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Become a monthly donor and help eliminate chronic homelessness |
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Therapeutic Supported Employment:
The ESTEEM Program |
The ESTEEM program uses therapeutic counseling and support for homeless and formerly homeless adults as a
tool for personal development in a workplace environment. Clients engage in a variety of skills
training, supportive counseling, and "hands-on" experiences that are provided in a vocational context to
encourage individuals to grow and move towards independence. Practical experiences gained in
workplace settings are used to address individuals' psychosocial development, as well as issues of adequacy,
competency, accomplishment, self-awareness, social interactions, and accountability. Ultimately, many
clients enter into internships and competitive employment, bolstering confidence, independence and
self-sufficiency and successfully moving into more permanent and private housing.
PROGRAM GOALS FOR 2008
- Enroll 250 clients in the program
- Ensure at least 50 clients are employed
- Hold at least 12 retention seminars
- Hold at least 100 prevocational groups
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ESTEEM Levels
Prevocational Groups
Prevocational Groups are hour-long seminars designed as an engagement/recruitment tool for those that utilize
services at our two drop-in centers (note the estimated population that just use services but are not active
clients looking for housing is over 4,000.) The groups, led by ESTEEM's program director, are
intended to identify and demystify the job training and readiness processes to encourage enrollment for those
that are ready. Specific projected outcomes of the groups include:
- Discuss perceived barriers to employment including: hygiene, communication "dos and don'ts," fear
of work social norms such as talking to a supervisor, peer vs. customers, home vs. work (what is
appropriate in each setting) and dress.
- Discuss the balance between searching for housing and job training/competitive employment.
Some clients searching for housing don't believe both can be done simultaneously.
- Provide guidance to site staff (p/t vocational specialists) on accessing clients' motivation,
commitment, interest in exploring work job readiness and problem solving.
- Expand the program to a third site, The Travelers Safe Haven.
Tier I (ADL & Soft-Skills Training)
Tier I is a six-month module that joins job-readiness skills with clinical services to encourage individual growth.
Clients participate for a maximum of 12 hours per week at the Urban Pathways site where they live.
Tier I also includes 10 hours of "on-the-job" training, one half-hour of one-on-one vocational counseling,
one half- hour meeting with vocational coordinators for practical follow-up and feedback related to their positions,
and a total of one hour of facilitated group sessions with peers, designed to help them address difficulties and
recognize successes. Through daily activities that model work, clients gain skills in the following areas:
scheduling, attendance, attitude, reliability, problem solving, interpersonal relationships, and communication.
Each day clients are asked to assess their own abilities in these areas and work towards individual goals that will
enhance their daily functioning. Individual therapeutic benefits/outcomes of this Tier include increased:
- Time Management skills
- Engagement skills
- Frustration tolerance
- Reliability
- Understanding of schedules
- Cleanliness and improved hygiene
Tier II (Work-related Technical Skills Training)
Tier II is a six-month module through which clients work for a maximum of 13 hours per week at an Urban
Pathways site other than where they live or accept services. This Tier includes 10 hours of
"on-the-job" training, 45 minutes of one-on-one vocational counseling, one half-hour meeting with vocational
coordinators for practical follow-up and feedback related to their positions, and one hour in facilitated
group sessions with peers. These groups are designed to identify their talents and work-world
interests, prepare resumes, and practice interviewing. Technical skills training includes:
clerical (answering phones, filing, typing), messenger (navigating public transportation), operations
(maintenance repairs, stripping and waxing floors), and food services (meal planning, ordering, cooking).
In this module clients are beginning to flex their independence and are asked to take on more responsibility
for personal decision-making, money and time management, and goal setting. Before moving on from this module,
they undergo at least one formal mock interview and have completed a resume.
In addition to reinforcement of the previous Tier's skills, individual therapeutic benefits/outcomes of this
Tier include workforce preparedness, including:
- Realistic work expectations
- An updated resume
- Interview skills
- Understanding of work goals and requirements
- Understanding the impact that working has on benefits/entitlements
- Managing stress
- Increasing communication
Tier III (Supportive Employment)
Tier III is a six-month module through which clients work at companies other than Urban Pathways.
Clients work a minimum of 10 hours a week, are paid at least minimum wage, and receive weekly job coaching
and vocational counseling as well as monthly job development counseling. This is unlike competitive
employment in that employers are part of the clients' vocational team and are in frequent communication with
the ESTEEM staff. Clients in this module are working on issues related to further independence and
increased responsibility with a "safety net" of teamwork from the employer. Upon completion of this
Tier, clients either work with the Job Development Coordinator to secure another Tier III opportunity or move
on to competitive employment.
In addition to strengthening the adult daily living skills learned from participating in the previous two tiers,
individual therapeutic benefits/outcomes of this Tier include increasing independent living, including:
- Monitoring daily activities and knowing individual limits
- Testing personal limits and acknowledging growth
- Creating and managing schedules
- Opening and maintaining personal bank accounts
- Moving into more independent living
Tier IV (Competitive Employment)
Tier IV is ongoing support for clients who are ready to enter or have entered competitive employment.
Skills training include advanced resume writing, mock interviewing, and dressing for success. Clients
meet regularly, and for as long as needed, with a job coach to ensure continued participation in the workforce.
Sixty-five percent of those who are employed maintain employment for more than six months. Issues
raised in this module include fear of success or failure, fear of increased independence and responsibility,
and handling triggers for relapse and decompensation. Clients are able to continue receiving supportive
services from ESTEEM staff until they feel stabilized in their employment. All skills learned thus far
are maintained in this Tier.
Additional individual therapeutic benefits/outcomes of this Tier include:
- Obtaining and Maintaining stable permanent employment
- Understanding triggers to relapse and decompensation
- Gained ability for self-assertion and preservation
- Prolonged psychiatric stability
- Maintaining increased independence in housing settings
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| Client Demographics |
| | Age
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| | 21-30 | 6.0% |
| | 31-40 | 12.8% |
| | 41-50 | 43.6% |
| | 51-60 | 27.5% |
| | 61-70 | 9.6% |
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| | Diagnosis
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| | Axis I | 11.7% |
| | Axis I & Axis II | 76.6% |
| | Axis II | 1.1% |
| | No Data | 10.6% |
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| | Gender
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| | Male | 43.6% |
| | Female | 56.4% |
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| Why ESTEEM is Innovative |
ESTEEM is a marriage of current vocational counseling theory and evidence-based practice of the supportive
employment paradigm. The more traditional "on the job training" structure combined with weekly
therapeutic sessions affords clients the opportunity to excel as they work on issues of personal growth and
development. Unique components of the program include:
- Unlike most traditional TEP (Transitional Employment Programs) that have openings and fit clients in,
ESTEEM staff work one-on-one on individual goals and vocational planning and find opportunities that fit
clients' profiles
- The program models the organization's "eclectic and hybrid 'continuum of care' and 'rapid placement'
model by incorporating aspects of: IPRT (intensive psychiatric rehabilitative treatment),
vocational counseling supportive employment and competitive employment to meet clients' needs
- ESTEEM staff explore clients' personal barriers to employment such as family of origin, current and
past psychiatric substance abuse history, fears of success/failure and understanding his/her own behavioral
patterns
- The incorporation of intensive counseling/crisis management when relevant
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