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Vocational Rehabilitation a way back into the workforce for some

The Manchester Rotary Club welcomed Kathy Klingelhoets of the Tennessee Department of Human Resources Division of Rehabilitation Services to discuss the options available for individuals with disabilities who are interested in entering or reentering the workforce.

The state’s Vocational Rehabilitation Program provides a wide variety of individualized services for Tennessee residents with a documented disability to help them become prepared to enter the competitive labor market.

“What is cool about my job is it is ever changing and evolving,” Klingelhoets said. “Of course, what works today might not work tomorrow and vice-versa. We can help with resumes, applications, internet skills, we can do job shadowing.”

Some of the services offered by the Division of Rehabilitation Services include counseling and guidance, training, maintenance and transportation, transition services from school to work, personal care assistance, rehabilitation technology services, job placement, post-employment services, supported employment and independent living services.

Klingelhoets said she works with both larger companies and local businesses to help provide work opportunities for individuals with a disability, and a big part of that is finding what is the right fit for a specific individual.

Some of the businesses she has worked with include the Coffee County Manchester Conference Center, Home Depot, Aldi and Tullahoma Lanes.

“Some people thrive on mom-and-pop places, some people thrive on big businesses,” she said. “What is your fit, what do you need, what skills do you need, because what worked yesterday, 10 years ago, doesn’t work anymore.”

Klingelhoets said Vocational Rehabilitation can also help pay for a lot of needs an individual might have.

“It can be emotional, physical, mental, sensory, all those kinds of things,” she said. “It depends on who needs what, as far as what services they get.”

The length of time it takes for an individual to receive assistance has a lot to do with the amount of effort put forth, Klingelhoets said.

“Length of time depends on the person,” she said. “If they are going to go in and show up and do your stuff you get in very quickly, but if you are going to drag your feet and not show up all the time it could take longer.”

Linda Fisher, CSU Region 6 area manager and Klingelhoets supervisor, said it is important that when Vocational Rehabilitation works with a business, the relationship be beneficial to both the business and their client.

“We always want to make sure, what does the business need, what areas of concern does the business have, or what could we help provide for that person as well,” Fisher said. “So we don’t look at just as what can the business do for us we look at it as what can we also do for the business.”

Klingelhoets said that once a business hires an individual with a disability, a lot of the time they quickly see that it was a good decision for not only the individual looking to be a part of the workforce, but their business as well.

“It is making everybody more knowledgeable of people who are disabled, that they can work, they are able to work and they are the most loyal people you will ever meet,”

Klingelhoets said. “You give them that one chance and they will be with you until they retire, or they die because they are so thankful someone gave them a chance.”