>> Going to talk about the ticket to work in making the journey from benefits to employment with a special focus today on mental illness and how that might impede or help you on your journey to work. Now, before we do get talking about our subject matter, we do have a little bit of technological stuff to get through. You have been connected by default to your speakers and mic that have been built into your computer. If at any time during today's presentation you have problems hearing because of your mic and speakers, you can connect with telephone. What you need to do is click on the plus sign in front of the word audio in the webinar console up in the right hand corner of your screen and it will open up the box that you see on your right, click on that button, use telephone and it will give you today's information on how to call in, we do have a toll free number for you that I will be giving you in just a minute. We do also want to hear from you, we want your questions. We have hundreds of people joining us today so we can't get to all of your questions but we will be screening those questions and taking questions that relay to the largest number of people on the line. So please forgive us if we do not get to your question, however, we will throughout the presentation give you information as to where you can get your questions answered. To pose a question, click on the plus sign next to the word questions, it's going to open up this box, you can type your question, click the word send and it will appear on Jamie's desktop and she will be sending those questions to me. Now, we want our webinars to be accessible to everybody who wants to join us and we strive to do that, we have a great tech team and we are constantly checking our accessibility, however, if you do happen to have a problem today, we want to know about it, and not only do we want to know about your problem, if you do know of some computer fix or some program that we can use to fix the issue that you're having, please let us know about that as well. Now, today's toll free number if you are going to access the presentation by phone or need to do that is 1-877-739-5903, the access code that you'll need is 180106670, close captioning is available at that live link you see in your computer or by typing http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/ captions.cfm?activity_id=3813. We will be transcribing and recording the presentation today and it will be made available within a week or two on the Cornell website and that website is posted on your screen right now at www.ilrcornell.edu/edi/ mswise-webinars.cfm. Now, if you're unable to post a question using your computer, and the way I showed you on our little webinar console, please know that you can do that by the chat box or send an email to choose work questions, one word, chooseworkquesitons@gmail.com and if you have a question that comes up tomorrow that you think about or anytime after today's webinar is over, please get an email to support at choose work ttw, that's one word, chooseworkttw.net. Now, before we begin with our introduction and a review of the agenda, we have some questions to ask you, and these questions help us know who's listening and how you heard about us so we can get the word out about future webinars. So I'm going to launch these webinars and please make a selection and let us know how you heard about this. How did you hear about this national event? [ Silence ] >> There, coming in fast and furious, oh, over 60%, 70%, this is great, thank you for participating this is very, very helpful information for us. [ Silence ] >> All right. Thank you very much. Now, we want to know what you hope to learn from today's session. Do you want to learn most about the ticket to work or work incentives for SSI recipients or work incentives for SSDI recipients, employment networks and vocational rehabilitation or legal protection and advocacy services? Make your selection. [ Background noise ] >> We're getting a lot of participation here too. [ Silence ] >> All right, thank you for that. Now, so that we know who is listening, could you tell us what your gender is, male or female? [ Background noise ] >> All right, everybody's off the button, click on that one. And your age if you could pick one of those age groups. [ Background noise ] >> All right, thank you again. And one last time, because we know that there are often times people listening with you or watching at the same computer screen, we just want to know how many other people are with you in the room today? [ Background noise ] >> All right, thank you very much folks, that information is very helpful. And what we are going to do at this point is review today's agenda. I will be providing you with an introduction to all of our speakers as well as some basic information before we get into the meat of our session. Kendra Berry [assumed spelling] who is with Aspire Indiana, will be talking to us about the ticket to work program and the work incentives that are available to you. We have Tina Skeel [assumed spelling] who's also with Aspire Indiana, and she is an employment network and is in the position of providing you with some of the assistance and direction you will need during that journey to work. Colleen from Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation had an emergency today, so I'm going to fill in for Colleen and talk to you about state rehabilitation to just fill out that return to work effort and what state agencies can provide for you. Sue Beetcher [assumed spelling] we're happy to have from the Indiana Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security, will talk to you about what her agency can provide and what other agencies in the nation can provide. Then we're going to talk about some other issues, we'll be taking some questions and answers, we're going to take a break in the middle this time to take some questions and answers and after that we'll take some at the end of the session as well. Now, before we begin, we want to share with you a video that was sent to us by Bob Williams. He's the Associate Commissioner of Social Security, and as you can see, he's with the office of employment support programs. So he is somebody from the heart of social security that is involved intimately with work incentives. So Mike, if you could queue that video up for us, that would be great. [ Silence - Video ] >> Okay, thank you Commissioner Williams. And we are back. Now, what can you expect from our presentation today. Certainly you can expect to get information on the ticket to work, that program, as well as all the other work incentives that will make it easier and ease that transition from benefits to earned income. We're going to answer some of those questions that those of us on the panel today hear all the time. There are many, many questions that are asked of us often, and many of them just are due to a lack of information out there in the public, so we're going to hopefully, not only answer those frequently asked questions, but give you some good information that you can use, and ease some of that tension that you might be feeling now. Where to find more information? We are going to go through the work incentives and the programs that are available to you very fast today, an hour and a half may seem like a lot of time but it's not when you start discussing these things, so we will always tell you where you can find further information or get the information that pertains exactly to your situation. We're going to share a success story with you from people who have used ticket to work, and Megan is the success story we have today. And she tells a wonderful story about her journey from, her depressive, I believe, she had a depressive episode that started her disability, and she made the choice to use that ticket to work and is now back doing her competitive ballroom dancing, and it's a great story she has to share. Now, why choose