Employment Specialist Series

Employment Specialist Series
in partnership with the BC Employment Development Strategy Network

The Employment Specialist Series is designed for practitioners working with people who experience multiple barriers to obtaining employment, especially developmental disability, physical disability and/or mental health issues. The series will introduce working practitioners to applications of contemporary employment service models including supported employment, customized employment and competitive self employment.  Participants will learn practical applications to implement employment services including, intake, discovery, job development, marketing, task analysis, coaching and fade out/follow-up.

There are four (4) courses in the Employment Specialist Series:

1. Supported Employment: Foundations & Applications

2. Customized Employment

3. Supported Employment Marketing

4. Supported Self Employment

Easy Phone Registration 604 527-5472 (quote CRN), use Visa or Mastercard. 

Organizations, if you are paying for an employee(s) and want to be invoiced, complete Authorization to invoice courses (pdf)

Course/content information contact: Janice Barr 604-279-7043

Supported Employment: Foundations & Applications

The Supported Employment: Foundations and Application course is designed to provide the student with a comprehensive and practical learning experience. The course will explore all elements required to become a skilled Employment Specialist to support people with developmental disabilities and employment barriers. The course includes the benefits of employment, steps and processes involved in delivering employment support and the specific skills required to be a successful job developer and job coach.

All materials supplied.
Students participate in 10 days (80 hours) of classroom instruction and produce an off-campus work related project (64 hours).

Instructor: Annette Borrows has been serving people with disabilities towards employment for the past eleven years. Working together with Fraser Health, the Province and the Federal government has allowed Annette to gain knowledge in a variety of contracting processes and accreditation requirements.

Course information contact 604 864 5770 loc 310.  

Easy Phone Registration 604 527-5472, use Visa or Mastercard. 

Organizations, if you are paying for an employee(s) and want to be invoiced, complete Authorization to invoice courses (pdf)

Customized Employment

Customized Employment (CE) is a flexible process designed to personalize the employment relationship between a job seeker and an employer in a way that meets the needs of both. In this course, students will be introduced to the four essential components of CE; Discovery, Job Search Planning, Job Development and Negotiation and Post-Placement Support. Through lecture, dialogue and sharing and interactive sessions with job seekers and potential employer’s students will develop a range of competencies within these components that enable them, in collaboration with the job seeker, to complete the tasks involved in CE.
The student is encouraged to work through the activities with a specific client in mind.  

Easy Phone Registration 604 527-5472, use Visa or Mastercard. 

Organizations, if you are paying for an employee(s) and want to be invoiced, complete Authorization to invoice courses (pdf) 

Supported Employment Marketing

Supported Employment Marketing is a five day module that teaches participants the essentials of marketing. Participants will create a basic marketing plan for their organization or service, as well as crafting their own unique messaging. They will become familiar with the selling process and have an opportunity to practice and apply these key skills. Participants will increase their comfort with their roles of marketing and selling their services and interacting with the business community.

Easy Phone Registration 604 527-5472, use Visa or Mastercard. 

Organizations, if you are paying for an employee(s) and want to be invoiced, complete Authorization to invoice courses (pdf)

Supported Self Employment

More and more, as person-centered planning and creative approaches are adopted by the Community Living movement, agencies are exploring innovations such as the formation of worker cooperatives and micro enterprises owned and operated by the client.

Supported self employment means that with agency staff support, the client owns and operates their own small business. This course provides an easy-to-access 'toolkit' for small business development, which covers such topics as entrepreneurial readiness, marketing, business planning, financial literacy, and the latest information on MHSD's self-employment program.
 
The format of the course allows for discussion and sharing, interspersed with lectures. The student is encouraged to work through the activities with a specific client in mind. The final result is a mini business plan.

Easy Phone Registration 604 527-5472, use Visa or Mastercard. 

Organizations, if you are paying for an employee(s) and want to be invoiced, complete Authorization to invoice courses (pdf)