Don't Alienate Your Natural Supports

The right workplace supports can do wonders to help you avoid an alienating experience for your job seeker. Employment program leaders, service professionals, and service innovators (that's you!) wanting to improve outcomes for employees with disabilities often rely on natural supports. 

What are natural supports and what can they do? How do we identify them in a workplace? And what can we do to encourage their use? 

The Institute for Community Inclusion defines natural supports as those that:

• already exist within a workplace or community system;
• are consistent with the workplace culture;
• are typically available and/or perceived as usual; and
• occur typically in the workplace, or can be facilitated by a job coach.

In short, natural supports are all about taking advantage of what is already there! In order to develop and encourage natural supports, however, you'll need to plan ahead, make use of some key strategies, and know what to avoid. 

Beware of Becoming an Intruder from Planet Z

Keep in mind, some employment support practices can sabotage naturally available supports, either by keeping others out ("exclusionary" practices) or, by pushing ourselves into situations ("intrusive" practices) where we become unwanted. 

Unfortunately, exclusionary practices occur routinely and include:

• failing to consider a company’s typical hiring/onboarding/orientation and training routines;
• presenting ourselves as the “expert” in all things related to the job seeker;
• failing to include co-workers throughout the employment process;
• ignoring or overlooking workplace social routines, such as shared break and lunchtimes with others; and
• creating tasks or schedules that are markedly different from other employees'. 

Adding to a failed recipe for successful natural supports development, employment specialists often have an intrusive presence. Defined as causing disruption or annoyance, intrusive actions include:

• dismissing typical ways and means used by the employer,
• taking complete control of all training at all times,
• remaining physically close to an employee at all times,
• providing verbal and physical prompts when they’re not really required, 
• providing workplace supports only when a provider needs to generate revenue,
• not using systematic instruction and data-driven teaching strategies, and
• failing to fade employment specialist supports in the workplace.

Use the Force for Good

The good news is this is changing – hooray for the heroes! (Scully and Mulder, Han and Chewie, the Avengers--there are lots of team players in good sci-fi.) We’re hearing and reading about stories from across Indiana and around the globe that provide excellent examples of enduring, natural supports. You have the power to nurture and create these same lasting and naturally occurring supports in the workplace for the employees you support. Here's how you can practice the development of natural supports:

• Act as a single member of a larger teaching and support team led by the employer.
• Let employers and co-workers know that you're a consulting mentor and “friendly guide,” an ally. (For instance, you could suggest the development of a peer-to-peer mentoring opportunity in the workplace.)
• Adopt an unobtrusive presence and approach.
• Encourage co-worker involvement.
• Provide enough, but not too much support.
• Use data-driven instruction, and be sure to fade your supports.
• Develop collaborative off-site supports.

X-Files: Resources You Can Use

• Check out this short video, from an Indiana employment specialist, about the importance of using natural supports in the workplace:

Our thanks to Barbara Goffinet, with Southern Indiana Resource Solutions, for allowing us to share her words of wisdom this month.

• Natural Work Place Supports Quality Checklist  This handy, still relevant checklist was first published by Syracuse University in 1993 as an appendix to Developing Natural Supports in the Work Place: A Manual for Practitioners (Murphy et al., 1992). Scroll to Appendix A.

For more tips and strategies on developing natural supports as well as insights on how intrusive and exclusive behaviors impact workplace supports, enroll in Advanced Supported Employment training this summer! Watch your email for more information, or see the Employment Specialist Trainings page on the Center on Community Living and Careers website. 

Bubbling Up New COLA Info in 2018

Last year we untapped new Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) numbers with this post. Same flavor, new stats this year!


Every year, usually in October, the federal government announces the latest Cost of Living Adjustment, fondly referred to as COLA. The new rates are based on the Consumer Price Index, which is really a measure of the average change in prices for the nation’s goods and services. 

Ah, but why should you or your consumers care? 

It’s because Social Security’s substantial gainful activity (SGA) level and many of its work incentives are based on the annual COLA rate. In 2018, for instance, that means a consumer eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) earning less than $1,180 per month may still be eligible for benefits after his or her Trial Work Period is complete. The new 2018 SGA level for workers who are disabled is $1,180; it’s $1,970 for workers who are blind.

The recent COLA increase led to a slight increase in the SGA, which means your consumer can now earn $10 more per month ($120 per year) and still qualify for benefits. The bottom line: When the SGA increases, many consumers can earn more and continue to be eligible for benefits.

