Supported Employment: Training Frontline Staff - SAMHSA Store ...

How confusing! Let’s list the pros and cons of
this decision to get a clearer idea of what you
want to do.
Help consumers get on with life
beyond illness
SE services can directly help consumers get on with
life beyond illness by supporting them within their
role as employees. Being an employee involves
devoting time to non-illness-related activities and
often improves how consumers see themselves.
Help consumers get on with life
beyond illness
• Focus interactions to promote job success
• Stay clear about the goal of the work
• Avoid unneccessary self-disclosure
Focus interactions
To be effective, interactions with consumers must
focus on consumers’ interests and what you need to
know to help consumers pursue their work-related
goals. You will be more likely to keep interviews
focused if you have at least one or two objectives in
mind when you meet with consumers.
Consumers may shift the focus of the interaction to
another relevant topic. If this occurs, try to redirect
them to the original topic while respecting their
preferences. Professional encounters may naturally
meander off topic, but it is your role to focus
interactions to ensure that you accomplish the work
that needs to be done.
Stay clear about the goal of work
The most important reason for keeping the
interaction focused is to ensure that it promotes
consumers’ work goals. Conversations that meander
off of the topic may be difficult for some consumers
to follow and may mean that you do not get needed
information.
While maintaining the focus of the interview,
it is also important for the conversation to be
comfortable and relaxed and to allow some
deviations from the topic. Such deviations may
give you useful information that you might not
otherwise get.
As an employment specialist, you are a professional.
In other words, you are paid to support the
work life of consumers you serve. Meeting this
goal involves being friendly to consumers while
remembering that you are not being paid to be a
friend. It is very important to keep your role firmly
in mind because some consumers may lose track of
it or not understand it, particularly when you meet
in community settings such as consumers’ homes,
restaurants, and other public places.
While your role continues to be that of a
professional, other activities that are ordinarily
associated with friendship, such as having a
cup of coffee or taking a walk, may take place.
Consumers may interpret these activities as
signifying that the relationship is a friendship and
that could change the interaction away from a
focus on consumers’ work life. Be aware of these
possible interpretations and work to maintain
the distinction between professionalism and
friendship, while striving to create a comfortable
and effective working relationship.
Avoid unnecessary self-disclosure
It is important to avoid self-disclosure that turns the
attention to you and away from consumers’ work
goals. Sometimes consumers’ dilemmas, such as
experiences with depression, anxiety, or conflicts
on the job, remind you of something that you have
struggled with yourself. In general, it is not helpful
for you to use personal disclosure when working
with consumers.
While careful, strategic self-disclosure may
occasionally be helpful, in many cases such
disclosure shifts the focus away from consumers
and detracts from addressing the problem at hand.
Training Job Supports Frontline and Collaborations Staff 13 Module 4