What is OPWDD Self-Direction Series: Everything you need to know about Self-Hired Supported Employment

Self-Hired Supported Employment, or Self-Hire SEMP for short, is a line item in an OPWDD Self-Direct Budget.

This line item is similar to Self-Hire Community Habilitation, except the worker you receive is set out to help the participant with their vocational skills. Comhabs are a type of direct support professional, and they help with skill development related to life skills, and volunteering. At the time of this post, Self-Hire SEMP is one of the rarest service items in the entire budget. This is largely in part due to lack of information and awareness of what it is and how it can support a person's needs. Self-Hire SEMP workers or "job coaches" are set out to help a person who is receiving a wage from an employer or are trying to earn income through self-employment.

The interesting part about "Self-Hire" is that it allows you to hire your own job coach. This is powerful, because self-direction is the only service delivery model that allows for this. Let's say you wanted to find a job. Without Self Direction, you would have no choice but to utilize an agency for services. With Self-Direction, you can use an agency and/or just hire a person of your choosing who you trust and feel qualified for the undertaking. Pros and Cons exist for either approach. For example, you may be on a waiting list for an agency, or if you do get enrolled with an agency, you are likely working with someone who has a high caseload to begin with, possibly anywhere from 10-25 other clients. If you hired your own job coach however, and that job coach is your personal job coach, well that is a significant advantage in my opinion. Something to think about.

So what does a job coach do?

Job coaches help with just about anything related to a person's employment. They can help with developing resumes and cover letters, helping the person learn how to find job opportunities in the community, helping the person figure out the best strategy to communicate to potential hiring decision-makers, and also helping the person on a job site learn the tasks they need to perform. The list goes on.

Wait, but how do I get Self-Hire SEMP in the first place?

Here is a PDF checklist of what needs to happen before getting SEMP in your budget:

SEMP Flyer (2).pdf

Download PDF • 148KB

Your Self-Direction Broker and Care Manager can assist with this process. Key components before getting SEMP is that ACCES-VR must be explored first. This means registering with them and attempting to get services from them. Unfortunately, and at least at the time of this post, there is no way around this. ACCES-VR is the state agency dedicated exclusively to employment matters for people with disabilities, and the system is built that they must be attempted first. If for example ACCES-VR denies you in some form, the waitlist is to receive services is too long, or any other factor in which you feel ACCES-VR is unable to serve you properly, then Self-Hire SEMP comes in to save the day.

That's great, but how do i even find a job coach?

That's a great question. Self-Hire SEMP is a rare service for a reason. Most of these professionals work full time for vocational rehabilitation vendors with very high caseloads. Networking and connecting with Fiscal Intermediaries, The Westchester Institute for Human Development Community Support Network https://www.wihd.org/what-we-do/community-support-network/ or other resource agencies and asking if they have know of job coaches who are willing to help, is a good starting point.

Another strategy is converting current providers or potential providers into job coaches. For example, If you have a community habilitation worker already, and if this worker has the traits, attributes, and skills that could make a good job coach, why not ask them if they would be open to it? Job coaching is part art as much as it is part science, and if someone has the key skillset in place, they can make a great job coach. In order to become a self-hired job coach, a person will need to complete education/training credit classes from an organization called "Eleversity" https://eleversity.org/

Eleversity is a great organization and resource. They provide the job coach training classes in order to become a job coach as well as maintain your status as one. You will need to complete what is called "OPWDD Innovations trainings" https://eleversity.org/services/opwdd-innovations/

At the time of this post each class is 3 hours long, and each class is worth 3 credits. To maintain status as a job coach, you will need 6 credits annually.

If a person you know could make a great job coach, ask if they would be willing to be your job coach and attend the trainings. We need more Self-Hired job coaches!

So are the job coaches paid through my budget?

Yup. Same way that a self-hired Comhab would, with it's own budget line just like a self-hired community habilitation worker.

My Fiscal Intermediary says they do not have Self-Hire SEMP, what now?

This is a tough position to be in, as some Fiscal Intermediaries do not allow for self-hired SEMP. I feel for you. These FI's do not allow for it likely because the administration and regulation involved compared to those who actually use the service (because it is rare) leaves a revenue/cost/time issue. Of course there may be other factors involved as well. If you do find yourself in this situation, you still have the option of "Direct Provider Purchase SEMP" which is another way of accessing SEMP services where the budget will pay for the costs. However, this is pretty much the same as going the agency route. You won't have the freedom to choose your own job coach. Another less common way is to find and pay for a coach out of pocket, if you find a job coach who is willing to accept this type of arrangement. This can be expensive, but an option nonetheless.