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Rehabilitation Counselors
Virginia Commonwealth University
(VCU) is an accredited, Division one university with nearly 21,000 students.
There are 12 major schools, including the Medical College of Virginia
(MCV) and each school in the university provides Masters and Doctoral
level training. This state-supported university is located in the heart
of Richmond, the capital of Virginia. With a metropolitan population
of more than 1.25 million people, Richmond is a growing community. The
central location of the university enables smooth functioning of grant
activities and facilitates collaboration. For example, the Virginia
Spinal Cord Injury Council Association and the Virginia State Department
of Rehabilitative Services offices are located within 2 miles.
VCU is one of the three principal research universities in Virginia,
along with the University of Virginia (Charlottesville) and Virginia
Tech (Blacksburg). VCU is by far the largest university in the state
and region. Each year an increasing amount of external research funds
have been awarded. In the past year, more than 30 million dollars was
received, ranking the university, based on research dollars, in the
top sixty in the country.
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Program Description & History
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
is an accredited, Division one university with nearly 21,000 students.
There are 12 major schools, including the Medical College of Virginia
(MCV) and each school in the university provides Masters and Doctoral
level training. This state-supported university is located in the heart
of Richmond, the capital of Virginia. With a metropolitan population
of more than 1.25 million people, Richmond is a growing community. The
central location of the university enables smooth functioning of grant
activities and facilitates collaboration. For example, the Virginia
Spinal Cord Injury Council Association and the Virginia State Department
of Rehabilitative Services offices are located within 2 miles.
VCU is one of the three principal research universities in Virginia,
along with the University of Virginia (Charlottesville) and Virginia
Tech (Blacksburg). VCU is by far the largest university in the state
and region. Each year an increasing amount of external research funds
have been awarded. In the past year, more than 30 million dollars was
received, ranking the university, based on research dollars, in the
top sixty in the country.
The current Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on
Workplace Supports was established in 1998 and is led by Dr. Paul Wehman.
In previous years, he directed the RRTC on Supported Employment. The
focus of this RRTC was on advancing the concept of supported employment
for individuals with mental retardation. Over the years, the center
has focused on using this approach with under served disability populations
like people with severe physical disabilities, traumatic brain injuries,
and mental illness. With a clinical research emphasis, the center has
examined and successfully developed a variety of methods to help persons
with disabilities gain and maintain employment.
Development of vocational rehabilitation methods has reflected a commitment
to provide competitive work in non-segregated environments. Emphasis
has also been placed person centered and customer directed services,
family involvement and networking with community rehabilitation agencies,
like the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS).
Under the direction of Dr. Wehman, the VCU-RRTC has advanced the concept
of supported employment for persons with all types of severe disabilities
through its demonstration projects, vendorship activities, research,
training activities, and publications. Largely as a result of these
efforts, supported employment is now a service option for vocational
rehabilitation consumers nationwide, with over 108,138 participants
with MR/DD labels being served from 1996-2000.
In the late eighties, the RRTC entered into a contract with DRS to
become an Employment Service Organization (ESO). Today ESO, known as
Business Connections operates out of the center’s Employment Services
division and serves the Richmond, Fredericksburg and surrounding counties
area. While the program is open to anyone who meets the eligibility
criteria we continue to serve individuals who might not otherwise receive
employment assistance. In addition, we continue to expand our knowledge
and share this with other professionals. Business Connections is staffed
by a program director, program manager and four employment specialists.
Throughout the years the VCU RRTC has been heavily involved in the
development and formulation of disability employment research. Today,
the center RRTC on Workplace Supports provides research and training
related to identifying factors in the workplace that inhibit or enhance
the employment rate and career advancement of people with disabilities.
More than eighty-five journal articles and 70 commercially produced
texts or book chapters were published and co-written by RRTC staff since
1988. Live web casts and distance education courses are also provided.
Today, over 800 people have participated in the Supported Employment
Web Based Certificate Program.
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Problem Statement
The number of people participating in supported employment in the
U.S. has increased within a decade from less than 9,800 to over 140,000
(Wehman, Revell, Kregel, 1998). Customized employment strategies such
as supported employment, supported entrepreneurship, coworker supports,
job restructuring, workplace accommodations, and federal legislation
facilitated the integrated employment outcomes for these individuals.
In addition, policy shifts have enabled expanded opportunities for integrated
employment.
In 2001, the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) amended
its regulations governing state vocational rehabilitation programs to
redefine the term "employment outcome" to mean "an individual with a
disability working in an integrated setting" (Federal Register, January
22, 2001). For decades, extended employment (formerly sheltered employment)
was an acceptable outcome for individuals receiving VR services. The
new definition removes this type of employment as an approved outcome,
because extended/sheltered employment uses non-integrated work settings.
