Person-Centered Vocational Planning for Adults with Mental Illness

Introduction to Person-Centered Planning

Person-centered planning serves several important functions in vocational rehabilitation, including linking the individual with job development efforts, creating an accurate portrayal of the person's life, developing relationships with potential connectors, and assisting with the transition to the life of an employee (Mast & Callahan, no date). The following vocational plan applies this framework to a client referred to as Ken, a 45-year-old male with multiple mental disorders who has been absent from the workforce for over ten years. The plan moves through a structured profile of his background, capabilities, and circumstances before outlining concrete steps to help him re-enter employment.

Client Background and Personal Profile

Ken is a 45-year-old white male with three separate mental disorders. He formerly worked as a meat cutter but has not worked in over ten years due to his disabilities. He has a stable residential history and has been living with limited family support. Ken has a small group of friends but, in general, has only limited contact with other people because of his disorders.

Ken no longer drives but has access to public transportation that can bring him to a wide range of areas for work. In general, he is able to meet his day-to-day living needs within his own neighborhood. There are a number of areas Ken can access that have jobs. The downtown core has a range of retail and hospitality positions, and there are some light warehouse or manufacturing jobs near his home.

Ken is a high school graduate but does not have any education beyond K–12. He has a desire to upgrade his education, but his condition and lack of finances have made it difficult for him to do so. He completed an apprenticeship in his twenties to become a meat cutter, a position he then held for several years. This is the sum total of his vocational training. With his medication, Ken currently performs at a moderate functional level, and it is believed that he is able to hold steady work. He has been managing his own finances and living arrangements for the past three years successfully. Ken does not have any active hobbies beyond walking, but is interested in football and hockey on television.

Ken's most important past job was his work as a meat cutter, which he held for twelve years before his mental condition cost him his position. He was deemed to be of insufficient mental capacity to hold that role — in particular, the use of knives was something the company did not feel comfortable with. His work prior to this was mostly manual, itinerant labor from over twenty years ago, meaning few transferable skills remain. Ken is, however, still capable of adhering to food safety standards.

Employment History and Functional Capabilities

With respect to his functioning at home, Ken performs as a functional adult. He is able to perform the basic tasks associated with day-to-day life, such as shopping, cleaning, and paying bills. He has not taken on any form of paid or unpaid part-time work since he lost his job as a meat cutter and sought treatment for his disorders. In the assessment of his case worker, Ken is able to meet basic competence standards. His disorders may at times make it more difficult for him to interact with others, so some degree of independence in his work environment may be required. Ken should not work with knives or heavy equipment, although the actual risk of incident has been deemed to be very low.

Ken responds well to basic instruction and can work with minimal supervision once he understands a task. He will require some support in order to help him adjust to a new routine and to deal with new co-workers, but it is believed that Ken will generally be able to perform the functions of a basic job without difficulty. He prefers to find work with food again, since he enjoyed his meat-cutting job very much. A food production factory position may suit Ken, or work in an institutional kitchen involving repetitive tasks away from the public.

Ken does not have many connections. His few friends and family are of limited help in creating employment contacts, and after ten years out of work, Ken has no professional contacts of his own. There are a few community resources available, but these are not specifically designed to help those with mental illness, and most are at capacity due to the current economic climate. Ken is quiet and does not relate easily with others, which may present some behavioral challenges. He is therefore best suited for positions that do not require a great deal of interaction or teamwork. He is best suited for relatively simple tasks, but once he learns a skill he will be able to perform the job to expectations.

The most appropriate employment goal for Ken would be a part-time permanent position. Having not worked in ten years, Ken may need a transition period before moving into full-time work. Part-time employment is therefore the most appropriate starting point. There are a number of steps that can be undertaken as part of an employment plan for Ken.

Employment Goal and Job Search Plan

The first step is to target potential employers and positions, which should be ranked in terms of desirability. Ken needs to narrow down the job search, as an unfocused search could become overwhelming. Companies that cannot accommodate his needs should be removed from consideration. With a refined list of suitable jobs and employers, Ken can then begin to gather contact information. Potential employers should then be contacted, and the results of these outreach efforts should be logged and tracked to help identify patterns in the responses and guide the process.

Ken will also need to be assessed on his skills. Most employment agencies conduct basic skills tests for new clients. A tool such as the CareerScope assessment can be administered to determine Ken's general learning potential and skill aptitudes. Alternatively, Ken may need to be placed in an unpaid position for a few days to assess what he can do in a food production or other suitable work environment. Once his skills have been assessed, a training plan will need to be drawn up that matches those results against the needs of employers in the marketplace. In the short term, bringing Ken's skills to a level where he can perform the basic tasks of a straightforward job is the primary goal. Ken will also need computer training, as he has very little experience in this area. He will at a minimum need to be able to conduct a basic online job search, even if he ultimately secures a position that does not require computer skills.

Because Ken is currently dependent on public transportation, any work found for him — whether paid or unpaid — will need to be in a location he can easily access with a minimal amount of walking. His schedule will also need to be synchronized with his bus schedule so that he is not forced to spend excessive time waiting for transportation or risk being late for work.

Ken will also need assistance with other elements of pre-employment preparation. He has not had a job interview in over twenty years and has not produced a resume in that time. Both of these issues must be addressed in order to make Ken a more competitive candidate. He is unlikely to be familiar with modern job interview techniques, nor with what he can do to present himself effectively during an interview. It is likely that Ken will benefit from conducting informational interviews with prospective employers so that he can determine which positions and companies might be the best fit for him.