Employment First Massachusetts

Person-centered practices and individualized supports are the expectation across day and employment services. Join us for a one-hour Lunch and Learn focused on strategies for person-centered planning and goal setting. During this session we will review key person-centered thinking and planning concepts and outline strategies for putting these concepts into action. This presentation will highlight resources and tools professionals can use for identifying desired employment and community life engagement outcomes, goal setting and tracking progress.

This is a 3-session training taking place on October 29, November 5, and November 12th.

Developing job opportunities and finding the right job match in an ever-changing economic environment places increasing demands on employment professionals. This 3-session online training series focuses on understanding employer needs and developing quality job matches.

In this training, you will learn about:

• employer networking strategies
• creatively marketing to employers
• using social media and other tools to support business engagement
• identifying unmet business needs
• planning for and navigating disclosure
• customized employment

You must attend all three sessions to receive a letter of completion.

Learn the fundamentals of Community Based Day Supports (CBDS) in this 5-part webinar series! Each session features your peers in the field sharing their experiences and insight into providing CBDS and implementing best practices.

Join us for the series kick-off on November 19th as we review the intent and purpose of CBDS with:

• overview of CBDS
• guiding principles and core values
• role of staff
• best practices in building strong programs that lead to quality outcomes

Session #2 of Rebuilding the Foundation CBDS Series

Explore practical strategies for moving beyond one-size-fits-all programming and creating individualized, person-centered supports that promote meaningful community engagement, skill development, and personal outcomes. We will discuss:

• the role of person-centered thinking and planning in CBDS
• strategies for discovering and understanding what is important to and for each individual you support
• practical steps for creating individualized and meaningful CBDS

Supporting individuals to be successful at their jobs is not as easy as it sounds. It requires many skills, including excellent communication, maintaining relationships with multiple team members (including employers), knowledge about accommodations and assistive technology, and effectively assisting people with various disabilities to learn and master new tasks. In this training, you will learn about: • Best practices and strategies needed to support individuals in meeting their employment goals • Understanding the role of the job coach • Facilitating natural supports and social inclusion • Using systematic instruction & task analysis • Implementing job maintenance and self-management techniques • Fading and off-site support strategies

You must attend both sessions to receive a letter of completion.

Session #3 of Rebuilding the Foundation CBDS Series

How can you help the people you work with connect to meaningful opportunities aligned with their interests, goals, and strengths? Learn practical approaches and strategies:

• building professional networks
• engaging employers and community partners
• identifying resources and opportunities within local communities
• involving individuals in the mapping process
• leveraging existing relationships

Session #4 Rebuilding the Foundation CBDS Series

How can you intentionally integrate employment into CBDS through person-centered practices, informed choice, community engagement, and purposeful activities?

Help people explore career options and move toward competitive, integrated employment through employment-related experiences such as workplace tours, job shadowing, volunteering, internships, informational interviews, and job clubs.

Session #5 of Rebuilding the Foundation CBDS Series

Learn strategies for ensuring that volunteer experiences, internships, and unpaid work experiences are person-centered, legally compliant, and aligned with an individual's interests, preference, and employment goals:

• purposes and reasons for volunteer experiences, internships, and unpaid work experiences
• federal and state regulations
• practical and legal considerations
• key guidelines
• common scenarios

It’s more important than ever that job seekers are appropriately using their time to prepare and plan for entering or re-entering the workforce. Participants will learn how to coordinate and implement person-centered planning strategies during these challenging times. This 2-session online training series will cover strategies to assess job seeker’s employment goals, abilities, interests, and capacities. In this training, you will learn to: • identify personal and family networks • develop vocational profiles and schedules • evaluate situational assessments • create 30-day placement plans • use Discovery to identify vocational goals and maximize information gathering

You must attend both sessions to receive a letter of completion.

Developing job opportunities and finding the right job match in an ever-changing economic environment places increasing demands on employment professionals. This 3-session online training series focuses on understanding employer needs and developing quality job matches. In this training, you will learn about: • Employer networking • Creatively marketing to employers and responding to objections • Using social media and other tools to in business engagement • Identifying unmet business needs • Considering disclosure • Task bundling, customized employment, entrepreneurship, and more.

You must attend all sessions to receive a letter of completion.

Supporting individuals to be successful at their jobs is not as easy as it sounds. It requires many skills, including excellent communication, maintaining relationships with multiple team members (including employers), knowledge about accommodations and assistive technology, and effectively assisting people with various disabilities to learn and master new tasks. In this training, you will learn about: • Best practices and strategies needed to support individuals in meeting their employment goals • Understanding the role of the job coach • Facilitating natural supports and social inclusion • Using systematic instruction & task analysis • Implementing job maintenance and self-management techniques • Fading and off-site support strategies

You must attend both sessions to receive a letter of completion.