Work Placement Programs
There are a few different types of Work Placement Programs, or more specifically, different purposes or objectives that the placement programs can achieve. In general, Work Placement Programs have the following features:
- They involve work-based activity in real work environments.
- It allows the individual to trial the duties of a particular occupation over the course of several weeks.
- The work placement provides concrete data about the individual’s ability to manage the physical demands, emotional tolerances and cognitive abilities required to perform the work role.
- Work placements can be used to assess general employability, or can be specific to test abilities for the identified occupation or role.
- The work-site is arranged based on the vocational goals and the duties can be based on the presenting problems. We seek to match our programs with the client’s strengths and work towards developing increased levels of functioning and competencies.
- Progress in the program is monitored with on-site sessions with the client and the work-site supervisor. Additional off-site meetings are used when the session subject matter is more complex or requires more privacy.
- We are able to provide detailed documentation regarding progress and outcomes of our programs in a medical-legal quality report.
Some of the typical problems impacting on employability as identified by referral sources are: chronic pain, mood and adjustment disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, mild to moderate brain injury and physical limitations resulting from injury. It frequently occurs that there are some residual deficits in vocational functioning even after the appropriate medical interventions have been completed and the necessary healing time has passed. An active vocational rehabilitation program can be an effective approach to address the remaining functional problems or concerns. Work Placement Programs can provide a useful transition for final return to gainful employment. On successful completion of this type of program, many clients have a direct return to work with the pre-accident employer when that job is still available. Work Placement Programs can also be used to trial an alternative vocational goal when the pre-accident job is no longer available. Work Placement Programs are versatile and when properly planned and conducted, can be utilized to address a range of other vocational rehabilitation needs.