Pathfinders To Career and Life Exploration
Career and Life Exploration
The Arc F/M offers a diverse range of experiences and opportunities through our Career and Life Exploration (CLE) services. Through CLE, individuals are given a range of assessments to measure their desires in multiple life and employment aspects such as: employment skills; entrepreneurship desires; personal interests; and work environment preferences. Individuals are then supported and encouraged by The Arc F/M staff to seek opportunities in employment and life enrichment with a maximum of 180 hours of direct service. Employment opportunities are often provided via Situational Assessment, allowing our individuals to receive on-the-job experience before fully committing to a position. Many different services through The Arc F/M are often associated with CLE, including Certified Benefits Planning and Person-Centered Planning.
Person Centered Plan
As you understand that Arc F/M is there to support you to live the life they want to, individuals may request the creation of a Person-Centered Plan to help guide your forward progress. Arc F/M have Community Specialists that have been trained in Person-Centered Thinking and planning and can help support you as they create and implement a Person-Centered Plan.
Individual Orientation and Intake Assessments
Following your referral to The Arc you will be provided with an in-depth orientation and intake assessment to establish employment goals, skill level, earnings objectives and job interests. The Arc F/M staff member will prepare a written summary report of the orientation and intake assessment, conclusions and recommendations. This will be presented and reviewed in detail with the individual and referral source at the 30-day meeting (or upon completion of the Assessments) to discuss recommendations for next steps whether it is further exploration and discovery or specific steps to meet either their community employment or engagement goals.
Work Based Learning Opportunities
Paid Internship Program
The purpose is to increase vocational skills and abilities of individuals. The goals are for the internship to lead to a full or part-time job in Competitive Integrated Employment whether it be at the internship site or in a similar position at a different site. Internship funds may be available for consumers for a variety of models, including self-employment enterprises and apprenticeships, and other business opportunities that can lead to future paid employment. Internship wages will be at least minimum wage. Internship should be in competitive integrated work environment. The maximum funding for payment of an internship is 1400 hours per year, per person at minimum wage. The recommended length of an internship is 3-6 months. At that time, speak with employer about permanently hiring the individual.
Intensive Job Coaching
At the time a job is offered to you, the Community Specialist will assist you with understanding the job expectations, the daily work routine, and the employer policies and practices. Then the Community Specialist will provide you with initial job-coaching and may transition you and you as become stable on the job to a lesser amount of job supports. The supports you need are all up to you.
Job Search, Application and Attainment
With the strong Employability Assessment, job exploration and discovery opportunities, you will work with one Arc F/M Community Specialists to search for, apply for and obtain Competitive Integrated Employment. The goal is a solid match you job interests and the needs of community employers.
Avail
AVAIL – use mobile technology (phone or tablet) to provide assistance, prompts and support to individuals with I/DD, when a DSP may not be available. • Basic structure of AVAIL is: • A centralized management area to allow the creation and sharing of activities and tasks across users, as well as help show results and data by individual. • A Facilitator role (current version has one facilitator per user this is being modified by early summer to allow multiple facilitators to create and support individual users) • Learners/Users are individuals with I/DD who with support can use a tablet and/or smart phone to identify tasks and follow basic steps to allow them to complete the identified tasks
Certified Benefit Planning
The impact on you sometimes, is when you get a Competitive Integrated Employment opportunity, this may cause you angst and worry about the impact on your current government benefits. Arc F/M staff will be able to provide basic supports in this arena and our certified Benefits planners will be able to provide guidance in this area and support in this area.
How you can help
There are many ways to help out individuals with developmental disabilities. Check out any of the tiles below to see how you can get involved.
Volunteer
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