Are you an employment program considering adding education services? 

You are doing the right thing!  Education should be considered an essential voca­tional intervention required to meet a young adult’s individualized long-term career goals.  However, employment programs must transform their approach to incorporate education into services so that the service can prevent issues like unemployment, under­employment, and reliance on government entitlements for young adults with mental health conditions.

Some things will change once you incorporate education as a service option into an employment program:

    • Employment goals becomes career goals. You will work with young adults to develop a long-range career that is personally meaningful can sustain economic self-sufficiency. In order to achieve this, goals will likely involve higher education or training.

    • For IPS like services, rapid goal pursuit becomes the service princi­ple rather than rapid job search. Practitioners work intentionally, purposefully, and quickly to move young adults through the stages of change, solidify their internal commitment and motivation to their goal, teach the critical skills to excel, and provide the nec­essary support, all while pursuing school and work.

    • HYPE practitioners intentionally cul­tivate school goals and send messages that school is possible and positive. A HYPE practitioner wants to cultivate the awareness of the benefits to higher education as a vocational step to achieve their long-term employment outcome.

    • Young adults shouldn’t be rushed into school and work, or into a career focus, however, we do want to plant and cultivate the seeds of hope for a meaningful vocational future.

We have extensive experience with both program & system development related to:

    • Supported Employment

    • Supported Education

    • Career Services

    • Psychiatric Rehabilitation

    • Cognitive Remediation/Executive Functioning

    • Adaptive Services for Young Adults

Our team works collaboratively with leadership & direct staff to create and implement a plan that is specific to each organization.

Click here for a detailed list of the support we can provide:

Training, Technical Assistance (TA), & Consultation Support

Contact us for your customized technical assistance plan!

  Email us at: HYPE@umassmed.edu