Individual Placement and Support (IPS) DDS Employment Grant
In February 2023, Dr. Marjorie Solomon and her team at the MIND Institute were awarded an Employment Grant from the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS). The goal of their 18-month project is to help develop evidence-based practices (EBPs) in the provision of supported employment services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and for those with autism without IDD.
The model we are using is called, “Individualized Placement and Support (IPS).” It is the customized supported employment model with the largest worldwide evidence base (See http://ipsworks.org/).
Although this model is not radically different from the practices used at high quality supported employment agencies, IPS has some unique aspects. For example, in IPS, very few clients are excluded as long as they want to work. In IPS, employment support professionals develop jobs for their clients to ensure that selected opportunities are in consumers’ areas of interest and expertise. These same employment specialists then serve as their clients’ job coaches. One of the great things about IPS is that it is a “place and train” versus a “train and place” model meaning that the goal is to get consumers jobs right away and work on skills later in the context of the actual job. IPS also includes benefits counseling as well as a collaborative and integrative approach between all of a consumer’s providers. Finally, and importantly, IPS agencies must be reviewed semi-annually to ensure they are adhering to the model with good fidelity. This ensures that services continue to be of high quality.
Our supported employment agency partners in this trial include 4 Alta California Regional Center-vendorized supported employment agencies (InAlliance, On My Own Community Services, tkMomentum, and PRIDE Industries). Representatives of these agencies were trained in the IPS model and have continued to meet weekly to discuss the IPS model principles, client issues, and funding issues as well as to share resources. Soon these agencies will undergo their first IPS fidelity reviews. It is anticipated that this will be an educational and motivational experience. These agencies have thus far enrolled 15 consumers in the trial.
In a parallel process, the grant convenes a quarterly Stakeholder panel to provide consultation on some of issues related to funding, organizational change, and sustainability that are raised by the supported employment providers in their weekly meetings. The Stakeholder Panel consists of autistic adults, family members, state policy makers, policy experts, experts in promoting change through legislation, job developers, and academics. So far, both the supported employment agency and Stakeholder groups have had rich discussions about ways to improve the provision of supported employment services that uphold the tenets of Employment First policies.
We are hopeful that we will be able to show that IPS can be delivered with good fidelity by the partner agencies, that IPS will lead to quicker placement in jobs that are fulfilling to consumers, that overall outcomes related to job acquisition and retention are superior to supported employment as usual, and that we can work with funders to ensure that the IPS model is sustainable for agencies.
