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CROSSWALK
Project
The Crosswalk Project is a collaborative
effort between the Division of Recovery Services, Office of Housing Planning
and Development; private mental health providers; and the Department of
Human Services (DHS) Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) to increase
the number of individuals with mental illness who are provided Vocational
Rehabilitation (VR) services.
Service Description
TDMHDD has an agreement with the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS)
that transfers mental health funds to use as matching funds for the purpose
of creating and expanding vocational services to the mentally ill. From
this agreement, $1,027,100 in mental health funds leverages $4,822,065
in federal funds to provide employment services to persons with mental
illness.
DRS vocational rehabilitation counselors work with mental health agency
psychiatric rehabilitation staff to provide the employment services to
persons with mental illnesses.
Why do we fund it?
Employment is an important source of dignity and purpose and is an opportunity
to develop independence for the mentally ill. DRS is the state agency
that receives federal money and receives the mandate to provide employment
services for disabled persons, including the mentally ill.
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Whom does it serve?
The program serves adults who are diagnosed with mental illness and co-occurring
disorders and who want to work.
What are the outcomes?
In 2003-2004, 11,776 persons with mental illnesses received employment
services and 792 were successfully closed or rehabilitated. DRS submits
annual data reports detailing the number of individuals with mental illness
who are employed through their services.
Is there research, evidence-based practice,
best practice, or literature to support the service?
Supported employment is a SAMHSA-approved, evidence-based practice, as
described in “Evidence-Based Practice: Supported Employment,”
March 2004, compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for SAMHSA,
contract #280-00-8049. G.R. Bond, D. R. Becker, R. E. Drake, C.A. Rapp,
Meisler, N., Lehman, A. F., and M. D. Bell, “Implementing Supported
Employment as an Evidence-Based Practice,” Psychiatric Services,
52, (2001), 313-322. The recently published study on the treatment of
schizophrenia by the Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (Lehman,
2004) found vocational rehabilitation effective in the recovery process
of persons suffering from schizophrenia.
Supported employment has been the most extensively studied model of vocational
rehabilitation for persons with psychiatric disabilities, and ample evidence
supports its effectiveness. Recently, nine different research studies
wherein consumers were randomly assigned to supported employment or a
comparison program, the supported employment programs were found to produce
better vocational outcomes than the comparison programs. Consumers in
supported employment were more successful in obtaining competitive work,
worked more hours, and earned more wages from competitive employment than
consumers in the comparison programs. Although extreme stress was feared,
no negative effects were identified for the consumers involved in supportive
employment. They did not require more intensive psychiatric treatment,
such as hospitalizations. Most consumers who work in supportive employment
work part-time and are able to keep cash and medical benefits.
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