Vocational Assessments And Counseling

Submitted by tomrue on

Work History Assessment

We all have a basic human need to identify where we fit in to our community, to make sense of the world. Feeling productive, useful, and autonomous are important to a person's self-concept.

Toward this end, I can help you assess and build on your strengths and abilities, so you can take the next steps toward gainful and more fulfilling and rewarding employment in a field of your choosing. If mental health or addiction mean that you need vocational training or further education, help is available to help you become employable and employed.

Starting with a Work History Assessment, I can help you identify your desired direction and to take the steps to become ready and able to work. You may need retraining with a new skill set and knowledge to become financially independent as well as free from alcohol and drugs.

You decide your vocational future by choices you make each day, which are based on the decisions and values learned during in your early years and later during your recovery process.

How you present yourself to prospective employers in person and in writing is vitally important, as well. Do you give off messages that are consistent with your values? Do you project confidence? Do you know where you want to go in life, and what you are willing to do to get there?

Counseling can help you to clarify and act on your individual priorities, what you consider valuable and important, your ambitions; and provide support, guidance, and advocacy as you overcome past obstacles and embark on a new career path. You can explore availability of funding for education and training, while using counseling sessions to strategize finally landing a job or career path that you find most rewarding.

At the same time, supportive counseling can help you maintain your recovery, stay on the right track that you have chosen, and help you become and remain able to the kind of work you want to do in spite of past mistakes and disabilities.

Vocational Support Services in the Community

New York is among the most progressive states in the U.S. with respect to support services for people who are physically or otherwise disabled.

If you are psychiatrically disabled, or if you are a recovering addict or alcoholic, you may be eligible for supportive services and financial aid through the NYS Education Department, Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID).

Eligibility for VESID requires documentation of the following, and also that you meet certain minimal functional criteria:

  • that you have a medically diagnosed physical, developmental, or emotional disability;
  • that your condition(s) creates significant impediments to your ability to work;
  • that there is a reasonable expectation that VESID services will enable you to work; and
  • VESID services are required to enable you to become employed.

Whether or not you receive SSI or SSDI benefits, you may still be eligible to receive VESID services.

Information that must be provided to support your application for VESID services is descrbed in memorandums of understanding between VESID and OMH and OASAS.

To learn how to begin your application process, read these Instructions and this Basic Guide. For more information, you may contact the Application Processing Unit of VESID directly at 845-454-8388

A few other local resources include:

Education

Household and Financial Management

VESID service definitions for vocational assessments

VESID district offices contact information

Middletown Office
200 Midway Park Drive
Middletown, NY 10940
Telephone: (845)346-4260 Fax: (845)343-3358
TTY/TDD: (845)343-4969