Oregon Employment Services
Meadowlark offers a variety of services in Oregon to assist individuals in obtaining and maintaining employment. Click the buttons below to read descriptions of each service.
Read more about our services below, and get in touch with our staff if you’d like more information! And head to the Oregon Vocational Rehabilitation website to learn more about eligibility for services.
Comprehensive Employment Assessment
Job Placement Services
Career Exploration
Career exploration includes activities that support the participant for the purpose of identifying the job goal for development of the Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE). It may include activities for the participant or assess the feasibility of a job goal, strengths and concerns, job shadows, informational interview, labor market surveys, vocational texting, and other job related experiences. The job developer looks at:
The labor market
Participant information
Employment activities
Disability-related barriers
Discovery
As the name implies, the fundamental purpose of discovery is to find out who the person is. This process begins prior to specific employment planning, and helps to inform and shape the person’s career development plan.
A qualified ODDS Employment Specialist provides discovery, and it is grounded in community-based experiences that are tailored to the person’s skills, interests and talents. Such experiences help the person and the people who support them to understand the elements that are crucial to the person’s employment success. While conversations with people who are close to the person are important, community-based experiences are the core of discovery. The discovery process generally includes:
Interviewing the individual and people who know that person well (family, friends, support staff, personal advocates, etc.).
Observing the individual in various settings, including their own home and their surrounding community. This might include observing the individual in typical life routines and activities.
Accompanying the individual on planned community-based activities that are tailored to the person, including activities that might be new or unique to the person.
In general, the results of the discovery process should yield and document:
The conditions or characteristics necessary for the person to succeed in any job developed for them.
The person’s interests that give direction toward general areas of work likely to be intrinsically motivating.
The contributions the person will offer the employer and business.
The information identified during the discovery process is captured in a narrative format known as the discovery profile. The profile adds to the information that drives job development efforts. This information also helps to describe the conditions necessary for achieving as good a job a match as possible.
Discovery is a short-term service, expected to take a maximum of three months. However, upon request and with consent of the individual receiving the service, a Service Coordinator (SC) or Personal Agent (PA) has the option of extending the service for an additional three months (for a total of six months).
Targeted Vocational Assessments
This community-based opportunity evaluates specific vocational skills, tasks, and determines accommodations needed for success in the desired employment field.
Community-Based Work Assessments
CBWAs are utilized to determine a participant’s work strengths, compensatory skills, types, and levels of support needs that cannot be identified through the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor’s comprehensive vocational assessment, eligibility documentation, or any other means. CBWAs are not vocational goal specific but must be completed in a Competitive Integrated Employment setting. The CBWA will provide information that supports the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor’s ability to write a thorough and comprehensive IEP.
JOB PLACEMENT SERVICES
Job Search Assistance
This direct service is provided in place of Job Placement Services when the Participant will need limited job search assistance. It includes helping facilitate the Participant’s use of community resources in their independent job search.
Direct Job Placement
The immediate placement of a participant into competitive integrated employment, that aligns with the participant’s job goal and the number of work hours requested, at any point prior to referral to the contractor.
Job Coaching Short Term
Direct services authorized by the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and provided to teach the Participant the essential skills necessary to complete required job tasks beyond what is normally provided by the employer. Job Coaching services include onboarding activities, defined as necessary extensive assistance with activities such as attending new hire trainings, developing strategies to ensure comprehension of new hire expectations, and one-on-one review and study of employee manuals and job-related materials. Job coaching may also include job related tasks such as basic work etiquette, job related time management, hygiene, organization, task analysis, self-advocacy, and disclosure.
Job Coaching Long Term Ongoing
Includes initial, ongoing, or maintenance of support to maintain and advance in an individualized competitive integrated job in the general workforce for which an individual is compensated at or above the minimum wage, but not less than the customary wage and level of benefits paid by the employer for the same or similar work performed by individuals without disabilities.
Initial:
Includes the time when the individual begins a new job.
Learning a new job
Developing communication and appropriate relationships with supervisors and co-workers
Ensure support is in place so that the individual will be successful on the job.
Support to arrive at work on time
Ensure proper hygiene
Ensure proper and clean attire
Coordination with:
Residential provider
Transportation provider
Natural supports
Behavioral services
Medical supports
Developing natural supports
Ongoing Job Coaching:
Ongoing Job Coaching support includes the support outlined for initial job coaching. It is expected that, for most people, the degree and intensity of these supports will decrease around the time the rate for ongoing job coaching begins.
Ongoing job coaching also requires assistance with helping the individual to advance in his or her career as evidenced by a job coach fading, raises, more hours, increased responsibility and/or promotion, etc.
One sign of successful job coaching is that the person has become more independent, allowing the job coach to fade as much as possible.
Maintenance Job Coaching:
Maintenance job coaching support includes the support outlined for initial and ongoing job coaching. It is expected that, for most people, the degree and intensity of these supports will have significantly diminished around the time the rate for maintenance job coaching begins.
Maintenance job coaching is intended to provide auxiliary support to an individual who otherwise works independently, i.e. occasional consultation regarding work concerns, change in supervisor or duties, etc.
Retention Services
An array of individualized services while working with the participant and employer, to determine issues and solutions on the job, to ensure participant’s employment success. It includes ongoing and routine engagement of employer and/or participant to identify issues affecting job performance and to establish a plan for remediation which will allow the participant to make changes to maintain competitive integrated employment. This will be based on the participant’s preference of disclosure. Retention has been successfully achieved when the participant has reached 90 days of successful competitive integrated employment and job stability.