COLA also affects recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In 2017 the maximum SSI payment was $735, but in 2018, we are seeing the largest increase we've had in years. The new Federal Benefit Rate is $750 this year, an increase of $15 per month.

Students with disabilities who are working make up another group affected by COLA if they’re using the Student Earned Income Exclusion. In 2018, Social Security ensures that working students can keep more of their SSI check by not counting up to $1,820 per month ($7,350 annually) of earned income when calculating a student’s monthly SSI payment. 


Why, you ask, is the rate increase so small if the economy has improved? Okay, let’s get a little benefits nerdy here. COLA is based on “quarters of coverage” and is averaged over two years. In October 2016, when they set the new rate, it was based on the third quarter of 2014 through the third quarter of 2016. Improvements to the economy (and therefore increasing prices for goods and services) that have occurred more recently won’t be reflected in the COLA rates until this year (which we're beginning to see) or possibly next year. 

We get it: It’s complicated. That’s why Indiana has resources for workers with disabilities and the people who support them. That means you!  

Benefits Information Resources

• 2018 Changes to Social Security (including COLA)
• 2018 Work Incentive Fact Sheets

Need a refresher on all-thing-benefits?  Check out the Center on Community Living and Career’s Benefits Information Network trainings page. There you’ll find:

• a save-the-date flyer for all of our 2018 certified BIN trainings and 
• a link to registration for our February 22-23 workshop, “Social Security and Other Federal and State Benefits: Learning the Basics.” 

And just a heads up: We've switched up the format for our BIN Basic trainings. This year Basic BIN training includes three days of in-person instruction plus a fourth day of online "helpdesk" follow-up and support for attendees. Attendance at and participation in the in-person instruction and online support is required for certification. Cost for this training is $250. BIN Basic trainings will take place in March, June, August, and October. Registration information coming soon!

Have more questions? Contact a Benefits Information Network (BIN) liaison. There are now certified BIN liaisons in place at 62 of Indiana’s 96 community rehabilitation providers. For a referral to a BIN liaison, contact the Center on Community Living and Career’s Kelley Land (our benefits guru) at kelland@indiana.edu.

Resource Ownership Basics

You get a FREE learning module! You get a FREE learning module!  Everyone gets a FREE online learning module! This holiday season, our gift to you is an online learning module on Resource Ownership. We know: It was the first thing on your list this year! (Santa told us!)


via GIPHY

Resource Ownership is a customized employment, job creation technique. By owning machinery, equipment, tools, or other types of capital, individuals can produce products or offer services of value to other businesses or to consumers, leading to the creation of a business-within-a-business strategy.

This short module introduces the concept and process, offers several examples, gives you tips on negotiation with employers, and includes an activity that will walk you through creating an employer agreement. Griffin-Hammis and Associates and the Center on Community Living and Careers created this training with funding from Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services.

You can get started with “Resource Ownership Basics” here: http://expand.iu.edu/browse/cclc/courses/resource-ownership-basics. For additional instructions on how to access the module, click here: IU Expand/Resource Ownership Basics Instructions

The “Resource Ownership Basics” training will take 1.5 hours to complete: 30 minutes of instruction through the module and an hour for the associated exercises. After completing the entire module, you will also receive a Certificate of Completion, which you can use if you need to demonstrate training hours!

We encourage you to work with your supervisor or a colleague to consider if Resource Ownership is an avenue you could pursue for a job seeker on your caseload. If it is, use the process you’ve learned here as a roadmap.

The VR Technical Assistance and Training team appreciates you and all that you and your agencies do to support positive employment outcomes for job seekers across Indiana. We hope you enjoy the holidays, and we wish you the best in the coming year.  We look forward to seeing you then!

Work It!

This month’s Shared Solutions is all about work experiences--not to be confused with Trial Work Experiences! You may have seen the September 2017, webinar focusing on Trial Work Experiences and…this is not that! Work experiences and Trial Work Experiences are very different activities meant for very different outcomes. 

Employment specialists, job seekers, and Vocational Rehabilitation counselors can use work experiences throughout the Discovery process. Are you confused yet? Read on for more information about the use and benefit of work experiences. 

