OUR SERVICES and OUR TEAM > HOW DO WE WORK >
The “R’s” of R. Work Group:
Re-assure
Get to know again what it is that you can do.
Re-educate
Gain new ways of thinking of who you are and how you fit in the world of work.
Re-establish
Feel confident about your new roles and ability to meet expectations.
As one of our clients, there are five key "stages of service" that we will help take you through. Click on the links below to read more:
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Our first step in reassuring you about opportunities in the work-place, is to help you evaluate your abilities and interests within an understanding of your physical and mental health needs.
Basic Assessment - We will take a detailed work and educational history; medical and family background and talk with you about what you like and don’t like to do. Sometimes we are asked: “Why do you need so much information about what I’ve done, especially when I can’t do it anymore?” What you’ve done does tell us something about what you are going to do as there are transferable skills that we all take from job to job. If you hated what you did before that is important to know too! This usually takes 3-4 meetings to complete.
Comprehensive Evaluation or “Try before you buy” - In some instances we could spend a lot of time in the office “talking” about work options and you are still going to feel unsure about your abilities. And, we may not be able to help you accurately assess your abilities by staying in the office either.
That’s why we might suggest a “work assessment.” Usually you are paid, at minimum wage, to do this. Typically, we arrange for you to go to 2 or 3 different work-sites for a maximum of 2-4 weeks. We don’t guarantee that working at this assessment site, even if it suits you perfectly, will result in employment with that employer. You should get some questions answered such as:
- What are the maximum number of hours I can work?
- Do I have the skills needed to do this job?
- Do I like the work?
At a minimum this will take a month and sometimes up to 3 months.
Career and Rehabilitation Counseling - In this process of finding out what you can do you will be given information, counseling and support on different jobs and ways to adapt a job to meet your physical and mental health needs.
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By your fourth meeting with us, you should have a pretty good idea of how we will help you and a goal of when you will be getting that job!
A “plan of services” is developed and written individually with each person. This plan will help you set goals about the type of job you want to get and is the strategy on how to get there. This plan is not written in stone and may need to be changed as you progress and learn more about what it is that you want to do. Let us know if you want changes to your service.
You will be given a copy of your plan and will review that with your counselor. If you feel like you need the plan changed, then let us know. We are here to work with and for you.
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Will you find me a job and how fast? That’s probably our most commonly asked question. Ultimately, you get your own job. You may complete a comprehensive job search training program learning how to contact employers, who to contact and how to negotiate a job. Many people spend at least “part-time” hours looking for a job.
There is no getting around it, finding a job is definitely a lot of work. Sometimes we will meet with employers, on your behalf, to help build a bridge, making it more comfortable for you when you attend that first meeting. We might all even meet together (you, the employer and your counselor to discuss the company and job options). Getting a job is really all about connecting with the right people, at the right time. Our goal is to help you do that in whatever way works best for you. By taking this approach we can fulfill our mission: that is, to help you find the job that is right for you. The type of job a person gets depends on you—what you want to do; what you can do.
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Many people think that once they get a job that it is the end of services from us. Yet, to do our jobs well we will need to know (and sometimes coach) you about keeping the job. As well, we will follow-up with you to see how you are doing after you’ve been in the job for a month. In most cases, we will follow-up with you for at least 6 months, although that may vary depending on who has funded your services. We do need to know that you got a job. So, please let us know within 14 days when you get a job and for what company. That helps us do our job better. You will need to complete the "When You Get A Job" form, as that information will be required on Mobius.
What kind of support can we provide you once you get the job? In some cases people meet with us regularly, at our work-site, to discuss concerns and get support on how to effectively manage life at work. In fact, you might be one of those people that came to us knowing full well how to “find” a job, but you were unsure how you were going to keep it when you got it. Usually, once you know what you are good at then keeping the job follows - but not always. There are many reasons people don’t keep their jobs. One of the most common is difficulties in getting along with others at work. Individual meetings with the vocational counselor can help you trouble-shoot people issues, boss issues and others.
Going on-site - Sometimes we go to your workplace and do a detailed evaluation of the job; observe and coach in managing job tasks. We have done this when working with people who are extremely anxious. Sometimes the anxiety might be so high that it interferes with learning the job. The reality of many workplaces is that they lack formalized training manuals and procedures, making learning the job more difficult. We help ease this process by coaching.
One of the first things we will do is talk about confidentiality. We will need your permission to talk with your service funder, about what we are actually doing to help you find a job and how you are doing in this process. You may even be asked to call one of our contract managers and they will ask for feedback on how well you think we are doing our job to help you find a job. Attending scheduled appointments is essential to the success of the process. We ask that, if possible, that you notify us at least 1 day in advance if you are unable to meet. If 1 day is not possible, then call us as soon as you can. If you don’t attend, then we will call you to try and find out what has happened.
You will need to advise your counselor when you get a job and to give the counselor permission to contact the employer (if required) to confirm details of employment. We will also ask you to complete an evaluation of services form. This is very important to us in ensuring that we maintain and improve our quality of services.