Vocational Rehabilitation Services
Our vocational rehabilitation services empower people with disabling health conditions to access, maintain, or return to work and to engage in meaningful, purposeful activities. We support people with engaging in activities to achieve their career, employment, and work goals by identifying barriers and limitations, addressing unmet needs, and referring them to disability, health care, and social service professionals to improve functioning in multiple areas of health and well-being including:
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Physical, psychosocial, neurological, and cognitive health;
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Family relationships, friendships, and social supports;
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Spiritual health (connection to higher self, spirit, creator, and a sense of purpose/meaning);
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Community engagement and participation;
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Leisure, recreation, and self-care;
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Employment and work productivity;
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Economic and financial security; and
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Other areas of health and well-being that may be important or relevant for you.
We offer 6 phases of steps for vocational rehabilitation services that can fit into supporting each person's unique needs, to meet them where they are at when starting services with us:
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Initial Consultation
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Intake Interview
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Vocational Assessment
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Vocational Planning
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Counselling & Intervention
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Closure Meeting
Initial Consultation
Initial Consultation is the 1st step in the Referral Phase. It includes a free 15 minute phone or video call to discuss the reason for your referral, past experiences, expectations or hopes, and your initial thoughts about vocational rehabilitation needs and goals. It's also a chance to ask questions and get answers. From this consultation, we will decide if our vocational rehabilitation experience and qualifications are a good match for supporting you through our services, or if it would be more appropriate to refer you to a different provider or resource who could be a better fit.
Intake Interview
Intake Interview is the 2nd step in the Intake Phase. It's an opportunity to build rapport and trust between the you and the vocational rehabilitation professional. It involves interviewing and questions to understand important past and present factors that influence who you are, your lifestyle, occupational activities, health conditions, barriers, limitations, and needs. We gather important information as part of the intake to determine your vocational rehabilitation potential. We identify barriers to functioning in daily life, assess your rehabilitation needs, and determine if medical and/or psychosocial services may be needed to support you through a referral to health care professionals for further assessment or intervention. We may ask you to rate your current state of health and quality of life satisfaction to establish a baseline.
Vocational Assessment
Vocational Assessment is the 3rd step in the Assessment Phase. An initial Vocational Assessment builds a comprehensive picture of your vocational potential and support needs. It involves a structured interview to identify your level of functioning in relation to vocational preparation, employment selection, and career decision-making. The information gathered will attempt to identify and understand your vocational profile, vocational needs, barriers to employment, and overall employability. There may be recommendations for vocational exploration activities and testing in the area of abilities, achievements, aptitudes, interests, strengths, skills, and values related to career and work. Clients with multiple or complex health conditions and barriers may require a referral for specialized assessments with medical and psychosocial health care professionals or vocational evaluators with a particular expertise. This initial vocational assessment is a starting point for identifying your vocational needs before creating a vocational plan with goals and activities or interventions.
Vocational Planning
Vocational Planning is the 4th step in the Planning Phase. It establishes specific objectives, goals and actions necessary to meet your needs identified from formal or informal assessments. All goals and actions will be related to your assessed vocational needs, with the intention of including any important medical and psychosocial health conditions or barriers. Planning may include interpreting reports from your health care professionals to complete a vocational plan with recommended activities, interventions, milestones, costs, and estimated timelines. The plan may include a brief summary and rationale supporting the focus of proposed activities and services (including start/end dates and durations); SMART goals; identified responsibilities of the client and any team members; and proposed resources needed. The plan includes recommended vocational interventions to overcome or remove barriers to work and any determination for further education/training, which may require a vocational training plan. Planning addresses the components of a client's needs in multiple areas to enable participation in vocational activities, promote well-being, and enhance quality of life.
Counselling & Intervention
Counselling and Intervention is the 5th step in the Intervention Phase. It involves implementing all the actions agreed to in the vocational plan to address your identified vocational rehabilitation needs. Throughout this collaborative process, we partner with you by offering positive regard, empathy, and genuineness. We honor that you're an expert on your life and we believe in your potential for change and growth. Our interactions are caring, respectful, and safe. We follow a holistic, person-centered, strengths-based, and trauma-informed approach. We actively listen, ask open questions, provide affirmations, reflect, and summarize our understanding with you. We monitor your progress toward goals and identify any issues that arise. Examples of interventions include: career/vocational counselling; vocational exploration; vocational readiness tools and tests (abilities, achievements, aptitudes, interests, strengths, values); transferable skills checklists; labour market analysis; job prep/readiness and job search activities; interview practice; job development; accommodations; and more.
Closure Meeting
Closure is the 6th and final step. A closure meeting and report occurs near or at the completion of your vocational plan, when you've achieved your goal(s) and intervention activities are no longer needed. You will be able to express any concerns and we will make our best efforts to ensure you have the support needed in your home, community, school, or work place, once your vocational rehabilitation goals have been met. Together, with any of your family or health care team members, we will collaborate to determine if any other vocational needs exist and/or the goals in your plan have been achieved to the best extent possible. We will complete a closure meeting and a brief summary report. We may ask you for feedback about your experience or to complete a questionnaire to understand your perceived progress and experience of changes made since starting services.