E1MN, a state-agency partnership
working together to deliver a more seamless and timely
employment support system.
As a VRS/SSB counselor, it's critical
that you collaborate with other professionals
when supporting a person using a disability waiver.
The way you collaborate looks a little
different during the plan, find, and keep phases.
Let's start by looking at the plan phase.
As a reminder, during the plan phase,
the person gets help discovering their interests and strengths
and then preparing for a job.
While the waiver case manager and waiver employment service
provider have the lead role during this phase,
VRS/SSB staff must be prepared to collaborate.
For example, a waiver case manager or an employment
service provider may need information
about the VRS/SSB application process,
or they may need clarification about VRS/SSB services.
All right, now let's look at some important steps
for collaborating during the find phase.
As a reminder, during the find phase,
the focus is on helping a person find
a job and any needed support services
to help the person become stable in their new job.
During this phase, VRS/SSB staff have a lead role
and should take a number of steps
to collaborate with other professionals.
For starters, as a VRS/SSB staff,
if you haven't already set up a My Vault account,
you should do so.
With a My Vault account, the person
can easily and securely share information with you,
such as their employment portfolio, benefits lookup,
and waiver support plan.
You can also easily share VRS/SSB documents
with a person using your My Vault
account, such as the employment plan and placement plan.
By sharing VRS/SSB documents with the person
through My Vault, you'll make it easier for the person
to share those documents with others on their team,
including their waiver case manager.
Another important way to collaborate
during the find phase is to invite the waiver case
manager to meetings and proactively
communicate with them.
To have a seamless and timely employment support system,
all of the person's team members need
to be up to speed on the person's progress.
It's particularly important to keep the waiver case manager
updated so that they're prepared to step in when the transition
to keep phase services starts or if the person needs help
coordinating their residential or other waiver employment
services.
To effectively collaborate, VRS/SSB staff
should proactively invite case managers to meetings,
notify case managers when the person secures a job,
and share the person's stability date with the case manager when
that date is determined.
Once stability is reached, the person
will transition to keep phase services funded by the waiver.
During the keep phase, the waiver case manager
again takes a lead role since this phase
is about helping the person obtain
supports to keep their job.
While VRS/SSB staff do not have a lead role during this phase,
VRS/SSB staff proactively stay in contact for up to 90 days.
VRS/SSB staff should reach out to the waiver case manager,
the waiver employment service provider, and the person
to make sure the person has the supports they need
to remain stable on the job before closing the person's
VRS/SSB case.
As you saw in this video, by collaborating
with other professionals, you're helping
to achieve the shared vision.
Together, we work to align our systems
so that people who are on HCBS disability waivers
get seamless and timely support to make informed choices
and meet competitive, integrated employment goals.