Nuts and Bolts 

Work experiences, which are often underused, offer your job seekers the opportunity to explore varying interests through first-hand learning and real work exposure in an integrated, competitive, community-based employment setting. They can be invaluable for those job seekers who have little to no work history as a means to honing in on preferences, skills and support strategies for success. As vocational themes emerge during Discovery, work experiences can help refine employment interests and guide future job development. In fact, a work experience can often result in a formal offer of employment or pave the ground for the development of a customized position. 

Keep in mind, a work experience:

• is completed individually with a 1:1 employment specialist to job seeker ratio
• may last for as long as 12 weeks in total
• may be developed across a variety of businesses during those 12 weeks
• may be paid or unpaid, depending upon agency decision making 
• requires the provider to be onsite 75% of the time over the course of the work experience

And Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services includes necessary time for work experience development, reimbursed at an hourly rate. 

A work experience can be a win-win proposition for all parties, including the business community. Leveraged with attention to job seeker strengths, a work experience is a way to introduce job seeker contributions, discern needed support strategies, and build business relationships. In other words, it can be used as a positive introduction for the job seeker who might otherwise struggle with competition among other applicants. 

VR offers flexibility by offering three work experience levels: 

• Work Experience A (1-5 hours work per week) reimburses the provider at a rate of $200 per week
• Work Experience B (6-10 hours work per week) reimburses the provider at a rate of $325 per week
• Work Experience C (11 + hours work per week) reimburses the provider at a rate of $450 per week

'Liability?' You Ask

Proposing a work experience with local employers can become tricky when those employers begin expressing concerns about liability issues. Employment specialists, armed with the appropriate information, can easily allay these concerns.

When VR has authorized a work experience (A, B or C) and both you and your job seeker have a clear vocational interest area in mind, the work experience can provide additional guidance and valuable learning. When you talk to an employer, you'll propose a "work assessment" or "work try out," a condition that does not represent a hiring relationship. work experiences occur while Discovery is still ongoing. As such (not a hiring relationship), the employer faces no more liability than they would otherwise face when any visitor is at their worksite. (Note that this is the same situation for students involved with Pre-Employment Transition Services.) 

Community rehabilitation providers can also side-step the issue of employer liability by offering to pay the wages of your job seeker during a work experience. The job seeker in this instance may be covered by the provider's workers compensation and general/catastrophic liability coverage. If, however, the provider decides not to pay the job seeker during a work experience, the job seeker may still be covered under the provider's general liability insurance. Consult your agency's human resources department for guidance. They may also be able to provide you with proof of insurance coverage, which you can, in turn, show to the potential employer willing to host a work experience. For more information on liability, see the article from the State Employment Leadership Network, listed below under "Resources."

The Benefits of Work Experiences 

Work experiences can be an additional, effective tool in your toolkit. It is another option during Discovery and before jumping into formal job development. Immersing your job seeker in these opportunities provides an abundance of benefits including: 

• a way to “try out” vocational themes and related work skills
• a lens into support and teaching strategies likely to help your job seeker succeed
• business relationships across a wide variety of community stakeholders
• self-confidence

Using work experiences also helps you, as an employment specialist, “warm up” to job development activities as you practice negotiation skills.

Resources

The Manual of Employment Services from Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services. (Find the entry for Work Experiences on p. 8.)

Unpaid Work Experiences, Volunteering, and Internships: What's Allowed a fact sheet from the State Employment Leadership Network, updated in February 2017. 

Get your work experience groove on and get out there!

_______________________________________________________

Meeting Your Employment Training & Technical Assistance Needs

Effective September 1, 2017, Indiana community rehabilitation providers and agencies can obtain customized, programmatic training and technical assistance as part of the VR Establishment grant training plan. Or, providers—in Indiana or out of state—can pay for technical assistance with private funding. 

The Center on Community Living and Careers (CCLC) is now offering customized technical assistance and training to address the specific needs of your employment program or agency.

This is not a one-size-fits-all training approach. Training and consultation, delivered by CCLC’s Technical Assistance & Training Team, can include guided practice, field-based mentoring, hands-on skills practice, virtual technology, and one-to-one support--you name it! We’ll work with you to develop the right training plan for your agency. 

Find more information in our Employment Training & Consultation flyer.  Call us! We look forward to hearing from you!

Help! You Need Somebody

Today's earworm, provided by John, Paul, George, and Ringo: 

"Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Help!"

Feeling like you need some help? 

