Employment Specialist

Employment Specialist Supplemental Training:
Customer Service Skills for Employment Specialists

This supplemental training will help Employment Specialists learn elements of customer service and its importance. Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to better communicate with potential new employers and have a better understanding of the needs of business. 

Employment Specialist Supplemental Training:
Understanding Mental Illness

This one day workshop is for Employment Specialists working for a DVRS Supported Employment Vendor and/or a DDD Community Service Provider offering supported employment services detailed information on addressing the needs of individuals with mental illness or mental health needs as they return to work. Attendees will be provided a clinical overview of different mental illnesses including Schizophrenia, Anxiety, Depression, and Bi-Polar Disorder.  Attendees will have a better understanding of how to support an individual with mental illness by understanding how the illness impacts their life and how an individual can benefit from wellness supports.

Employment Specialist Supplemental Training:
Employment Supports for People Who are Blind or Visually Impaired

Please join us for this one day supplemental training for Employment Specialists working at a DVRS Supported Employment Vendor or DDD Community Service Provider. Attendees will learn how to effectively address the needs of job seekers referred by the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CBVI) by learning about specific compensatory strategies that can facilitate a blind or visually impaired job seeker to achieve success in finding and keeping a job.  Attendees will learn about the strong desire for self-reliance that exists in the Blind and Visually Impaired culture in relation to your role as a supported employment professional.  Also, this training will serve to familiarize providers and vendors with services that can be accessed directly through CBVI including assistive technology, orientation and mobility, and vocational counseling.

Employment Specialist: Introductory Level

This two-day workshop is designed for new Employment Specialists working for a DVRS Supported Employment Vendor and/or a DDD Community Service Provider offering supported employment services. Participants will learn about the models of supported employment, the phases of supported employment, the assessment process, job development, and job coaching strategies.

Employment Specialist: Advanced Level

Prerequisite: Completion of Employment Specialist Introductory Level Training

This two-day follow up workshop to Employment Specialist: Introductory Level  will include customized employment and job carving; how to engage a conversation with a potential employer; Positive Behavioral Supports on the job; Social Security Disability Benefit Programs and other Federal Work Incentive Programs; the laws, regulations, and issues surrounding disability disclosure and the ADA; Transportation; and coaching/developing strategies for supporting individuals with a criminal background.

New Jersey Customized Employment Initiative
Social Security Work Incentives

The New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities, Griffin-Hammis Associates, and The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, are sponsoring a six-session year-long training series resulting in an optional National Certification in Community Employment Services through the Association of Community Rehabilitation Educators (ACRE).  The project is working closely with both Bancroft and Samost Jewish Family and Children's Services of Southern New Jersey (JFCS). 

Topics Include:  This session presents a functional overview of SSA and Medicaid benefits, and the most commonly utilized work incentives, including Plans for Achieving Self Support (PASS), Impairment Related Work Expenses (IRWE), Property Essential to Self Support (PESS), 1619a & b, and others. Participants will learn how to do basic calculations regarding the impact of wages and self employment net earnings on cash benefits, calculate Trial Work Period Months, and generate a budget for a proposed PASS Plan. Participants will also be introduced to both on-line resources (e.g. DB101.org; Passplan.org) and local Work Incentives Coordinators.

New Jersey Customized Employment Initiative
Resource Ownership and Economic Development

The New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities, Griffin-Hammis Associates, and The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, are sponsoring a six-session year-long training series resulting in an optional National Certification in Community Employment Services through the Association of Community Rehabilitation Educators (ACRE).  The project is working closely with both Bancroft and Samost Jewish Family and Children's Services of Southern New Jersey (JFCS). 

Topics Include:  Resource Ownership and Self-Employment are powerful ways to introduce Economic Development strategies to helping people join the world of work.  We will review attaining resources and adding these resources to job negotiation strategies. Intro to Self Employment will move from to Discovery to business ownership as a possible employment strategy that fits someone’s ideal conditions of employment, including business planning, feasibility testing, marketing, and sales strategies.

New Jersey Customized Employment Initiative
Systematic Instruction and Natural Supports

The New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities, Griffin-Hammis Associates, and The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, are sponsoring a six-session year-long training series resulting in an optional National Certification in Community Employment Services through the Association of Community Rehabilitation Educators (ACRE).  The project is working closely with both Bancroft and Samost Jewish Family and Children's Services of Southern New Jersey (JFCS). 

Topics Include: This session includes lecture and hands-on practice on errorless learning strategies used to teach people complex tasks. Systematic Instruction is crucial to developing creative employment and business strategies to using natural supports, to facilitating co-worker mentoring, and to reducing stigma and job loss. Further, use of instructional strategies as part of the Discovery Process, will help us learn what works and doesn’t work for the individual in terms of teaching and support, and application of instructional strategies and supports helps to identify the individual’s key areas of competence. Critical elements taught include: prompt hierarchies, task analysis, job analysis, reward strategies, topographic and functional correctness, and the role of corporate culture.

Registration Details

Fee information:
Employment Specialist training: Employees of CBVI, DDD and DVR, staff of agencies funded by DDD and DVR, as well as individuals with disabilities and family members - no charge. All other registrants - $150 for Employment Specialist Introduction/Advanced and $75 for Employment Specialist Supplemental Training.

New Jersey Customized Training Initiative: No charge

Continuing Education Available: ASWB, CRCC, NJDOE. View Continuing Education Details
Note: The Supplemental Training and CEPC courses are not available for Continuing Education credit.

Registration: Register online now

Please note: Submission of the online form is not a confirmation of registration. Submission of the online registration form sends an email request to The Boggs Center. When your form is received, Boggs Center
staff will register you for the course requested, based on space availability. If the training is full,
you will be notified. Written confirmation of your registration and materials will be mailed two weeks prior to the training course. If you do not receive a confirmation, please contact us to verify registration and to receive directions and materials.

For more information: Please email Carole Ramirez or call 732-235-9307.

Robert Wood Johnson Medical School