work? That's always a good question. Why should I work? Well, earning money is clearly the easiest thing, and I think the entire panel would agree with me when I say that, you know, money is only part, it's only the tip of the iceberg but we can assure you that with proper planning there will always be more money at the end of the month as a result of your work effort then you have remaining at home on benefits. Gaining independence, that's a very important thing and we talk about independence, we don't mean independence only from the benefits programs, I mean clearly that is an important thing, you will no longer have to report to people when you decide to get married, when you move, when you start working. Once you are working, you have the independence to choose where you want to live, how you want to live your life and what you want to do with your money, very, very important aspect of life, learning new skills. Both Tina and myself will talk about how you can use that ticket to learn new skills if you want to change professions, if you want to begin a career, or relearn skills if you're disability has caused the need for your to do certain tasks in an alternative way. All those services are available to you and we'll tell you how you can do that, meeting new people. When we said money was the tip of the iceberg, all of these other things that we've talked about come along with working, and meeting new people is one of those great things. Everybody who we are talking to today and who will be talking with you today, I met through work. I met my spouse through work, I know people all over this country because I work, so meeting new people is a great secondary benefit to working, and just to show you how all of that stuff works, and what one person's journey was like from benefits to work, we're going to share a success story with you. And in 2008, Megan did have a major depressive episode and had to turn to disability benefits to keep her financial situation intact. At some point, she decided it was time to return to work and use that ticket to work that she received to achieve a more fulfilling life. She is working, she is enjoying working, and has begun to return to competitive ballroom dancing, which was one of the hobbies she had before the depressive episode, so we want Megan to tell you her own story. So Mike, if you queue up Megan, that would be great. [ Silence - Video - Background noise ] >> Okay, thank you Megan for sharing your story here again with us. Megan is truly an inspiration to all of us and as you heard her say, one of the most important parts of her message was she does not expect that she will not fall backwards but she continues to know that she will always be moving forward. And that's what I take away from Megan's success story. I can't promise you that as soon as you get a job you'll be able to dance like that, but I can promise you that you will be able to pay for the lessons [laugh] so what do we need to do. What is your very first step? When you're ready to begin this journey to work, one of the most important things that you need to do and what you're doing right now, is to begin to gather information and the resources so that you can plan that journey to work. This is a situation where knowledge really is power and the more you know, the more planning that goes into this, the smoother this is going to be, and throughout today's presentation we'll let you know about those folks who can become part of your support or employment team. That ticket to work is going to help make this journey smoother and easier. Now, we call the folks who are helping you an employment team. Now, an employment team can be made of many people. It can be made of a benefits planner, it can be made of an EN, an employment network, it could be made, you know, one of the members of your team could be a special education teacher, could be an attorney, could be an advocate from the protection and advocacy system, could be a parent or a spouse, anybody who's there to help you get back to work and support those efforts is going to be part of that team. How do you start building a team? There are lots of different ways. You can, first of all, reach out to the ticket to work helpline at 1-866-968-7842 or if you're using a TTY or TTD, 866-833-2967, that's one way to start. You can do more private studying about this by opening up www.choosework.net. There is a blog there that will share other success stories as well as provide information about the return to work services that are available to you. Now, none of this puts any obligation on you, as you heard Commissioner Williams say, this is voluntary, as you heard Megan say, she put that ticket to work doing what she wanted it to do, so you have no obligation once you tap into one of these resources other than collect the information that you need to. You can find an employment network. Tina will talk about her services or begin at your start rehabilitation agency, whichever one of those two, or several possibilities suits your needs best. This is not a situation where one size fits all, everyone's team, everyone's services are going to be different, and we try and make this suit tailored to your needs, and stay connected, that's a very critical part of this, you are the leader of the employment team, you know, and it's very important that you stay connected and in communication with all members of those teams. Now, very basically, if I can give you some basic information before we ask you some more questions, there are a couple of disability programs that we're going to be dealing with today. The social security disability insurance program is exactly what it says, it is an insurance program that is administered by social security and it's paid for by income taxes, your FICA taxes when you work are taken out and sent to social security and put into a trust fund. And they are there should you work sufficient amount of time to rely upon should you become disabled, it's the same fund that you're using to save for retirement. The other program that we're going to deal with is SSI, or supplemental security income. This is a needs based benefit, it's basically a federal welfare program that's also administered by social security that provides a basic sub-assistance level of income to people who are disabled, blind, or aged according to the social security administration. Now, both of these programs are very, very different and have different work incentives. There are folks who are called concurrent beneficiaries and receive both SSDI and SSI. Now, for these folks it can become very, very confusing because SSI work incentives are going to apply to the SSI benefits and SSDI work incentives will apply to the DI benefits and both of those things are going to be happening at the same time. But don't forget your employment team. One member of that team should be somebody who can help you take the reins and understand what is happening to your benefits when that event should occur. Now, we've got a little function for you that I want to share with you. There is in the side of your webinar panel a hand, you should be able to see that on the side of your webinar, we have a couple of questions, the three most common myths and what I want to do is ask you to tell me if you believe they are true and false and how you're going to do that is by raising your hand, so when I ask you to participate, please raise your hand if you think I'm right or wrong. Now, the first and most common myth that we have is if I try to go to work, I will automatically lose my Medicare or Medicaid. Now, if you think that is true, please raise your hand. [ Background noise ] >> And I'll give you a few second. [ Background noise ] >> Okay, Jamie, just let me know when you have sufficient information to tell me what people think. [ Background noise ] >> Sure Ray, it looks like we're holding steady at about five. >> 5% of you participated, and