Whether it's hand-holding to complete an ESRP, a little job development insight, or ongoing management support, we’re here for you. To address those unique needs, our experienced Technical Assistance and Training Team at the Center on Community Living and Careers can deliver field-based mentoring and hands-on skills practice, and we can work with your staff one-on-one or via virtual technology. In the past two years, we’ve worked with employment providers around the state on a number of topics critical for both agency and supported employee success! See our flyer for topics.

And most importantly, we’re flexible. Working together, we can create a training and technical assistance plan as a component of your Establishment Contract, or you can purchase our services separately. 

Here are what a few providers had to say about working with us…

"You are to be commended for your continued efforts to improve outcomes for those we serve and restore financial stability to our employment services. The management team can see the results of your efforts, as our revenues in VR services are slowly climbing. The technical assistance and support is making a difference. Thank you for working diligently to learn and implement new strategies for our consumers and our placement service. We have many exciting opportunities before us in the next year to continue our quality improvements." --Southern Indiana Resource Solutions

"Working with the technical assistance grant was incredibly successful for our team. In the 18 months prior to assistance, we averaged $225 a month in SE billing. Since the assistance on SE began, we are averaging just under $1,000 a month over the last eight months. [The TA team] also assisted us with improving our productivity as a department by providing tools and insights that we were missing. The employment specialists were averaging just over 50% productivity prior to assistance. Since then, the employment specialists as a group are averaging over 81% in their productivity (84% over the last three months)."  --Carey Services

"The technical assistance provided to [our organanization] was extremely helpful in our transition to the current VR service delivery model. Our TA listened carefully to our questions and concerns, and then developed training modules to specifically address them. The trainer…worked hard to make sure the training was meaningful to our staff." --Easterseals Crossroads

"The TA Program provided our Employment Specialists with one-on-one teaching, coaching and mentoring which increased our knowledge and understanding of the VR process. Through this relationship, we also gained confidence which led us to provide better services to our clients. Thus we used our time more efficiently and effectively which led to more appropriate jobs secured for clients. It was an important collaboration and partnership for our department; one that I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to help their Employment Specialists learn to match the right jobs with the right clients. It becomes a win-win for all." --Arc of Evansville

For more information on technical assistance and training consultation services, see our Employment Training and Consultation flyer and contact a team member soon! 

More Help!

As always, you can find lots of resources here on Shared Solutions. To add to your toolbox, and in case you missed them, here are a few webinars we’ve hosted recently…

Please note that Google Chrome has recently discontinued its support for some software programs, which may impact your ability to access trainings recorded in Adobe Connect. If you experience difficulty opening a training, try switching to another browser, such as Firefox or Microsoft Explorer.

Trial Work Experiences 
CCLC and Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services join forces to help you learn more about the purpose and expectations of a trial work experience (TWE), as well as how to complete a TWE.

• Trial Work Experiences
• TWE Presentation
• TWE Report Example 1
• TWE Report Example 2

Changes to the Indiana Benefits Information Network 
Listen in to prepare for these upcoming changes and to learn more about how BIN liaisons provide valuable services to your clients with disabilities. Topics covered include:

• What is the Benefits Information Network?
• A New Referral Routing Form
• Timeframe Change
• Payments

Watch the entire webinar here:  

And read the Q and A from the webinar here.

Order of Selection: Straight Answers to Tough Questions

By now you’ve undoubtedly heard about the state’s new order of selection. However, you may still have a question or two (or three or more):

• Who does this impact? 
• How will it affect you and your job seekers?   
• How does it affect your job? 
• What does all this mean? 
• Why did Indiana need to do this? 

Explanations and Answers

On August 1, 2017, Indiana became the 35th state to implement order of selection for delivery of its vocational rehabilitation services to job seekers with disabilities. This was a tough decision to make. Family and Social Services Administration explains, “The Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), requires a state vocational rehabilitation services (VR) agency to implement an order of selection when it does not have sufficient resources to serve all eligible individuals.” “Sufficient resources” can refer to both funding as well as personnel.

As a result and under federal requirement, Indiana VR is now using order of selection (you’ll see it abbreviated as OOS) to prioritize consumer services to individuals who have the most significant disabilities (MSD). Under order of selection, an eligible individual considered MSD is Priority Category 1. You can think of it as a sort of VR triage—a way for the state to put individuals who most need help at the top of the service queue. Once those individuals are served, if there is still adequate funding and available staff, VR can provide services for other individuals who are eligible for services but who are not MSD--either significantly disabled (Priority Category 2) or whose disabilities are considered nonsignificant (Priority Category 3). 

