About
Best Practices for Supported Employment
“Best practices” is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means and that is used as a benchmark.
Currently Canada does not host a framework for best practices in supported employment. As a result there is wide variability in the practice of supported employment. By implementing this website and the nine guiding principles, we endeavor for better and consistent results and higher rates of employment for job seekers that have a disability.
The Canadian Association for Supported Employment (CASE) was established in 1999 and is a national association of community-based service providers and stakeholders who are active and invested in employment for persons with disabilities. This association strives to promote full citizenship and personal capacity for persons with disabilities through the facilitation of increased labour market participation and outcomes. Through such workforce participation, CASE also promotes social inclusion for Canadians with disabilities.
Over the past year, CASE has embarked on a multileveled research project on best practices in supported employment that involved: a literature review; a nationwide survey; input from members and attendees at the 2013 CASE conference; and content assistance and review by multiple stakeholders across Canada. The result is a one-stop website/tutorial on best practices for supported employment in Canada.
This site is designed to be user-friendly for job seekers, families, employers and support workers. It outlines the nine guiding principles of best practice for supported employment for the job seeker and support worker. The employer section focuses on the return on investment when hiring a person with a disability.
Support workers may choose to answer a short quiz on what they have read in order to receive a certificate to be entered into a database for future employer contact.
Employer requests will be sent to a support worker in their area that has participated in the training, completed the quiz and has been entered into the website database.
Job seekers and families will gain knowledge on what they can expect from a supported employment service, and in turn, what their responsibilities are to achieve employment success.
We thank the over 300 people that have participated in this endeavor, and Open School BC for the design and implementation of the website. We are also grateful for the financial support from Community Living BC. Please do not hesitate to contact us with your comments or suggestions.