Employment First Massachusetts

Presented by the Disability Law Center (DLC), this in-person training will cover key topics related to employment rights and public benefits for people with disabilities. Learn directly from DLC attorneys about reasonable accommodations in the workplace for Social Security beneficiaries and gain a deeper understanding of how employment impacts SSI and SSDI benefits.

Who is this training for?

People with disabilities, advocates, and service providers

CART services will be provided. ASL has been requested. This is a fragrance-free event. Space is limited and registration is required.

Combining Work and Benefits is a self-paced online course available throughout August. It’s designed to help professionals support individuals who are considering work, returning to work, or are unsure about employment due to concerns about benefits.

Through four engaging lessons, the course covers key topics, including financial well-being, federal and state benefits, work incentives, and maintaining healthcare coverage. Participants will gain practical knowledge and tools to guide informed benefits planning conversations and help individuals make confident decisions about working while maintaining essential supports.

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

• marketing to employers and responding to objections

• using social media and other tools to market the job seeker

• identifying unmet business needs

• dealing with disclosure

• job carving and creation

You must attend all three 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

• the role of the job coach

• natural supports and social inclusion

• systematic instruction

• job maintenance and self-management techniques

• fading and behavioral support strategies

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