Conference Notes
Kristi Webb & Beth Crowell, Vocational Division

As part of the continuing development of VOCARE, Kristi Webb, Vocational Services Director; and Beth Crowell, Manager of Alternative Vocational Services, completed a 20-hour web course. The course, Career Development for Youth and Adults with Disabilities, was offered by Training Resource Network, Inc. The curriculum focused on helping individuals develop career goals through innovative vocational profiling. Topics included principles of self-determination, the discovery process, and situational assessment. The course was taught by Rob Hoffman, a well-known consultant who has taught extensively on the employment of people with disabilities.

It was clear from the beginning of the course that person-centered planning (PCP) was the foundation for the basic principle topics in the curriculum. The first few hours presented information that was strikingly similar to what we learned from Mae Hingtgen, our first trainer in PCP. We found this to be strong support for the VOCARE model. The course emphasized helping individuala discover and develop vocational goals. The goals are discovered primarily through person centered planning methods and the individual is supported by chosen team members who are dedicated to identifying employment/ training resources. Also, like VOCARE, high importance is placed on vocational assessment. Both systems also use computer based assessment tools such as T-PAL, interest inventories and workplace audits.

One of the areas of focus in training was situational assessment, which is an approach to evaluating a person's skills within the environment in which those skills are used. The course defined situational as occurring outside sheltered employment environments. VOCARE also places great value on situational assessment but our model is utilized in sheltered employment. The components of situational assessment that are shared by VOCARE are a positive workplace culture, a variety of job experiences that promote decision-making skills and the opportunity to develop effective social skills.

In the course as well as VOCARE it is stressed that individuals should have opportunities to build individual strengths, learn new skills, acquire self-knowledge and develop self-promotion skills (PCP/self awareness and confidence). Here at Baddour, we emphasize the development of positive work attitudes, job keeping and social skills. The VOCARE program also offers residents the opportunity to participate in interest inventories and career exploration. Another important component that was discussed is providing continuing, post-secondary education. Baddour offers the opportunity for our residents to attend classes that cultivate their interests at Northwest Community College.

While we are already implementing many of the best-practices that were discussed in the training, there were several ideas presented in the training that would be beneficial to add to VOCARE. For example, learning to build a skills portfolio (a resume about skills; not just past employment) and boosting interviewing skills. Overall the training emphasized that we are continuing to move in the right direction.