Employment

The goal of our employment program is to support member’s efforts to improve their financial well-being through employment and, when possible, become economically self-sufficient. Tasks and resources include:

  • Job Club

  • Visiting employed members on the job

  • Resume writing

  • Mock interviews

  • Job searches

  • Job fairs

  • Connecting members to community resources

  • Developing and fostering professional relationships with employers

  • Conducts work site visits to employers to ensure successful member placement

  • Potential participation in the interview process

  • Assist members in developing career and/or employment goals

  • Matches job seeking member and employers

  • Mediates or problem solves member/employer issues

  • Makes presentations to businesses within the community to promote employment service programs and develops new jobs for members

  • Contact with transitional employers

Within the Clubhouse there are four levels of employment:

  • Clubhouse staff train and support individual members at the employment site. Members work part-time (12 to 20 hours per week) for six to nine months and are paid by the employer. At the site, members learn different vocational skills while building the confidence to pursue competitive employment. Transitional employment helps members put into practice skills they have developed through the worked-ordered day. Transitional Employment helps members to build their resumes and facilitate their search for competitive work.

  • Research shows that supported employment is a cost-effective and cost-saving intervention because it decreases psychiatric hospitals' use and overall mental health spending.

    Members build upon the skills developed in the previous levels to seek, secure, and keep competitive part-time and full-time employment. Staff provides direct and indirect support to assist members in retaining or changing jobs as requested.

  • Members continue to build upon the skills they developed in the previous levels of employment to apply and obtain competitive employment on their own.

    The member remains a member of the Clubhouse, even when not receiving direct job support.

  • Footprint to Success Clubhouse is the only Clubhouse in Florida with two supported employment programs for individuals living with severe mental illness. Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is an evidence-based program that began at the Clubhouse in 2016. The program model was developed by Robert Drake and Deborah Becker at the New Hampshire-Dartmouth Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center in 1993.

    The eight principles of the IPS program are:

    • Open to anyone who wants to work

    • Focus on competitive employment

    • Rapid job search

    • Targeted job development

    • Client preferences guide decisions

    • Individualized long-term supports

    • Integrated with treatment

    • Benefits counseling included

    IPS employment specialists meet weekly with the team of providers who serve the same group of people (e.g., care coordinators, therapists, medication providers, and housing specialists). The team meets regularly to review clients' status and plans coordinated, recovery-oriented services.