Work Toolkit:
Waiver employment service providers have an important responsibility to help staff build the knowledge and skills needed to support people on waivers with employment.
Supervisors can easily add the training for “Waiver employment services providers” provided on this site to new staff training and ongoing staff professional development. As you consider ways to incorporate the training, keep in mind you can assign staff pieces of the training over time; you do not need to do it all at once. Begin with the responsibilities and activities that are most critical for your staff.
The training for each responsibility has three sections that encourage staff to:
You can use the ideas, guidance, and tips on this page to help your staff become experts at their responsibilities in the E1MN partnership supporting people on waivers with work.
The training can be used for a variety of purposes including onboarding new staff and professional development for current staff.
Prior to debriefing an activity with staff:
The answer key for each activity can be found in the accordions below on this page.
Have new staff complete the steps under Learn and the activities under Do for all seven responsibilities in this path. With new staff, use the answer key for each activity to review the correct answers, discuss questions they missed, and point out key takeaways.
Recommendation: Budget 6 hours for staff to complete the steps under Learn and the activities under Do for all seven responsibilities in this path (ranging from 30–90 minutes per responsibility).
Have current staff complete the steps under Learn and one or more of the activities under Do for one responsibility. At a staff meeting, use the answer key for each activity to review the correct answers, discuss questions they missed, and point out key takeaways.
Recommendation: Start with the first responsibility in the path, then assign each subsequent responsibility in chronological order for the next six staff meetings. Budget 5-10 minutes to debrief an activity during a staff meeting.
Have current staff complete the steps under Learn and the activities under Do for one responsibility a week until they have completed all seven responsibilities in this path (7 weeks to complete). Schedule a meeting to debrief all seven responsibilities in this path with staff. At the meeting, use the answer key for each activity to review the correct answers, discuss questions they missed, and point out key takeaways.
Recommendation: Plan for approximately 90 minutes to debrief all the responsibilities for the waiver employment service provider role, approximately 10-15 minutes per responsibility.
You and your staff can take the self-assessment to determine your knowledge about providing waiver employment services. Use the incorrect responses to help inform professional development goals.
The person’s support plan guides the delivery and goals of employment exploration, development, and support services, and outlines the expected outcomes of those waiver services. Waiver employment service providers must also understand the scope and expectations for delivering the three waiver employment services.
Click on the accordions below to view the answer keys for each activity:
Supervisor tips:
Complete the activity and check your answers against the answer key to prepare for reviewing and reflecting with staff.
When reviewing with staff, have the CBSM – Employment exploration services policies and the Work Toolkit's Professional resources open and ready to refer to during your discussion.
Answer key: Employment exploration services (PDF)
Supervisor tips:
Complete the activity and check your answers against the answer key to prepare for reviewing and reflecting with staff.
When reviewing with staff, have the CBSM – Employment development services policies and the Work Toolkit's Professional resources open and ready to refer to during your discussion.
Answer key: Employment development services (PDF)
Supervisor tips:
Complete the activity and check your answers against the answer key to prepare for reviewing and reflecting with staff.
When reviewing with staff, have the CBSM – Employment support services policies and the Work Toolkit's Professional resources open and ready to refer to during your discussion.
Answer key: Employment support services (PDF)
Exploration activities and experiences strengthen a person's knowledge, interests, and preferences, which helps the person make an informed choice about competitive integrated employment. When providing waiver employment exploration services in the engage phase, waiver employment service providers set up and facilitate activities and experiences to explore employment, including individualized educational activities, learning opportunities, benefits planning, and work experiences in different environments.
Click on the accordions below to view the answer key for the activity:
Supervisor tips:
Complete the activity and check your answers against the answer key to prepare for reviewing and reflecting with staff.
When you debrief with staff, open “How to have engaging conversations about work” on your computer, tablet, or smart phone for reference.
Answer key: Conversations about work (PDF)
Supervisor tips:
Complete the activity and check your answers against the answer key to prepare for reviewing and reflecting with staff.
When you debrief with staff, open the CBSM – Employment exploration services policies on your computer, tablet, or smart phone for reference.
Answer key: Identify meaningful exploration activities (PDF)
When providing waiver employment exploration services in the engage phase, employment service providers document the person's activities and experiences and help the person create a My Vault account. With My Vault, the person can upload important files and information and share with other team members as desired.
Click on the accordions below to view the answer keys for each activity:
Supervisor tips:
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When providing waiver employment development services in the plan phase, employment service providers set up and facilitate activities and work experiences, help the person develop preliminary employment goals (which can be refined as the job search begins), and help the person upload the information to My Vault and share with other team members as desired. Employment service providers also help a person transition to the next phase of employment, which may include applying for VRS/SSB or other job search supports, contacting offices, completing applications, and providing other support while eligibility and priority of service determinations are made.
Click on the accordions below to view the answer keys for each activity:
Supervisor tips:
Important consideration: Real life situations are rarely this clear. Waiver employment service providers often need to spend time with the person and learn about their life (current and past) to identify meaningful activities. Talk with your staff about ways to learn about the person and identify meaningful activities.
When you debrief with staff, open the plan phase on your computer, tablet, or smart phone for reference.
Answer key: Identify meaningful employment development activities and experiences (PDF)
Supervisor tips:
Answer key: Referring to VRS/SSB (PDF)
Supervisor tips:
Complete the activity and check your answers against the completed Common Referral Form for the activity to prepare for reviewing and reflecting with staff.
When reviewing with staff, have the “Working with VRS/SSB” section of the Plan page in the Work toolkit open and ready to refer to during your discussion.
Answer key:
The portfolio includes a personal profile and a positive summary of what was learned during waiver employment development services (plan phase), including a preliminary employment goal. It also includes things like a benefits lookup, resume, sample application, Charting the LifeCourse Integrated Supports Star and Life Trajectory (or similar tools), and confirmation that the person has a My Vault account. Employment development service providers help the person create their own My Vault account, develop a portfolio, upload the information to their My Vault account and share with other team members as desired.
Click on the accordions below to view the answer keys for each activity:
Supervisor tips:
Answer key: Hands-on tools (PDF)
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Answer key: Positive summary (PDF)
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Once a person is stable in employment, waiver employment support service providers deliver services to help people maintain and grow in the job. This includes developing connections in the community and with the person's employer and coworkers.
Note, this responsibility does not have any activities.
Exploration, development, and support service providers participate in regular meetings with waiver case managers and may participate in or provide information for other meetings as well, such as VRS/SSB IEP meetings. Key points of collaboration for all three service providers (exploration, development and support) include helping the person use My Vault to store and share information, reviewing items shared through My Vault or by other employment team members, and updating waiver case managers on progress. Development service providers also connect with VRS/SSB liaisons and participate in the referral and application for VRS/SSB services.
Click on the accordion below to view the answer key for the activity:
Supervisor tips:
Answer key: Reasons to contact the waiver case manager (PDF)