Penn-Mar’s Employment Services Certificate Training (with an Emphasis on Customized Employment) is endorsed by the Association for Community Rehabilitation Educators (ACRE). This training provides a strong foundation of the key components and best practices for providing Discovery, Customized Job Development and Workplace Supports. The training content incorporates lecture, case studies and a variety of activities and assignments to provide participants an opportunity to apply and put into practice what they are learning in class. Penn-Mar’s ACRE training shares our lessons learned, processes, and experiences with participants. Each training session is four hours and conducted via Zoom over a two-month period. After the final session on 1/19, participants will have an additional two weeks to complete and submit any remaining field assignments. Throughout the course, instructors will be available to participants through scheduled office hours.
To receive a certificate an “ACRE Certificate of Achievement”, participants must attend all 10 virtual classroom sessions (40 hours of training) and successfully complete all activities and field-based assignments.
Session 1-2 (12/6, 12/7)
Application of Core Values and Principles of Practice
This 2-day session focuses on the history, core values, and principles of Supported Employment. This includes the rights and responsibilities of people receiving services, ethical guidelines, and philosophy of community employment, as well as disability legislation, funding, regulations, and policies impacting people with disabilities.
Session 3-5 (12/10, 12/16, 12/17)
Assessment & Career Planning
This 3-day session focuses on individualized assessment and employment/career planning. Discovery is introduced as the foundation of career planning and participants will learn how to design and implement a discovery process for employment seekers. This includes learning how to gather information about the employment seeker (skills, interests, community connections, conditions for success) while encouraging the employment seeker’s active participation and decision making throughout the career planning process. Participants will have an opportunity to complete each step of the discovery process with an employment seeker, learn how to facilitate a customized employment planning meeting, and develop a vocational profile. Trainees will learn the basics of self- employment/entrepreneurship, the impact of wages on disability benefits, availability of work incentives, and how to make referrals to other agencies for assistance.
Session 6-8: (1/5, 1/6, 1/7)
Community Research & Job Development
This 3-day session provides an overview of customized employment and uses the information obtained about the employment seeker during discovery process to create a Job Development plan. Participants will learn how to develop relationships with businesses, assist employment seekers with the job search process, develop employment proposals, understand LEAN process improvement, and negotiate a win-win job match based on the employment seeker’s ideal conditions of employment and the needs of a business. Participants will have an opportunity to complete each step of the job development process with an employment seeker.
Session 9-10: (1/18, 1/19)
Workplace & Related Supports
This 2-day session focuses on developing workplace supports with an overview of systematic instruction. Participants will learn how to do an effective job analysis, implement job training, fading plans, and strategies for developing comprehensive workplace supports. Participants will learn creative strategies to ensure the employee enters the job in the most inclusive manner possible and help them to maximize their job performance and meet the expectations of the workplace.
Registration Closed
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