Testimonials
Comments from an employment specialist who completed the Supported Employment Online Certificate Series
"I wanted to start out by saying that this was my first experience with taking an online course. I was a bit unsure of how it would be, but I must say it has been a great experience. The website was easy to navigate, the discussion boards were informative, and the course information was well formatted. Overall, this experience clearly showed me that taking an on-liine course can be easy to do and use, it is time flexible, and just as informative as a classroom setting. So now feeling confident that this form of learning can work for me, I am excited at the possibilities. I'm now looking into pursuing my Masters Degree through on-line schooling. So this has been a great experience for me in many ways.
... I think the thing I [learned] the most was to have an open-minded attitute toward our chronis SPMI folk working.
... Overall, I would say this training course has opened my eyes, and broadened [my] thinking when it comes to chronic mental health consumers working. I will no longer be doubtful. I am already seeing that our folks can work, enjoy working, want to work, and can benefit from working. It does decrease dependency in individuals and provides more positives than negatives for the folks working.
Thank you for this opportunity, I will go forward and implement many of thtese strategies in the future. You never know I may be working as an SE or running [an] SE program in the future. Clearly there is an emphasis on getting folks to work in our state, hence this training."
"Wow! Before taking this course and being only a few months on board at my company, I had a lot of questions about going about finding a job for a client without having any information or direction as to how to approach businesses and not knowing my consumer. Through this course, I have gained the knowledge and therefore have performed my job better as well as assisting my consumer to succeed in finding and keeping a career instead of just a job.
One of the most defining parts of this course to me is how "person centered planning" plays such an important role. Planning a gathering with folks requested by the client and learning all the different facets of one’s life has been uplifting and an eye opener. You really discover the whole person and the options of jobs become so much larger. Charting information is very interesting when everything is collected and is a big help when determining a field of dreams.
Another area that I enjoyed very much was doing an assessment on my consumer that was my top priority in placement when this course started. After observing him in different settings like the workshop, group home and public places and finding the skills and abilities that he had in his assessment, I met a person I didn’t know existed. After the assessments were completed, my client assisted me in creating his resume and cover letter, filled out applications on line and went to job sites of interest to him. Before this course, I was doing all the leg and guesswork. Including him in the process made a real difference in his attitude and mine.
In marketing our company (community employment program), we are in the process of putting a brochure together depicting who we are, what we do and why your company needs us. We are also rotating turns attending the chamber breakfast meetings and actively looking for other options for networking. We are targeting small businesses as well as large companies but at this time of typing; big businesses have hired most of our clients.
Once finding a job of interest, I have been able to contact a key person and make appointments to look into the company and see what opportunities they may have for us. Through friends and friends of friends this has paid off very well. When meeting with these businesses, I point out to them that time is money and money is time and how our client can save both for the company. The businesses that I have approached also like the idea of restructuring or carving a job to fit both the client as well as the company.
When finding a job that the consumer is really interested in, I visit the job site, get all the pertinent information and bring it back to the client. If the client and company is still interested, I set up an interview with the hiring person.
I hit payday just last Friday. The person that I am working with is a male, has colorful language, likes females, likes to work alone and needs little supervision. He also loves recyclable materials of any type. I told him about this job at a company named XXXXX and what the job entailed. I told him about the benefits, the work. The client liked the sound of it, so I called for an interview today. The HR person talked to my client, showed him what his responsibilities would be and the job was offered and accepted. This position is shredding plastic and paper in a small area where my client’s colorful language won’t be heard because everyone wears head phones along with a vest and safety goggles. The piece de resistance is there is only one female on site who answers the phones!
As far as XXXX keeping the job, I will make my two visits a month and perhaps more as needed, especially at first once I fade off and out. We have set up a natural support, a mentor that will keep an eye on him and a back up person in case the first one is out. I also plan on doing additional visits via phone as the location is close to an hour away. I want to keep all lines of communication open and XXXX and the company knows that anytime I am available to re-train or coach any new tasks the job may have.
When I started looking for a job for this guy, all I knew is that a lot of people didn’t like him. I think he is great because I have taken the time to get to know him and I know that this is the perfect job match. I have to credit hum for being patient with me while doing the assessment and figuring out what I was doing. I know that without this course, I would still be pounding pavement in all the wrong places and eventually not getting the tube of toothpaste empty because I was missing very important information, like who XXXX is and what is dreams are.
I have a feeling our department is going to be making some big changes in the direction it’s going because we now have the tools and resources.
I could write a lot more but I think I should end. Thank you for making me look at my job in a new and exciting way. It’s been great and even the most disabled will work!"
