Community Employment Services

Helping adults with documented disabilities, whether mental, physical, developmental, health-related, or other, to find competitive employment is the goal of GICV’s Community Employment Services (CES).  Through CES, GICV assists adults with disabilities in preparing for successful job placement and job retention by utilizing Goodwill Industries International’s Career Development Model.  This career model promotes full participation and choice by an individual in defining his or her wants, needs, and preferences in the achievement of employment and/or other desired outcomes.
 
CES follows the philosophy of  Supported Employment:

• Assists individuals with disabilities in finding and keeping competitive employment (work in the community that anyone can apply for and that pays at least minimum wage)
  
  

• Assists those individuals with disabilities who express the desire to work and does not excluded because of “lack of readiness” or because of prior work history, substance use, or symptoms
  .

• Provides support from employment counselors as long as program participants want the assistance
  
  

• Enables choices and decisions about work and support that are individualized, based on an individual's preferences, strengths, and experiences

Goodwill provides instruction and assistance with:

• Applications, résumés, and cover letters

• Interviewing techniques

• Basic, social and life skills

• Job shadowing, Community-Based Work Assessment, and on-the-job experience

• Job-development skills, job-seeking skills, and job-retention skills

• Placement services

• Job coaching (work-performance issues, accommodations, transportation training, long-term follow-up and support)

For more information on GICV's CES, contact Tara Burkey at (814) 536-3536, ext. 231 or tburkey@goodwilljohnstown.org.
 

Eligibility is based on an individual with a documented disability who has the desire to obtain employment.

Applicants require referrals from the County Mental Health/Mental Retardation offices, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation,
or Unlimited Care Providers.

Funded by the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) and County Mental Health/Mental Retardation (MH/MR), Autism Waiver,
and the Department of Public Welfare’s Community Care (COMMCARE) Waiver.    
 

Coverage area by counties:  Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Huntingdon, Indiana, and Somerset.

 Developmental Disabilities Services

To empower adults with developmental disabilities to achieve their fullest potential and to participate fully in their communities, GICV provides an integrated delivery system of services in a safe, structured environment where personal preferences are respected, decisions are shared, natural abilities are enhanced, and equal access to resources are available for all.
 
Conducted at GICV’s Development Disabilities Services (DDS) site in Johnstown, DDS staff members create individualized person-centered plans that are based on the individual’s goals, interests, and abilities.  GICV staff offer a continuum of prevocational paid work experiences, and community habilitation services that encourage and ensure choice, social inclusion, dignity, respect, and customer satisfaction, with a focus on the ultimate goal of increased independence in the community. 
 
Prevocational paid work experiences include: 

• Community-based enclaves in retail thrift stores

• Prevocational training in specific job tasks

• Janitorial training

• Contract, assembly-type work 

• Work and Life Skills classes

Community habilitation experiences include:  Basic adult education Social skills classes Health and safety issues Community Resource and Mobility Training  Basic computer skills Bowling, shopping trips, and special events Multisensory Room at GICV’s Central Avenue location: Provides an environment that stimulates the senses Increases awareness and positive behavior Enhances self-esteem and reduces tension

 For more information on GICV's DDS, contact Sabrina Steele at (814) 539-9857, ext. 231 or ssteele@goodwilljohnstown.org.
 

Eligibility is determined through the County Mental Health/Mental Retardation Offices.
Applicants require referrals from the County Mental Health/Mental Retardation Offices.
Funded by the Pennsylvania Office of Developmental Programs
Coverage area by counties:  Cambria and Indiana

 Multisensory Room

As part of its services for adults with developmental disabilities, GICV provides the Multisensory Room, which is designed to deliver controlled multisensory intervention therapy to stimulate awareness and increase positive behaviors.
 
Adopted in part from the Snoezelen concept developed by Dutch therapists Al Verheual and Jan Hulsegge, the Multisensory Room enables adults with disabilities or other limiting conditions to experience gentle stimulation of the primary senses without the need for intellectual reasoning.  Participants get to experience self-control, autonomous discovery, and exploration-achievements that are designed to enhance self-esteem and reduce tension to enable them to overcome inhibitions.  Free from the expectations of others and away from the pressures of directed care, they recuperate and relax.
 
The environment stimulates the primary senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell through the use of lighting effects, tactile surfaces, meditative music, and the aroma of relaxing essential oils.
 
Example benefits include:

• Stimulation of senses from patterns on the wall, soothing music, vibrating recliner, and bubble tube that responds to sound.
  
  

• Cause-and-effect as a participant can speak, clap his/her hands, blow a whistle, or pound a drum in order to change colors of the bubble tube.
  
  

• Eye-hand coordination as a participant manipulates switches on small lamps that produce visual stimuli such as a tornado effect, beads rolling down a spiral, or a revolving picture lamp.
  