Things to know:

• Order of selection does not change how you work with your job seekers.  
• Order of selection will not alter the types of services offered to individuals who are already eligible for VR services. 
• If a job seeker was determined eligible for VR services prior to August 1 AND had an Individual Plan for Employment (IPE) in place at that time, he/she will still be eligible for services regardless of their diagnosis or the severity of their condition. 

What if a Client Does Not Qualify for VR Services? 

It doesn’t necessarily mean a job seeker is out of luck. VR will provide information to individuals about other resources in their community that may assist them in obtaining employment. These resources may include:

• Work One Centers, 
• Ticket to Work Employment Networks (see below), 
• Independent Living Centers, 
• college and university career centers and disability services offices, 
• the INDATA Assistive Technology program, and 
• other state or local resources.

How Can Employment Networks Help? 

An Employment Network (EN) is a private organization or public agency that has entered into an agreement with Social Security to provide certain services under the Ticket to Work program. ENs offer employment services, vocational rehabilitation services, and other types of support to beneficiaries (people receiving Social Security benefits) with disabilities. A Social Security beneficiary can contact any EN to see if the service and supports the EN offers are right for them. The beneficiary and EN must agree to work together and develop a plan that describes the beneficiary's employment goal and outlines the services and support the EN will provide to help the beneficiary reach the goal.  

What do ENs have to do with order of selection?  If you work for an employment provider that is also an EN, you may be able to assist some of your clients via Ticket to Work. Social Security beneficiaries who are not considered MSD and who, therefore, may not be eligible to receive services at this time from Indiana VR, may be able to “assign their Ticket” to an EN and work with that organization or agency to receive similar employment services. 

Resources

For more information on the Ticket to Work program, see Social Security’s web page, Ticket Overview. 

For more information about how to become an Employment Network, visit Social Security’s web page, Becoming an Employment Network, or contact the VR Technical Assistance and Training Team at CCLC to help with consultation. 

Need more information on order of selection?  Read through Indiana Family and Social Services Administration’s, Order of Selection FAQ information sheet.  

UPDATE: The Family and Social Services Administration has compiled a list of community agencies and organizations that may be able to assist job seekers who are affected by order of selection.  Scroll through FSSA's Community Resources. 

Indiana Employment How-To Nuts and Bolts: In Print and Online

This month’s Shared Solutions is short but sweet—and very valuable. It’s all about finding the information you need as an employment specialist. In addition to the fact sheets, training information, documentation tools, and links to state and national organizations on the CCLC website, the newly revised Hoosier Orientation Handbook on Employment is now available, both online and in print.

Indiana employment specialists face a steep learning curve when stepping into new positions with community employment providers around the state. The third edition of The Hoosier Orientation Handbook on Employment, published by the Center on Community Living and Careers (CCLC), walks employment specialists and consultants through:

• Interactions with job seekers and employers
• Job development and customized employment
• Advocacy organizations and resources
• Benefits and work incentives
• The Discovery process for getting to know a job seeker
• State and federal laws that govern employment practice for job seekers with disabilities

The 98-page, FREE handbook complements existing training that specialists and consultants receive at their workplaces and through other organizations, including Employment Specialist Training, offered through CCLC. Each chapter of the book concludes with key points, critical thinking prompts, and more information for readers. The book also contains an extensive glossary and list of abbreviations and acronyms. 

Book It!

Members of CCLC’s VR Technical Assistance and Training Team will distribute copies of the Hoosier Orientation Handbook to individual providers and Vocational Rehabilitation offices, at trainings, and at statewide advocacy and information conferences throughout the year. 

Meanwhile, click here to see an online version of the Hoosier Orientation Handbook on Employment, which is available on the CCLC website under the Resource/Publications tab. 

Looking for specific information on an employment topic on the CCLC website or in the Hoosier Orientation Handbook?  Contact us, we’d be happy to help!

Sandy Block seblock@indiana.edu 

Kelley Land kelland@indiana.edu

Jackie Tijerina jtijerin@indiana.edu 

And finally, if you’re a program manager interested in customized, flexible, hands-on consulting support for your team, stay tuned!