Region IX RCEP Home | Training Programs | Resources | Staff at RCEP | Internal Project

RCEP IX provides Education and Training Programs in a variety of methods and formats. We utilize one and two-day workshops, monthly and/or quarterly semester programs, as well as, distance methods to provide content materials to State VR Agency personnel. The following list represents a sample of topics:

• Academy for Rehabilitation Supervisors
• Arizona Practicum Project
• Case Assessment in Rehabilitation Services
• Client Services Management
• Pacific Island Training Academy (PITA)
• Placement Practices
• Professional Behavior & Ethics
• Seminar in Employment Outcomes
• Training Session Materials

Academy for Rehabilitation Supervisors

High-performance rehabilitation workplaces require supervisors who are aware of their organization’s vision and are able to demonstrate leadership ability in managing staff and implementing the organizational goals and objectives.  Rehabilitation workplaces demand that supervisors acquire and use new information, demonstrate leadership, master complex systems, utilize new technologies, communicate effectively and solve problems.
The Academy for Rehabilitation Supervisors offers four on-site courses:
ARS-1: Supervisory Theory and Personnel Practices
ARS-2: Political, Formal and Informal Systems
ARS-3: Professional Development
ARS-4: Community Development and Responsibility

Desired Outcomes
Supervisors will demonstrate increased knowledge and skills in supervision, management and leadership that will support and facilitate the mission and goals of the agency.
The agency will experience an organizational stability (consistent and standard supervisory principles) that will focus on timely and quality performance.
The agency will have an organizational climate of increased communication and commitment to the organization’s vision and work scope.  This approach will be more effective in meeting the diversified needs of consumers.

This is a four month Academy.

Arizona Practicum Project

Rehabilitation counseling is a structured systematic interview and a teaching process intended to help the consumer discover and articulate his/her rehabilitation interests and goals.  It is a type of counseling that has as its aims identification of vocational possibilities and the construction of a strategy to select an attainable goal.  Rehabilitation counseling attempts to discover and take into account the consumer’s values, limitations, abilities, interests, aptitudes, skills, and social needs.

The Arizona Practicum Project is designed to assist counselors with continued development of their counseling and communication skills through interaction and analysis exercises. Trainees will learn how to apply these principles in the rehabilitation counseling setting. Trainees will also further embrace the notion of becoming a "reflective practitioner" by evaluating themselves and peers.

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Case Assessment in Rehabilitation Services

Eligibility, Informed Choice and the IPE
This training focuses on the timelines and criteria for eligibility determination, regulatory requirements, informed choice, assessment and evidence of needs. Participants will gain information on the presumption of benefit, legal and ethical issues, trial work experience and extended evaluation. While describing informed choice, trainers also provide information on documenting the provision of informed choice and identifying the limits and boundaries.  The development of IPE includes assessment of need, identification of transferable skills, outlining of objectives, options for IPE and requirements for documentation.

Client Services Management

Client Services Management is a systematic approach to case and caseload management in rehabilitation counseling. Discussions and activities focus on management aspects of timing in the vocational rehabilitation process. A thorough review of assessment of individual needs, plan development and implementation, along with documentation and reporting is combined within action and delivery procedures that incorporate flexible management tools and resources. The resulting outcome is the creation of a personal plan for professional action.

Pacific Island Training Academy (PITA)

The PITA program addresses issues current and unique to the delivery of vocational rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities in the Pacific basin. PITA is a product of collaboration with the leadership in the Pacific jurisdictions of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the State of Hawaii, and the Region IX office of the Rehabilitation Services Administration.

Utilizing the Problem-Based Learning model, participants engage in a series of case study activities designed to enhance their problem solving skills and support creative approaches to service delivery strategies that lead to quality employment outcomes. Working in teams, the participants  utilize a case-recording handbook developed specifically for this training activity, to guide their discussions of the critical elements of the VR process as they develop a “client case” from intake to IPE, to closure.  The participants are asked to provide a culturally relevant application to the discussions, as a way of adding to everyone’s learning experience and enriching the Academy’s curriculum.

Placement Practices

Placement Practices is a dynamic workshop aimed at developing the skills necessary for supporting healthy working relationships between consumers preparing for competitive employment and the development of community employment opportunities. The focus is placed on the importance of the employment specialist training in the development, placement and retention of job/career opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
Specific topics are developed to benefit all consumer groups facing barriers to employment including those served by mental health and education cooperative programs.

Professional Behavior & Ethics

This training activity is for all agency staff. Training content focuses on the individual’s role as a professional staff member participating in the rehabilitation team approach model.  Training content will address working with internal (office/agency) customers and external (client/community) customers. Trainers present current ethical situations and the impact of unprofessional behavior. The legal aspects of policy, standards of practice and professional codes of conduct are discussed. Ethical decision-making models are presented, as well as application of ethical principles in rehabilitation services.

Seminar in Employment Outcomes

Typical employment outcomes include competitive employment. This seminar includes training focus on self and supported employment as beneficial outcomes. We also share how these alternate outcomes address the complexity of quality employment outcomes and possibilities for specific consumers. In addition, the seminar assists agency staff that face the important questions of employment satisfaction, independence supports, and benefits impact that result in quality models for changing outcomes. Training reinforces informed choice, self determination and the blending of business operations with community roots and networks.