when I asked you questions earlier, 85% of you were participating, so remember, don't be afraid, we don't know who you are, we just want to know what you think. Now, the 5% that participated, thank you very much but that is false. We're going to go into some detail about the protections for your healthcare programs. Both Medicare and Medicaid can continue for a very, very long time after you begin working and that's a critical part of this return to work, nobody wants to lose their healthcare in the midst of changing their lifestyle, and we are going to tell you how those protections work. Now, the second myth, if I use my ticket to go to work, social security will perform a medical review and I will lose my benefits. True, if you think that's true, please raise your hand. [ Background noise ] >> Ray, that one's coming in at 11%. >> Okay, so we've got a little more, that's good, that's good, and are they saying that's true, Jamie? >> That's correct. >> All right, so 11% are saying that's true. Well, you know, because this is a ticket to work and social security wants you to be successful, when you begin working and you use that ticket and are making progress towards your work goals, social security will suspend those medical reviews. So you don't have to worry about those anymore provided you're making progress you'll be okay. And the last myth that we want to talk about today. If I go to work and then have to stop working, I will have to reapply for benefits all over again. It took me forever to be approved for benefits the first time and I cannot afford to wait that long again, so I should not try to work. If you think that's true, please raise your hand. [ Background noise ] >> That one came in at 9%, Ray, think that's true. >> Okay. Well, we're happy to tell you that that one's false too. Social security has now instituted a program called expedited reinstatement, or EXR, which is an easy on provision that will allow you to get back onto benefits very quickly if you need to for a period of up to five years after you have been terminated because of work. So that's a great, that's a really long time, we're talking about a very long time and a safety net that now exists even if you are terminated from benefits. So with that said, I want to introduce you to Kendra Berry, who is with Aspire Indiana, and she's going to introduce you to the ticket to work program and take you through the work incentives. So take it away Kendra. >> Thanks Ray, as I said, my name is Kendra and I'm a community work incentive coordinator with Indiana work for Aspire Indiana and I help people to understand how working will affect their benefits. The ticket to work program that we're talking about is a free and voluntary program to assist both SSDI and SSI beneficiaries who have a disability to go to work. The goal of this program is to give you the assistance that you need, whether it's a lot of assistance in applying for jobs and filling out applications, or maybe just someone to answer questions and help you find a job that's a good fit for you. Most people with disabilities, age 18 through 64, who receive SSDI or SSI can participate in the ticket to work program and if you have any questions about if you have a ticket to work available to you, you can call the ticket to work helpline phone number that Ray gave you earlier and that we'll provide you again and they'll be able to let you know if you have that ticket available. The ticket to work program is made to help you. The point of it being voluntary is so that you can make it fit your needs. If you're ready to earn more money, then the ticket to work program can help you do that by helping you reach your specific job goals. This isn't a placement agency, they're not just going to give you a job, they're going to help you reach whatever goal that you have. If you want to find the personal fulfillment that comes from working, a lot of people tell me that they just want to get out of their house, they're just looking for something part time, and that is an option, If you just want to get out of the house and find a part time job to help pay the bills, we can help you do that, and the ticket to work program can help provide you with that assurance and stability that you need. If you're looking to get back benefits, if your job doesn't work out, there are work incentives that could protect you like Ray was just talking about. You're not going to just lose everything by returning to work and we're going to go over some of those work incentives in just a minute. If you're feeling overwhelmed with all of this information, don't know where to turn, don't worry, the common thing that we hear is this is a lot of information but all of us on the phone today are here to answer your questions. We can help you get you connected to the resources that you're looking for such as your state vocational rehabilitation agency, your employment networks, even the protection advocacy group if you're having a problem. So we will be here to answer your questions along the way, we're not just going to leave you out there alone. [ Silence ] >> Next slide. Mine's a little slow [laugh] So how does the ticket to work program work? If you're ready to explore work, one of the first things you can do is look for an employment network that suits your needs. Again, some employment networks are going to offer a huge variety of services. We're talking everything from resume preparation to job coaching to interview skills, training to helping you on the job once you find it. What you should do is think about the services that you need and what you're looking for and look for an employment network that offers everything you need. You can stay connected to your employment network as you're exploring your work options. In order to get started with finding your local employment network [noise] you can go to the choose work dot net website or visit www.socialsecurity.gov slash work to find an employment network or vocational rehabilitation near you, or you can call the ticket to work helpline at 866-968-7842 or if your TTY or TTD 1-866-833-2967 and that ticket to work helpline will be able to connect you with the different resources, maybe answer some questions that you have about how to begin this process. [ Silence ] >> Now, let's go over some of these work incentives that Ray and I have been eluding too. Social security has created some safety nets for you to help you as you begin the process of going to work. The point of the work incentive are to give you a bridge and to provide you with a safety to help you reach your goal. The ticket to work program was created to help you reach a personal goal, so again, whether your goal is to work part time, full time, to work your way off benefits, we're here to assist you with that, and the work incentives that are available have been created to do just that. Next slide. The safety net that the work incentives provide you is to help you receive skills, receive training to learn new skills, to improve the skills that you already have, to pursue your education, to try out different jobs, to start a career, and to gain confidence in your ability to do all of these things. A lot of people want to go back to work and they want to go back to work full time and to see if they can handle it, and the point of these work incentives is to give you that chance, in that, in order to gain that confidence the agencies are going to be there to provide you with support. Next slide. The most common question that we get about the work incentives are what's going to happen once I start working, will my benefits stop, and as Ray went over with you, that's one of the most common myths and that's why people are afraid to go to work. The first work incentive available for SSDI recipients, and that's again, people receiving social security disability insurance, is called a trial work period. The trial work period is a nine month