Through the Hiring of Individuals Who Are Formerly Incarcerated and/or in Recovery [PDF]

Serving the Employment Needs of Justice-Involved Juveniles and Adults: A Primer for Treatment and Recovery Support Service Providers [PDF]

Offender Workforce Development Specialist Partnership Training Program - Administrative Guide [PDF]

Customized Employment/Self-Employment:

Read Dale DILeo's latest blog post on Job Customization and the "Babbage Principle."

 

In Strengths-Based Care & Recovery, Patricia Deegan blogs about the importance of focusing on strengths, dreams, hopes and aspirations when working with people who have mental health-related disabilities. 

 
National News:

Advocates for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Oregon filed a class action lawsuit charging state officials with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act by "confining individuals with disabilities to segregated settings where they have little - if any - interaction with non-disabled peers. The workers are paid far below the state's minimum wage of $8.80 for doing rote tasks that offer no training, no skills, and no advancement."

 

The United States Department of Justice recently found Mississippi to be in violation of the integration mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act for unnecessarily institutionalizing people with mental illness or developmental disabilities. According to the letter of findings [PDF], the state spends approximately 68% of its developmental disabilities budget on institutional services and has a 1,900-person waiting list for community-based services.

 

In the fall of 2009, the Executive Board of APSE issued a statement calling for the phase out of sub-minimum wage by 2014. SE TACE would like to applaud the National Disability Rights Network for its support of this effort with its report calling for the end of sub-minimum wage. This report, Segregated and Exploited: The Failure of the Disability Service System to Provide Quality Work calls for:

  • Ending segregated employment and the sub-minimum wage by restricting all federal and state money that is spent on employers who segregate employees with disabilities from the general workforce.
  • Strengthening current and create new tax incentives for employers to hire people with disabilities in integrated workplaces at comparable wages.
  • Increasing labor protections and enforcement of existing law. 

Source:Action Alert from National APSE (Advancing Employment Connecting People) - Laura Owens, APSE Executive Director

Technology:

Read Linda Hodgdon's January 9, 2012 blog: A Great Alternative to the IPad for Autism. Linda discusses the LeapPad Tablet, a device that accomplishes many of the same functions as the iPad but is childproof, less expensive, and does not provide direct access to the internet.

 

Listen to the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Communication Enhancement (AAC-RERC) recording of Mobile Devices and Communication Apps: Current Trends and Future Directions [Video]. Panelists discuss the benefits of mobile communication technology, the assessment process, learning about new apps, and more.

 

The AAC-RERC offers 19 free archived webcasts on a variety of AAC topics, including Employment and Individuals who use AAC and Supporting Successful Transitions for Individuals who use AAC.

Web Sites:

SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, offers Employment Services resources on the agency's web site.

 

The National Institute of Mental Health web site features a wealth of mental health resources including fact sheets, books, brochures, videos and more.

 

ReachOut.com seeks to improve young people's mental health and well-being by "connecting them with comprehensive resources and support through the media they use." The web site offers real stories of young people covering topics such as Transitions in Your Life, Work and Career, and Money Matters.

 

The Strength of Us web site features a number of tip sheets for young adults with mental health challenges, including Strength in Numbers: Financial Tips for Young Adults and Finding Employment Opportunities.

 

The Virginia Commonwealth University Autism Center for Excellence web site includes a variety of technology-related resources to assist individuals with autism.

 

The Job Accommodation Network Just-In-Time Training Modules are fully-accessible training resources designed to be used by accommodation specialists, disability managers and others responsible for workplace accommodations.

 

TASH promotes "equity, opportunity and inclusion for people with disabilities." Visit the TASH web site to read about the organization's latest projects, access resources, and/or become a member.

 

The Virginia Cooperative Extension web site provides access to a number of Family Financial Management resources.

Please forward this MSD Network New Flash to agency staff, parents, individuals with disabilities, and anyone else you think might find the information useful. Invite them to subscribe by joining the Southeast TACE Employment Listserv. To join the listserv, they simply visit the Southeast TACE MSD Network web site and follow the MSD E-Mail-List link. We'll take it from there!
  

If you have any questions about TACE or would like to request technical assistance, please contact Jill Houghton at [email protected]. For questions about the Southeast TACE Employment Listserv or the monthly Southeast TACE Serving Individuals with Most Significant Disabilities Network News Flash, please contact Kim Brown at [email protected]

 

Sincerely,

 


Kim Brown
Southeast TACE