Embedding Customised Employment as Service in Your Organisation

Many service providers consider Customised Employment and Discovery to be an adjunct to their existing offering and then wonder why it doesn’t work. There are a variety of reasons why it fails inside organisations and an excellent reason to invest in it properly.

?First and foremost, you need to recognise that it isn’t an adjunct to existing services. It is a new service offering that is both effective and complex and requires both time and investment. Not once but throughout the entire life course of your service offering. It isn’t simply about investing in training a few staff and then hoping it will filter down to other staff, and hey, bingo, you’ve got trained staff. Nope, there’s a reason why there are training standards and accredited training in the home of CE, the USA.

?Here are some things to consider.

?·????? How will clients find the service within your organisation?

?·????? Who are your gatekeepers, and do they know what CE is?

?·????? What are the barriers and enablers within your organisation?

?·????? Will your service align with the NDIS?

?·????? How will this work in the DES system?

?·????? Where does it fit into your existing organisational culture?

?·????? Does CE have complete organisational buy-in?

?·????? Who are you going to train?

·????? Are they the right people?

?·????? What level of post-training mentoring and support are you going to invest in?

These are some of the easy yet complex questions to understand and consider. We’ve been training and working with service providers for over a decade locally and internationally. We’ve seen all manner of service providers get it wrong, and so many get it right. If you can’t answer these questions, then you certainly won’t be able to answer the next set of questions. It isn't as simple as adopting a label or training a few people.

Equally, we’ve been researching and evolving CE longer, so we know what it is and where it's going. Our Work First Customised Employment practice model is globally recognised for its innovation and compliance with the UNCRPD Article 27 and UN sustainability goals.

It’s also why we deliver employment services: to ensure that we experience what you experience and that practice informs research and development. We aren’t admirers of problems from Ivy Towers; we actually do the work and see the pain and issues daily.

It’s the reason we have an annual retreat in October every year: to gather like-minded people together to explore what's happening and what's needed and share experiences and ideas. This year’s Retreat will take CE a big leap forward in Australia.

A host of new developments are coming to ensure fidelity to the evidence and the setting of standards to give the public and government confidence in service delivery. If you’re going to deliver CE, then you need to be part of the conversation.

Find out more about how we can help your organisation at www.cderp.com.au

To be a part of the discussion at our annual Retreat,

follow this link: https://tinyurl.com/5n8tzssy

If you want to discuss it, you can call Dr Peter Smith on 0427813840, but remember, I do like to occasionally sleep and step away from work.