period where you can earn any amount of money at all, and your SSDI check will continue. So it doesn't matter if you are earning $3,000 a month, you are able to return to work full time, your SSDI check will continue. During the trial work period, it's meant to give you that chance to try and see how much you're able to handle. Most people that I talk to are afraid that they're not going to be able to handle work because of their disability and this trial work period gives you the chance to go out there and give it a shot and see what you're able to handle. After that trial work period is over, you have the extended period eligibility and again, this is only for SSDI recipients. The extended period of eligibility is a 36 month period after the trial work period, so it's the three years directly following the end of your trial work period. During this time, your SSDI check may stop depending on the level of earnings that you're at. In 2012, social security has determined that if you're earnings or above $1,010 gross, or before taxes, in any given month then you're check would stop. During this extended period of eligibility, you could receive a check one month and then not receive a check a following month so it always you some fluctuation and, you know, a little bit of waiver room. One kind of example I give to people is say you go back to work and you're earning $900 a month, you pick up extra hours maybe during the holiday, and for December and January you earn $1100 a month. If your, during that epe, during that extended period of eligibility, then you would not be eligible for a check for the months of December and January because you're earning or above that $1,010 a month substantial gainful amount, if your earnings go back down to $900 in February then you would be eligible for an SSDI check. For that, it's just another period to allow you the chance to find a job that's a good fit for you. For SSI recipients, it's a very different situation. Pretty much any earnings that you have are going to affect the amount of SSI that you receive, but the plus of this is that social security is going to count less than half of your earnings when you start working. So for SSI recipients, this year, the maximum you could receive is $698 per month. If you go to work and you're making $885 a month, social security doesn't count the first $85 that you earn and after that they only count half, so they'll only count $400 of the 885 that you actually earn. That means that you're new SSI check would be for $298. It might just seem a little scary but you're getting that $298 in SSI and you earned $885, so at the end of the month you have over $1100 to pay all of your bills, which is a lot more when you had when you weren't working and you only had that 698. The other benefits were, or when you're receiving SSI, is that you're paying into the system, you're paying your FICA taxes and you're paying in to earn credits to become insured under the SSDI program, so it's really beneficial for SSI recipients to work. For both SSDI and SSI recipients, there's the expedited reinstatement, and what the expedited reinstatement is that work incentive that Ray talks about earlier. If for any reason you're earnings stop, and it's related to your disability and you're still disabled, then you don't have to reapply to receive your social security. You can request expedited reinstatement, your benefits will be reinstated for the next month and social security will have six months to determine if your disability is still the same and it's the reason that you can no longer work. So, you're not going to have to go through that long application process or worry about being denied. If your disability is the same and because you to be unable to work, then expedited reinstatement will be there for protection for you. The biggest protection that the ticket to work program can offer you, is protection from medical continuing disability reviews, and that's the paperwork that you receive every few years to fill out stating, do you still see a doctor, what's your disability, what kind of medication do you take. Everyone worries when they receive that and I know when I was a case manager at a mental health center, that is a big stressor for people. While you're working in your ticket is assigned to people, you will not have those continuing disability reviews based on your disability, so it's a big benefit to keep in mind. I'm currently working with a woman named Michelle, who lives in my area here in Indiana, and she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder years ago. Last year she started working with our local vocational rehabilitation and chose to work with a local mental health center in finding a job. She was able to find a job working in retail at our local mall, working 35 hours a week, and earning $7.25 an hour. That means her monthly earnings were $1,092 a month, so she used that trial work period that allowed her to make whatever amount of money and continue to receive her check, and she is now in her extended period of eligibility. Because she is receiving, she's earning more than that $1,010 limit that social security has set, her benefits could have stopped but because she has out of pocket costs related to medication and case management that she receives due to her bipolar disorder, she's able to continue receiving her benefits, so there are a lot of great work incentives out there and all we've gone over are just some of the common ones, and talking to your employment network and vocational rehabilitation will help you to understand, understand how you can use them to help you return to work. Next slide. When it comes to building your employment team and getting the skills that you need, your employment network is going to be one of the best resources you have, it's going to be the agency that's going to be there with you one on one to help you through the process of finding a job, and whether it's a lot of assistance that you need or a little, they'll be there to provide that. Your state vocational rehabilitation agency will be able to get you connected with different agencies to get you that job coaching or assistance that you need and the protection advocacy for beneficiaries of social security or PABS, can help you if you have any issues along the way or if you're having questions about working with employers and what you have to tell people related to your disability. It's important to choose agencies that are a good fit for you. The other benefit of the ticket that we haven't really discussed is that if at any time you're unhappy with an agency, you can reassign your ticket to someone else, but keep in mind the ticket to work is meant to fit you, so if you are having a problem, you can always go with someone else. Next slide. At this time, I'm turning it over to Tina. >> Okay, yes [laugh] thanks a lot Kendra. Before we turn things over to Tina, we're going to take a short break and answer a few of the questions that have come in because there are quite a few people who were a little bit worried by that chart that you, that you discussed the different trial work period, extended periods of eligibility, and somebody wants to know is somebody available to explain how that will work for them. >> Yes, right now, there are WIPA projects available to answer questions and in the future there will be the ticket to work helpline. The best thing that you can do right now to get specific answers is if to call the ticket to work helpline and they'll be able to connect you with the resources you need to get hooked up with people like myself, WIPA work incentive coordinators and other people trained in benefit counseling to give you this information. So yes, you should definitely contact someone in order to get specific information about your situation. >> Okay, and that ticket to work helpline, once again, is 1-866-968-7842 or if you're using a TTY or TDD, 866-833-2967. And