Social Security And Supported Employment

From the San Antonio Express News:

The Social Security Administration is sponsoring an important four-year study of supported employment to determine how to best assist those living with mental illness. ... Supported employment offers some close supervision and skill coaching to assist the individual in coping with work stress and demands, and the demands of the illness. ...

The Mental Health Treatment Study extends an earlier pilot study in 1996 ...

Based on this earlier success [what earlier success?], the government is further investigating the Individual Placement and Support Model in a larger national study. The IPS model involves providing job coaching (only two weeks of pre-employment training so individuals can begin working sooner), a rapid job search and an emphasis on mainstreaming individuals rather than referring them to "enclaves." ...

The national study will include 22 sites this time instead of nine. From our site [in San Antonio], the study is recruiting 150 Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries who have mental illness; those already enrolled in supported employment cannot participate in the study.