The purpose of the VR program as stated in The Rehabilitation Act
of 1973, as amended, is to enable individuals with a disability to achieve
employment in an integrated setting (Federal Register, January 22, 2001).
In response to this priority, first highlighted in the 1992 Amendments,
the 1990s was marked by a decline in sheltered workshop placements.
Nationally in FY90, VR agencies closed 11,605 sheltered workshops. In
FY98, the number of sheltered workshop closures dropped 34%. In contrast,
the number of individuals closed in integrated work settings, rose steadily
during the 1990s. VR closed approximately 9,528 individuals in supported
employment in FY91, 13,950 individuals in FY94, and 23,056 individuals
in FY98 (Gilmore and Butterworth, 2001). Unfortunately, Gilmore & Butterworth
(2001) found in the same time period that the number of individuals
entering non-integrated employment (including facility-based and non-work)
also greatly expanded. Despite the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
and other federal initiatives, competitive employment still is not the
first choice for the majority of individuals with disabilities (Wehman,
Revell, & Brooke, 2002).
Competitive employment remains an elusive goal for the vast majority
of people with disabilities despite evidence of increased earning and
satisfaction from the work experience. "Negative stereotyping, unemployment,
underemployment, and placement in segregated work and non-work settings
are likely to continue until there are systemic changes undertaken.
One such change is increasing provider capacity to provide individually
determined, customized employment in non-stereotypic jobs for persons
with disabilities" (Federal Register, August 5, 2002).
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Goals of Service
Through our ongoing efforts and collaboration with individuals with
significant disabilities, DRS and other stakeholders, the program continues
to provide a valuable demonstration of how community based competitive
employment can become a reality for all Americans who desire to work.
First, the program strives to support persons with disabilities with
identifying their abilities, possible support needs; conducting a job
search to locate real work for real pay, providing and facilitating
workplace supports as needed, and ongoing long term follow along and
job retention services both at or away from the work place.
Second, the program offers a valuable service to the business community.
These services include: assisting employers with identifying hiring
needs or new work structures, referring candidates for interviews, providing
initial and ongoing on the jobsite support services to ensure the employer's
business requirements are being met by the new hire, and providing education
and technical assistance on disability and employment related issues.
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Outcomes and Performance
Program outcomes and performance measures are observable and measurable
milestones toward an outcome target. Indicators include; days from referral
to service initiation, severity of disability, customer involvement
in service delivery and job selection, types of businesses where people
work, type of occupations, amount of pay received, type of creative
work structures, job retention or days employed, reasons for job separation,
and reports of satisfaction with services.
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Persons Served
Our Supported Employment Services are designed to meet the needs of
individuals with severe disabilities. This includes people for whom
competitive employment has not traditionally occurred, individuals whose
competitive employment has been interrupted or intermittent as a result
of a severe disability, and those who, because of their disability,
need ongoing support to maintain competitive employment. The program
also offers Time Limited Job Coach Training Services that are available
for people with disabilities who require assistance with locating employment,
transitioning into the workforce, and/or time limited on-the-job skills
training and support services. The aforementioned ongoing or long-term
support services are not provided in this service option. Vocational
Assessments are available within the context of implementing either
Supported Employment or Time Limited Services or for general career
exploration.
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Admission Criteria
1) Persons must have a severe disability. Time Limited/Job Coach Training
Services are available for people who need or desire less intensive
services. Situational vocational assessments are available to participants
in both services for those who desire general career exploration.
2) Persons served should be willing to work within the City of Richmond
and the surrounding counties (i.e., Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover)
or the Fredericksburg and surrounding counties. Persons who reside outside
this radius are accepted for services if funding is made available.
Whenever the person is referred from outside of the general catchments
area, the program strongly encourages the referring counselor to also
become involved in job placement activities in order to reduce service
cost.
3) Usually individuals are not employed at the time of referral; however,
there are exceptions. Examples of when someone who is already employed
may be referred for services include: the person is experiencing difficulties
at work and intervention may alleviate the problems and increase longevity
on the job, the person is underemployed and desires new employment,
or the person will be laid off from work.
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Scope of Services
What follows is a general description of how services are delivered
for the supported employment and time limited services. The primary
services are customer assessment, career search and job selection, on
and off the job vocational supports, and long-term retention.
Please link to a detailed description of the Services Provided by
VCU-RRTC
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Staffing
The current customer to staff ratio for job search services is approximately
one to four. During jobsite training, the ratio is one to one. The ratio
for follow-along fluctuated depending on the number of customers working
during a particular time period and number of staff.
Please link to Contact
Us to learn more about the current staff credentials.
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