Kendra, we have another question about SGA, can you explain that again please? >> After the trial work period is complete, so after SSDI recipients have used their nine month trial work period, SGA is substantial gainful amount or substantial gainful activity, and it's the level that social security has determined that if you're earning, if your gross monthly earnings are about the level, then your SSDI check will stop. This year that level is $1,010, so if your earnings are above $1,010 then your SSDI check would stop. If your earnings are below that amount, then your check would continue, but there, there are some other factors that can play into whether or not you are receiving your benefit. >> Okay, and somebody wants to know, they were intrigued by your story about making $3,000 during your trial work period. So we have a two part question, the first part is, what happens to my healthcare during that period of time? >> With, during the trial work period, and after the trial work period, if you are receiving your SSDI then your Medicare check will continue. After the trial work period is complete, there's a work incentive known as extended Medicare, which allows your Medicare to continue for up to 93 months, so seven years and nine months, that you'll have continued Medicare protection, and depending on your situation, you could purchase Medicare insurance longer than that. Medicaid is state specific and here in Indiana, SSDI recipients can be eligible for Medicaid, and in Indiana, can keep Medicaid until earnings are over $70,000. So working is not going to cause you to lose your health insurance. Medicare, especially, has a federal work incentive that does protect it, so whether your earnings are $600 a month or $3,000 a month, working is not going to initially just cause your health insurance to stop. >> Okay, and the second part of that question was how much does that cost, how much does this ticket to work cost? >> The ticket to work program is completely free, that's one of the biggest benefits of it, you can find these agencies and get connected with agencies that can help you all at no cost to you, so we would encourage you to contact your ticket to work to look into the employment network and get connected with these groups because they're there to help you and you don't have to pay for their assistance. >> That's great. Thank you very much Tina, ah, Kendra, I'm sorry. And what I'd like to do now is turn the presentation over to Tina Skeel, who is also with Aspire of Indiana, but is from the employment network side of that agency, so Tina, take it away please. >> Absolutely, thank you so much for having Aspire present today. What I want to first start out by saying is that we're only one of over 4,840 current EN's across the United States. And here in Indiana, we're only one of 100. So this is a really great opportunity to come and present today, so thank you. So with that said, over 4,000 EN's across the United States, how do you find one near you? So let's start out, one of the easiest ways that you can find an EN near you is to call the ticket to work helpline at 1-866-968-7842 by voice, or by TTY at 1-866-833-2967, and speak with a benefits counselor there and request a list of employment networks in your area. Now, you may find it a little bit easier to just look yourself on the website and you can do that real simply by just going to www.yourtickettowork.com, you can access that list there fairly easily, or, if you're interested in looking for a work incentive planning and assistance project you can go to www.socialsecurity.gov/work. Now, why that might be important is that many of the EN's also have work incentives and planning and assistance within their program. So let's go on, and now you have found your list, you found your list of EN's, now how do you find the one that's right for you. After you found all your local EN's and you've located a few near you, choose one that can answer some of the questions, and we have listed here, three questions in many states, they are actual through vocational rehabilitation, they will have what's called a provider report card, or sometimes they're called provider summaries, and what this will do is maybe answer some of those questions so you could do a look at your vocational rehabilitation as well as your EN. So let's talk about these questions. One of the first questions is how many people have you helped through the ticket to work program? If a ticket program, if an EN has only provided services to maybe 10 people, maybe you should ask the question, how many of those individuals were successful in finding jobs. Another question that you can ask is what kind of companies do you work with for job placement. Are they working with professional companies like banks, libraries, are they fast food companies, is there a diverse population of companies that they're working with. Another question might be, what kind of jobs might be available to me? Is this a beginning, entry level job? Is there opportunity for advancement? Is this an opportunity for me to have career development? Another question might be, how often will you communicate with me? Some EN's are located out of state and therefore, may not meet with you individually. They may meet with you by phone or by email, other EN's in your local area, may meet with you in person, by phone and by email, so finding an EN that matches your style and your preferences is very important. Now, the next question is, what kinds of services do they offer? Each EN will provide their own array or specialized services, therefore, you should be familiar with the options before choosing. Know what you want. Don't hesitate to call or email the EN on your list to find out what services they provide. And at the end of this session we're going to provide you with some resources that can also help you with actually screening out those employment networks that will best meet your needs. We've also provided an example of EN services. For example, you may be interested in having a resume prepared or at least updated. You may need some advice. A lot of questions that I get sometimes are around, what if I've had a past criminal record, what should I write on my resume? So, those EN's will be able to answer those questions and provide job application advice for you. As mentioned, we also provide interviewing skills and tips on how to explain long absences between work without disclosing your disability. We also look at, you should look at the access to resources. For example, do they have a computer lab or internet access, can I get and review my email, or are there phone access or even fax access? What kind of job leads and how do they provide job leads for you. Is there a job board, do they have an employer contact list that you can access, are there recruiting events or job fairs that you can participate in. Another question is around job accommodations. Does your EN understand the accommodations necessary for, to meet your needs. The next question is around job development opportunities or career development opportunities. Is there an opportunity that once you get a job, they'll assist you with developing more skills? Another question might be around tax incentive information. There are a number of tax incentives out there for business, and this can be the icing on the cake for many businesses when hiring individuals. The last one is referrals to other resources. For instance, if you're working with a community mental health center, they may have access to other services, such as counseling, or even housing. So let's go on and talk a little bit about the responsibilities that the EN has to you. Your EN has a number of responsibilities. The first thing is that the EN is required to provide free services to help you meet your goal. The EN will explain the EN and the ticket process, so your EN should be very adapt with the ticket to work program. They should