Lifelong Learning - Seeing the Whole Picture


Attention

Seeing the Whole Picture: Supported Employment Team

In this lesson we will be looking at the perspectives of a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Job Coach/Developer, and a client receiving Vocational Rehabilitation Services. This assignment will provide you with an opportunity to ask questions about how each person views the vocational process, what they feel their role is and what their responsibilities are.


Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

  • Students will have an increased understanding of how each member of a job search team views the journey to gainful employment.
  • Students will be able to identify the importance of each person within a job search team and what their responsibilites are.

Teaching

This lesson will focus on the individual roles of the usual supports in a supported employment relationship. Each person within the team has a responsibility and a unique perspective. Successful collaboration between each member of the team requires communication, follow through and trust among other things. Clients have a right to choose who they work with for job development/coaching and in most cases who their vocational rehabilitation counselor is. There are regular "provider fairs" that are held at the career centers which provide clients an opportunity to interview job developers and choose whom they would like to work with.

http://www.employmentforme.org/job-seekers/support.html

http://askearn.org/refdesk/Recruitment/Working_with_Job_Coaches

https://www.ldsjobs.org/ers/ct/articles/choosing-a-job-coach?lang=eng


Assessment

Interview Presentation Assignment

For this lesson you will interview 1 Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, 1 Job Coach/Developer and 1 Client receiving Vocational Rehabilitation Services.

You will conduct the interviews in person or via telephone. I recommend that you look into conducting these interviews at one of the four Maine Clubhouses. This will provide you an opportunity to talk with a team working towards the same goal, as opposed to separate individuals not working together. Clubhouse programs have designated Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors and most of their staff are trained job coaches/developers. Also, Clubhouse members love being interviewed and helping out students.

You will develop questions to ask each member of the support team individually. You will ask them about their role within the job search relationship and the nature of supports to be provided/requested by client before and after employment is obtained.

Possible Questions for VR Counselor & Job Coach/Developer:

  • What is the role of the VR Counselor and the Job Coach/Developer?
  • What are their job requirements, and what do they do to help others obtain employment?

Possible Questions for Client:

  • What do you look for in a Job Coach & VR Counselor? (characteristics, personality traits).
  • What is your current employment goal, and how are you utilizing your supports to work towards it?

You will schedule meetings with a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Job Coach/Developer and a client receiving VR Services. Prior to meeting you will review the above websites and develop questions for each individual. You will then assemble a paper, movie, or narrative based on the information you obtained.

You will then upload your assignment (or a link to your assignment) to the designated drop box.

Click HERE to view the grading rubric that will be used to evaluate your assignment.