  

• Control over ones environment as the participant has the ability to make choices as to how much stimuli he/she is comfortable with.
  
  

• Stimulation of vocabulary and interaction between participant and staff to promote positive work experiences.

For more information on GICV's Multisensory Room, contact Sabrina Steele at (814) 539-9857, ext. 231 or ssteele@goodwilljohnstown.org.
 

Eligibility:  Open

Applicants must not have Epilepsy.  The program benefits those who have developmental disabilities, Autism, emotional problems, or traumatic brain injury.

Funded by fee for service or under enrollment of one of GICV’s applicable programs.

Coverage area by county:  Cambria

 Peer Support Services

GICV offers services to adults who are recovering from a serious documented mental illness to obtain the skills and support they need so that they may achieve greater independence within their communities.  GICV’s Certified Peer Specialists collaborate with a mental health professional (physician, licensed psychologist, certified nurse practitioner, or physician’s assistant) to deliver Individual Recovery Plans.  Through the program, Peer Specialists assist those who they serve to accomplish self-identified goals in the areas of Living, Learning, Working, and Socialization.
 
GICV’s state-licensed Peer Support Services provides services in the community.  Services are offered seven days a week and during nontraditional hours that promote the identification and establishment of a natural support system.  Designed as a complementary service to various other services, Peer Support Services are available to individuals while they are enrolled in case management services, partial hospitalization, therapy, drug and alcohol treatment, and similar programs.
 
These services are available to adults who are currently receiving Medicaid, who either self-refer or are referred by a medical professional, and who meet other criteria that can be discussed at the time of inquiry.
 
For more information on GICV's Peer Support Services, contact Colleen Wolfhope at (814) 536-3536, 239 or cwolfhope@goodwilljohnstown.org.
 

Eligibility is determined based on a documented mental illness diagnosis, Medicaid recipients, and age 18 and over.
Applicants can self-refer or may be referred by a medical professional.
Funded by Value Behavioral Health
Coverage area by county: Cambria

 Recovery and Community Integration Program

To assist adults who are recovering from serious mental illness to obtain the skills and supports they need to achieve greater independence in the community, GICV offers the state-licensed Recovery and Community Integration Program.  Based on the Boston University Model of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, GICV’s Psychiatric Rehabilitation Specialists provide a variety of services that are designed to assist an individual to develop, reach, and maintain his/her individual rehabilitation goal.  The program is a voluntary choice-based program, which empowers participants to make informed decisions in their lives.  Services are provided at GICV’s program site in Johnstown and also within the community.
 
A GICV Psychiatric Rehabilitation Specialist will work closely with the individual to:

• Assess an individual’s rehabilitation interests

• Identify his/her rehabilitation goals

• Develop a rehabilitation plan based on an individual’s strengths and preferences

• Provide education about mental illness and recovery

• Identify community options and supports

• Provide direct skills teaching

• Facilitate peer support and support groups

GICV’s program is comprised of classroom instruction, skill development, psycho-education, independent time, time with a practitioner, time with peers (support network and family), and time in the community working on goals.  Group instruction is held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9:00 AM –3:00 PM.  Individual appointments can be made with each individual Psychiatric Rehabilitation Specialist to accommodate a participant’s schedule.

For more information on GICV's Recovery and Community Integration Program, contact Tricia Fisher at (814) 536-3536, ext. 229 or thildebrand@goodwilljohnstown.org.
 

Eligibility is based on psychiatric medical necessity criteria.
Applicants must have a serious mental illness documented by a psychiatrist.
Funded by Value Behavioral Health and Cambria County Mental Health
Coverage area by county:  Cambria

 Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program

Through the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program (Ticket Program), which is the centerpiece of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, GICV provides recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) with an opportunity to obtain employment and reach a level of earned income that allows a beneficiary to support themselves and their families without receiving SSI or SSDI benefits.
 

GICV has been approved by the Social Security Administration (SSA) as an Employment Network to provide job training, employment services, and other support services to individuals with disabilities, whether mental, physical, developmental, health-related, or other, to facilitate their entry or re-entry into employment.   The SSA issues actual tickets to disability beneficiaries, ages 18–64, who are interested in working.  Beneficiaries can bring these tickets to GICV to receive job training and employment services. This Ticket Program benefits Americans with disabilities who want to work and employers who need qualified workers.

For more information on GICV's Ticket Program, contact Tara Burkey at (814) 536-3536, ext. 231 or tburkey@goodwilljohnstown.org.
 

Eligibility based on a ticket holder’s desire to obtain and maintain employment and become self-sufficient.

Applicants must be a recipient of a “Ticket to Work” issued by the Social Security Administration.
Funded by the Social Security Administration.
Coverage area by county: Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Huntingdon, Indiana, and Somerset