be able to explain the ticket program and the services that it provides. The EN should also be very open in discussing your work goals, both short and long term. The EN will also talk to you about your fears. I think Kendra talked a little bit about the individual she was working with and it is often times that the biggest step in the going back to work is that very first step, and your EN will be there to assist you in making that first step. The EN will also help develop an individual work plan that includes your employment goals and the services that the EN will continue to provide. So that what they will do is sit down with you and prepare a comprehensive plan identifying your short and long term goals, and it should be very well written so that you understand it and it is in your language. The last thing is that the EN should ensure your continued disability review or your CDR are exempt, as long as you are making timely progress towards employment, and I think we talked a little bit about that earlier. So that's what the EN's responsibilities are, but what are your responsibilities. First of all, you have very specific responsibilities to your EN. Number one, be honest, be honest about your work history and your future work intention. You may want to be very open about the barriers that have made it somewhat difficult for you to go back to work. In that fashion, by being honest and open and upfront, the EN will be able to better help you in providing services. The next thing is that you should assist your ticket, you should assign your ticket to your EN by signing your individual work plan, and I just mentioned that earlier, that's the plan that has your goals and objectives on it, your long and short term goals. The next thing is to sign any other routine forms. Now, I know, working in a community mental health center, there are lots of forms out there, but what those forms are for are to help the EN work on your behalf with social security. If you have questions about any of those forms, please ask your EN, and I'm sure they will be willing to work with you on addressing any of the questions that you might have. We also ask that you work with your EN to make timely progress towards your employment goals so that you're continuing working towards advancing your career. The last thing is about reporting, when you begin to work, you need to provide your paystubs to your EN every single month, that's very, very important. It's important that you continue, one, to report your earnings to the EN, and secondly, to report your earnings to social security. Now, you can ask your EN to report your earn [silence] those pay stubs to the EN and make sure that that income is reported to social security. And I think Kendra talked a little bit about that earlier, about how benefits are affected by employment, so it's very important that you turn those in on a regular basis. As I mentioned, each EN will have their own specialized services. Specialized employment services began in the late 80's for individuals diagnosed with mental illness. Prior to that, many of the employment services that were provided were primarily geared for individuals who had developmental disability. And over several years, a number of practices have been developed that would really shape and mold services to be tailored towards individuals who are experiencing mental illness. On this slide, we just give you some examples of an EN's, it's actually just to give you some example or idea of an employment network who serves those who have a mental illness. For some employment networks providing mental illness special job services and support, for example, Aspire provides clinical treatment here, but we also have an employment network that is separate from our clinical services. Because we work with a mental health facility, we have the opportunity to share with our staff many of the clinical services and training. One of those trainings is called motivational interviewing and another example is illness management and recovery services. So our facility trains all of our staff, not only just the clinical staff, but the employment staff to understand the needs of working with individuals with mental illness. We also have other training opportunities within our facility that allows our staff to have a comprehensive understanding, not only of mental illness, but of work incentive planning and assistance as you already realized, Kendra Berry does work for Aspire, a different branch of Aspire that's separate from our EN, but she is part of the facility and as an example to a referral to another source, working with a facility that is integrated with multiple services sometimes is easier to work with. So that's just a brief example of how, we as a mental center, work in a holistic fashion. So we're working with counseling, we're working with benefits counseling, we're also working with employment. Now, if you're just interested in the employment side, then you have the opportunity to just access employment, or just access a different service within a facility. So make sure you know what your employment network provides. At this point, I want to tell a little story, actually give you an idea, of somebody that we just worked with and have had some really great success with. About two years ago, a gal named Sally came into our services, she had previously worked in a law office, but due to increased symptoms of her depression and anxiety, she could no longer work in the law office environment. She had discontinued work, and had begun receiving disability. She was very anxious about going back to work but received information in the mail about a new program called the ticket to work. She realized, she did some research and realized that Aspire, a place that she was already familiar with had just become an employment network, and came to our office asking questions. For a period of about four months, we discussed and outlined an individual work plan, we created a resume, she also worked on her interviewing skills and also had a lot of discussion with her counselor about going back to work. I'm pleased to report that she is now currently working. She works 30 hours a week at eight hours, at $8 an hour and is doing really well. Now, that's a lot of money but what she told me that was that it's not the money that counts, what counts to me is that I have my life back and she said that she had met several new friends and that was worth more than any amount of money could ever be. So we give her great success and are glad to see that she's doing so well. I wanted to add one more thing into our presentation, I mentioned that services that were designed for individual with mental illness are fairly new. They came about in the 1980's and over the years there have been a series of best practices developed for supported employment programs designed for individuals with mental illness and you will see those listed, there are actually seven. The first one is the services focus on competitive employment, that means that it's not shouldered, it's all community based worked. The second thing is that it is based on the consumer's choice, so there aren't eligible criterion's that so oh, if the person is too ill they cannot participate. Anyone who is interested in going to work is allowed access to the program. The next item is that it's rapid job placement. That there isn't a whole lot of, of testing or pre-employment work that has to be done before you begin that job search. That job search begins immediately. The next item is that it is integrated into mental health treatment. What we do know through best practices is that services, employment services that are provided in integration with mental health services are far more successful. The next item is that it pays close attention to the consumer preferences. They're paying attention to what you want to do. The next thing is benefits counseling. Understanding