Supportive employment is a team effort

I still remember that first week I worked with Johnny. While he spent a good part of his adult life growing up in group homes and sometimes suffered abuse from his caretakers, Johnny remained positive, strong, and full of energy for a man in his late 50s. He cleaned his bedroom, the bathroom, handled kitchen chores, and loved taking things apart and putting them back together.

He certainly wasn’t happy or feeling fulfilled when he had to take a bus to a sheltered workshop where most days he had nothing to do but sit at a table while others assembled packages of hardware items. Johnny was only trained for a specific job and if that job wasn’t on the schedule, he just sat or wandered around. Then he would get agitated and mouth off to managers. Sometimes his frustrations continued after he got home and his family had to deal with pent up anger.

Having a job coach to help him get a job was a new experience and I’m sure he didn’t know what to expect. But I will never forget him telling me, “I want a ree-al job.” No taking up space with so many others, idling away his hours and wondering when his real life will begin. It took some time but we did get Johnny his first “real job” at a Goodwill warehouse where he sorted donations and worked side-by-side with others for the same wage.

There are many other younger Johnnys living at home with mom or dad or in group homes wanting real jobs but in need of help getting them. And with the unemployment rate in many regions, including South Carolina, dropping below 4%, businesses are struggling to fill openings. The nation is nearing full employment and employers have to deal with extremely low ratios of job applicants.

This means businesses will have to expand their pool and find more creative solutions to filling jobs. Some may have thought of hiring more adults with disabilities—including cognitive disabilities—but hesitate because they don’t know how to manage them or have concerns about how it will impact their already hectic work schedules. That’s where supportive employment or working with a job coach can erase all those fears.

A job coach trained to work with adults with autism or other intellectual disabilities knows the strengths and weaknesses of his clients. He knows what jobs will work and which won’t because of his thorough assessment of his client. On the job, a job coach builds in supports for her client and natural supports among co-workers. She is the bridge for training and communication with management. The job coach is another layer of accountability for the worker/employee with a disability.

A job coach benefits business. Getting an outside perspective from a fresh face, a job coach can be something of an auditor of business operations.

For example, a hostess may be greeting customers, taking reservations and seating guests, while also cleaning tables and folding napkins. Can we find a way to relieve some of this stress so she can really smile while doing her job? Yes! A former client of mine was the perfect napkin roller, greeter and table cleaner. His smile brightened the day for many. It wasn’t full-time but it was perfect for him and the restaurant. Surveys show that more people will shop at stores or eat at restaurants that employ people with disabilities.

The challenge for job coaches is getting inside businesses to see what the company’s greatest needs are and having a pool of job-ready candidates. That is why this takes a team effort. Nonprofit or for-profit service providers with trained job coaches need to have open doors to businesses that are open to working with disabled or special needs adults. Case workers, high school administrators and teachers, along with churches, have individuals or families that need supportive employment services. When all these entities come together, we will get more people in jobs, see more businesses grow and make our communities stronger!