Vocational Rehabilitation

Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors provide guidance in many areas including:  

• helps the customer understand his or her strengths and limitations in relation to his or her disability and impediments to employment;
• explores with the customer transferable skills and how they might be applied to overcome impediments to employment;
• helps the customer select and/or maintain a competitive integrated employment goal by providing information that allows the customer to make appropriate informed choices;
• maximizes the customer’s self-awareness regarding barriers to productivity and possible reasonable accommodations at the customer’s place of employment;
• helps the customer develop the self-advocacy skills needed for taking responsibility for continued career success; and
• provides the customer with information about relevant support services and facilitates access to those services for continued success in employment.

VR staff and their Employment Services providers provide self-advocacy assistance.   The goal is to ensure individuals are equipped to communicate their strengths, abilities, and interests.  Another vital component is understanding the who, when and how of disability disclosure when interviewing with potential employers and how to effectively request reasonable accommodations.  Ultimately, strong self-advocacy skills ensure individuals can represent themselves and make confident decisions that affect their lives while improving their self-esteem.

A full range of reasonable and necessary training services is available to eligible vocational rehabilitation (VR) customers when these services are necessary to prepare for, secure, retain, advance in, or regain the employment goal that is identified on the customer’s individualized plan for employment.

In conjunction with any available financial aid, vocational counselors will decide with the customer what types of training are necessary to build or advance in a career.

• Academic training
• Vocational training and technical training
• Credential specific training
• Work Readiness
• Apprenticeship opportunities
• Work Experience
• Project Search
• Adult Basic Education
• Texas Confidence Builders

Training environments available for consideration:

• Community colleges
• State colleges
• Technical colleges
• Public universities
• Health-related institutions
• Private postsecondary institutions
• On-the-job and registered apprenticeship sites
• Specialized training providers that are approved by Texas Workforce Commission Vocational Rehabilitation Services (TWC VR)
• Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center – specific to the needs of our customers experiencing significant visual impairments

When necessary to support vocational goals, counselors work with assistive technology specialists to determine the individualized needs of customers.   Potential services to support employment may include:

• Vehicle Modifications
• Jobsite / Home Modifications
• Hearing Aids
• Braille and Reader Services
• Computer & Adaptive Equipment

Employer Assistant Specialist

The goal of the employment assistance specialist (EAS) is to increase the quantity and enhance the quality of employment outcomes for VR customers who have a primary disability of vision loss. The EAS works in partnership with employers, the VR team, and customers with vision loss to provide specialized support to meet the customer’s assistive technology needs and reach employment goals.

Specific services include, but are not limited to, assistive technology purchase planning, baseline computer skills assessment, equipment and software installation and troubleshooting, equipment refurbishing and loans, job retention and basic consultation services.

Project SEARCH is an international initiative that supports partnerships among businesses (employers), local school districts, vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies, and other entities that serve individuals with disabilities, including intellectual and developmental disabilities. Project SEARCH promotes the successful long-term employment of VR customers in jobs that are stable, meaningful, integrated, and competitively compensated.

The program takes place in a business setting where total immersion in the workplace facilitates teaching and learning and enables enrolled VR customers to develop marketable work skills and increase their employability. Each customer has the opportunity to participate in three internships to explore a variety of career paths. The customer works with a team that includes the customer’s family and partnering agencies. The team helps the customer create an employment goal and supports the customer during the transition from school to work.

Vocational Rehabilitation offers this program in collaboration with the Amarillo Independent School District our host business, Northwest Texas hospital, and Quest Employment Services.    Amarillo is 1 of 29 Project Search sites across the state.  During July 2021, Project Search conference,  the success of the students, staff, and the program was acknowledged as Amarillo received an award for Excellent Employment Outcomes –  only one of four awarded throughout the state.  The Amarillo program exceeded 90% of its participants becoming employed and resulting in a successful employment outcome.      

For more information, please contact 806-350-7149 or 806-350-7155

Vocational counselors and / or Employment Service Providers offer guidance on exploring post-secondary as an option.   This service may include information on course offerings, career options, the types of academic and occupational training needed to succeed in the workplace, and postsecondary opportunities associated with career fields or pathways. Counseling may include advising students and parents or representatives on academic curricula, college application and admissions processes, completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and providing information on or access to resources that may support a student’s success in education and training, including support services for students with disabilities.

Work Readiness Services are offered by the vocational rehabilitation counselor or are purchased from an Employment Service Provider when a customer needs more assistance than VR staff members can provide directly. Work Readiness Services support customers in achieving an individualized level of work readiness as related to disability issues, interpersonal skills training, daily living skills, and issues that interfere with participation in obtaining or maintaining employment. Work Readiness Services allow a customer to develop the competencies and essential skills necessary to be successful on the job and in the community. When customers are ready to enter the world of competitive integrated employment, Vocational Rehabilitation offers a variety of job placement services.

Work readiness services include:

• Training on the purpose of the employment data sheet
• Locating suitable job leads and interpreting job posting
• Employment application completion
• Resume building 
• Interview Preparation

For customers who are in need of additional supports, vocational rehabilitation counselors’ partner with Employment Service Providers to provide hands-on assistance with locating their employment opportunity.  

Job Skills Training is also a service option when a customer needs more training and support than that provided by the employer. The employer, customer, Job Skills Trainer, and VR counselor are involved in the training plan and monitor the customer’s performance. All Job Skills Training is goal-focused on and in-line with the customer’s goals and abilities.  The purpose of this training:

• teaches skills;
• reinforces skills; and
• develops or sets up accommodations and/or compensatory techniques to increase the customer’s independence and ability to meet employer expectations.

Vocational counselors and our vocational adjustment trainers are skilled in assisting students with exploring various careers.  Using a variety of tools such as O*Net, CareerOneStop, Texas Careers, Occupational Outlook Handbook, or other similar tools to complete career exploration activities customers are introduced to a variety of occupations by identifying:  

• a description or video of the occupations;
• job duties and responsibilities required of workers;
• work environments for volunteering, job shadowing, paid work experience, or paid employment
• the knowledge, skills, and abilities related to occupation;
• the education and training requirements;
• pay and projection for occupational growth in various labor markets 
• similar occupations.

VR counselors and can explore TWC apprenticeship opportunities with the customer. TWC registered apprenticeships offer opportunities for employment and ongoing training to become proficient in a skilled trade or craft.

Customers pursuing apprenticeships must be job-ready and meet the qualifications of an offered apprenticeship position before applying. Customers must be able to contact the employers themselves and participate in a panel interview to successfully compete for an apprenticeship position.

Work Readiness Services prepare customers to find work and stay employed by learning and adjusting to the daily workplace routine. The goal is to help customers develop competencies and strategies to succeed in a competitive, integrated workplace. These services allow a customer to achieve an individualized level of work readiness related to disability issues, interpersonal skills training, daily living skills, and issues that interfere with his or her participation in obtaining or maintaining employment. The purpose of Work Readiness Services is to help the customer develop the competencies and essential skills that are necessary to function successfully on the job and in the community. Work Readiness Services benefit customers who have never worked, who have been unemployed for a long time, or who have a sporadic work history.

Work Experience services include Work Experience Placement and Work Experience Training. These services allow a customer to be placed within a business or organization in the community to complete short-term (12 weeks or fewer), part-time work experience to learn skills that are transferable to future long-term competitive integrated employment. A customer’s work experience can be in a volunteer position, internship, or temporary short-term employment in which wages are paid by the employer or purchased by Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) via Wage Services