how work will impact your benefits and how to utilize those work incentives to both maximize your transition to work. And the last item is time unlimited, an individualized support, this means that even though my services is may, I may have successfully found employment but I can call that employment network any time to follow up. And that's just a good example, so remember the evidence based practices, you may want to ask your employment network, are they an evidence-based practice facility, do you follow the evidence based practices in supported employment. All right, next slide. As promised, I promised a few resources for you. We have listed three different examples, there are guides, articles, and general websites for you to access. The first one, how to choose a supportive employment provider, an informative guide for people with mental illness, is a small booklet that will assist you in providing questions and providing guidance on how to choose a provider in your area. So finding an EN, this might be the book for you. The next one, oh, sorry, let me read the -- you can find this particular booklet at http://www.secpcenper.org/consumerhandbook -singlepage.pdf. The next item is a really great article that I found, and I think will be helpful for you if you're interested in understanding some of the strategies utilized for supported employment. The article is called supported employment for persons with psychiatric disabilities, a review of effective strategies. This is going to provide you a great guideline for also trying to pick that provider. It can be found at http://starcypblog.pypepad.com/file/ mmhassupported_employment.pdf, and the last item is a general website that I often utilize to refer individuals to and that's the Noni website. Now, this is a really long, long drawn out website so I'm just going to say the words it's http://www.noni.org/template.csm?template=/ compentmanagement/contentdisplay.cfm at or I'm sorry, &compentid=8364 so if you have more questions I encourage you to, first of all to access the resources listed and to also go to the choose work website at www.choosework.net. Thank you very much Ray. >> Okay, Tina, thank you very much, we have a couple of questions for you. The first question we have is, if I'm not happy with my current EN, can I change? >> Absolutely. We always, first of all, encourage you to talk to your employment network first, your employment network first. Sometimes things are just a simple misunderstanding or miscommunication, so go ahead and talk to them and see if you can get that worked out. If you can't, you can always un-assign and reassign your ticket at any point. Now, what's important about that is that you make sure that both facilities know that your, that the facility knows that your un-assigning the ticket and that a new one has been selected. >> Okay, and Tina, somebody wants to know if they can use an employment network, even if they find their own job. >> Absolutely, absolutely. The purpose of an employment network is they're supposed to be supportive to you. You might find it helpful to have that employment network provide lists to you but if you're out and job searching on your own, that is fine as well. >> All right, thank you very much Tina. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay, and as I said earlier today, Colleen is not able to be with us, she had an emergency, so I'm going to step into her shoes and talk to you about vocational rehabilitation services. Now, every state in the country has a state VR agency and they're all called different things. In Massachusetts, where I'm located, it's called the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Communication, ah [laugh] Commission, the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission or MRC, in New York it's called Access VR. What we want to talk to you about today is that agency as well can help you with your ticket. When you're ready to use that ticket, when you're ready to begin to, begin that journey to work, VR is one of the agencies that might be able to help you. Now, unlike a private EN, there is presumptive eligibility for services through the state VR agency simply because you are a social security beneficiary, either SSDI or SSI. When you do meet with the VR counselor, they will develop an employment plan for you, much the same way that EN will do. Now, the ticket to work itself, does not have to be assigned to the state VR agency. We mentioned earlier that when you do assign that ticket and you make progress, you are protected from those continuing disability reviews that review your medical situation. Even though you have not assigned your ticket to the state VR agency, your ticket is considered in use. It's a special status that you have with the VR agency, and that status also protects you from those CDR's, so that protection is going to be there whether you work with the VR agency, or an EN. Now, much like the EN, you'll sit down with your counselor and you'll begin to discuss the opportunities that you will [silence] imagine may be put on the table, whether it's educational, whether it's vocational training, whether it's simply a matter of getting a resume together and getting some interviewing skills and job placement services. But you, you and your counselor will discuss the opportunities to have an employment network, somebody like Tina provide services when the state agency has finished with your program. So you'll have the opportunity to work with your state agency, get the rehabilitation services they're able to provide, and then take your ticket to work to somebody like Tina. And Tina may very well, at that point, be able to finish up the nice thing and place you someplace and provide you with on the job supports that are necessary until they're not necessary anymore. But remember, in order for that to happen, you need to successfully work with VR and they need to close your case. So it is very much possible in most states under a partnership plus model to work with both, state VR agencies and with employment networks. It's a great tandem system to provide you with some very heavy duty personal rehabilitation services and then placement and on the job support services afterwards in a seamless transition and as you can see this may take a good long time and social security has provided that ticket along with protections from continuing disability reviews during this entire period while you're making your transitions. And that employment team that you put together, that is made up of Tina, and is made up of Kendra, and will be made up of Sue, and your state agency are going to stay with you during that entire period. And with that said, what I want to do is introduce Sue Beetcher, who is with the Indiana Protection Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security, otherwise known as the PABS agency and you can just cross off Ray Sibule [assumed spelling] there and put Sue Beetcher, and Sue if you're ready, let's take it away. >> Thank you Ray. And kudos to all the participants who have decided to gain more knowledge about how possibly to use your ticket and how to explore employment and hopefully become employed in a field of your choice in a job that you really like, so we appreciate your participating with us today. And we're almost through the presentation, mine's pretty short. Protection Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security is the, we call it PABS and there is one of our program in each of the states in the United States territory, congressionally mandated protection and advocacy agencies and the PABS program is designed to help individuals receiving SSI and SSDI who want to go to work. You don't have to be working to call us, you don't even have to have your ticket assigned. If you have questions, or just need information, you can call us, all of our services are free, which is wonderful, you can call us as many times as you need, you might have questions before you assign your ticket. You may have questions after you've assigned it and as you're going through the process. All of that is good, we'd like to hear from you and be able to answer your questions and provide you with the information that you need to go forward. And again, you don't need to have your ticket assigned. You can simply be someone who's on social security, kind of thinking about going back to work. PABS can assist you in a variety of ways. We can assist you with receiving the needed workplace accommodations. If you're already working, or you're starting a work experience of some kind, by using your ticket -- [ Silence ] >> And employers are to, to receive those. And we're pretty good at negotiating with folks, so we're not going to leave, sometimes beneficiaries are afraid that we're going to burn bridges with some of these folks that you're working with to gain employment. We try very hard to settle the dispute at a, at the lowest level possible so that people don't end up angry, rather they're educated about the law and about the requirements so we make, we make sure that we act in a professional manner so that there's not any sort of retaliation towards you if you call us. And we've done that for a lot of years and I think we do a pretty good job of that. PABS can also advocate for you to get those services and support that you need from either vocational rehabilitation or employment network. You have a choice in what services you would like and sometimes the employment networks forget about all the choices you have. Say, for instance, that you need transportation to get to a work experience or to get to a job interview, those are services that can be applied, can be provided by the employment network and vocational rehabilitation and we can advocate for you to get those things that you need to move further towards your dream job, if you will. We can provide information referrals and advocacy around your benefits. There may be another agency that can help support you while you're returning to work or while you're looking at gaining a career and we have that information, we'll be glad to share that with you. Also, we can make sure that you talk with somebody that can tell you what your benefits will look like as you go back to work. And that's really important for anyone, we all want to be able to live while we're job seeking and to have insurance when we have a job, so all those things are extremely important. We can assist you with removing barriers to work. Sometimes an employment network might not want to, if you've tried before, serve you again, as you try to become employed and a lot of times we can help move those ladders, get you going, or perhaps identify another employment network, but we're here no matter how many times you attempt to go back to work, or how many times that you have questions. We can also address overpayment issues if those are barrier to employment. And sometimes they are. We've had people who are working, who unfortunately have encountered an overpayment issue. We know that social security doesn't keep particularly good records so we want to assist you with understanding that process and being able to negotiate with them and hopefully get rid of that barrier to work while you're working on going into a career. So those are all things that we can do for you, and Ray, I think that's it for me. >> Oh, no it's not Sue, I've got a couple of questions for you. >> Great. >> [Laughing] Okay, we have one thing that looks like it's just made for you. Somebody wants to know if they have to disclose their disability to their potential employer. >> I'm not an ADA expert but I do know that at some point you will, but not right away in the interview process. At some point, you and the employer need to have a discussion to verify that you can do the basic requirements of that job, with or without accommodation. But when you go in for the first interview that is not necessarily something you have to do at all. Ray, do you want to add anything to that? >> No, I think that's absolutely right. I think that, you know, when somebody decides to disclose, you know, certainly members of your employment team, the PABS person on that employment team, should be somebody that you talk to before you make that disclosure because there are certain ways it can be done, there are certain ways, times, as Sue said, that needs to be done. You do need accommodation, you clearly have to disclose. If you don't need an accommodation, and can get through that first interview, and get the job, you may not have to disclose at all, but that is your personal choice and just know that members of your employment team are available to help you make that decision and talk to you about how that should be done. And Sue, I'm not sure, I think this is for everybody, this next question. It's a general question about gaps in resumes, and how to explain a gap of a year or two that was caused by a disability to an employer. Maybe this is Tina. >> I was just chiming in [laughing] >> Okay. >> Well, my guess is that while you're off for that year, that you probably are doing something. Now, some of us may care for a family member or a child and so we actually can identify that as working, although it's not paid employment, you're actually performing a job duty. I've worked with several people who did lawn mowing in the summer and said they had, they were self employed during those gaps. It may not be that they worked every single day, but they were actively involved in doing some type of work. Another option is if you volunteer that shows that you're still involved in a variety of services to the community. Let's say if you volunteer for the Girls Scouts, or you volunteer at a nursing home, or even at your child's school, that still is work that you're performing, so any type of work that you're performing, you know, give yourself credit for it. Sometimes we, we tend to think of work as just paid employment. >> Okay, Tina, thank you very much, that was great. And let's finish off today's presentation by giving you some other resources. Again, there's no wrong door to start this journey to work, so you can contact your employment network, you can contact the PABS agency, you can contact the helpline, you can contact your local WIPA agency, but here is some other resources where you can get some more information. The social security website, www social security, one word, forward slash work is a great website that will provide you with more information about everything we've talked to, and most importantly find you a list of employment networks that serve your locality, down to the zip code and more information about the ticket to work and work incentives. And for those of you whose questions we did not get to, or if you have another question, or want to know how your situation is going to be impacted by work, please call the ticket to work helpline at 1-866-968-7842 or the TTY TDD line is 866-833-2967 and that brings us to the end of the hour and a half, but look at this last slide here, you can like us on Facebook. So if you are a Facebook fan, you can go to www.facebook.com/choosework and follow along with the discussion on Facebook, and if you are a tweeter, you can follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/chooseworkssa. Again that ticket to work helpline number is 1-866-968-7842 or for TTY TDD users 866-833-2967, so as you can see there are plenty of places for you to get information and you can talk to people, you can do your own research, there is no wrong way into this program. With that being said, I'd like to thank Kendra, Tina, and Sue for joining me today on the panel. Always thanks to Mike in the background who makes our videos work and makes this whole process work, and please look for us again, we will be having another webinar to discuss more work issues. Thank you very much. Thanks everybody.