Transcript

VR Workforce Studio Singers:  Singing V-R Workforce Studio.

Lauren Worley: The early days were very painful, learning how to walk again, to talk again, to swallow. It definitely took a lot of work to get to where I am now.

Jake Hart:  Four, three, two, one. VR Workforce Studio, podcasting the sparks that ignite vocational rehabilitation through the inspiring stories of people with disabilities who have gone to work.

Flora Frazier:  Working in a field that I understand.

Jake Hart:  As well as the professionals who have helped them.

James Hall:  A job and a career, you got to look at how life-changing this is.

Jake Hart:  And the businesses who have filled their talent pipelines with workers that happen to have disabilities.

Debby Hopkins:  To help expand registered apprenticeship.

Jake Hart:  These are their stories.

Anonymous:  Because there’s such a great story to tell about people with disabilities.

Jake Hart:  Now, here are the hosts of the VR Workforce Studio, Rick Sizemore and Betsy Civilette.

Rick Sizemore: Welcome to the VR Workforce Studio podcast where we celebrate the power of vocational rehabilitation and the people whose lives are transformed through it. Today we bring you an incredible story of resilience, recovery, and determination. Lauren Worley survived a devastating car accident with only a 1% chance of survival. Through months of rehabilitation, she not only regained her independence, but is now focused on building a career with the support of DARS.

Betsy Civilette: And joining us in the studio is Lauren herself, along with comments from her rehabilitation counselor, Gen Cooley, and DARS manager, Donna Martin. So you’ll hear how VR has played a pivotal role in her recovery and in shaping her next chapter. Let’s meet Lauren.

Rick Sizemore: Welcome, Lauren.

Lauren Worley: Hi, I’m so happy to be here.

Rick Sizemore: Lauren, your story is extraordinary. Can you take us back to the accident, the early stages of recovery and what life was like during those days?

Lauren Worley:  Absolutely. So of course when I was first in the accident, I was obviously fallen to the hospital. I don’t remember the first 39 days. I was in a semi-comatose state. But of course after that I went to Levine’s Children’s Hospital and the early days there were very painful learning how to walk again, to talk again, to swallow. It definitely took a lot of work to get to where I am now.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah, we’ll put a link to the YouTube video from the local television station in our show notes. But to see that accident and know that you walked away is mind-boggling because that was a significant accident. We don’t need to go into any great depth, but for those who may be just meeting you for the first time, you sustained substantial physical injuries. Tell us just a little bit about what actually those injuries were.

Lauren Worley:  Okay, so I could give you a super long list of injuries, but definitely the worst one was I had a traumatic brain out injury when I was hit, my brain was out on my forehead. I had a broken femur, I had several pelvic fractures, a broken jaw, dislocated jaw.

Rick Sizemore:  And they gave you a 1% chance of survival.

Lauren Worley:  Yes, yes. Only 1%.

Rick Sizemore:  We nailed down this was a horrific accident.

Lauren Worley:  Yes, yes, definitely was. I’m blessed to be here.

Rick Sizemore:  Absolutely.

Betsy Civilette:  We’re glad you’re here. So Lauren, tell us how did you first connect with DARS and begin working with your VR counselor and what was the first step towards thinking about work and a career after such a life-changing event?

Lauren Worley:  Okay, so obviously, I mean, my mom, she heard about it through Jared Smart, super good guy. That’s how I heard about it. And obviously I wanted to work and wanted to be a part of this because it definitely taught me a lot of things, what I wanted to do, what I didn’t want to do. And it got me back out socializing and actually getting back into working, which I did before, but it was like a whole different circumstance now because of what all had happened to me. Flexible hours, which I was tired all the time. So it was nice. I could work two, three days a week if I wanted to. So that was definitely very nice.

Rick Sizemore:  So what was that job that you’re describing? What were you actually doing?

Lauren Worley:  I worked here as a nurse aide at Woolwine Elementary School. It’s very nice. It’s taught me that I probably don’t want to pursue a nursing career, but I do love working with kids, so it maybe has me leaning towards working in a school system.

Rick Sizemore:  Great. Yeah, I know in my daughter’s case, I have a young daughter, entering the workforce. Sometimes it’s about figuring out what you don’t want to do.

Betsy Civilette:  Right, exactly.

Lauren Worley:  Yes.

Betsy Civilette:  Process of elimination.

Rick Sizemore:  That’s it.

Betsy Civilette:  Well, Lauren, you’ve shared that DARS helped create opportunities for both college and on the job training. Can you walk us through how that came about and what those opportunities mean for you now?

Lauren Worley:  Okay, so obviously working here at Woolwine has definitely… My plan my whole life was I wanted to be a nurse. I was like, “I’m going to be a nurse. I’m going to graduate high school. I’m going to go to college to be a nurse.” And then of course being here and dealing with the things that I’ve had to deal with is making me lean towards not wanting to be a nurse, which is fine. Things don’t always go according to plan. I have had to learn that the hard way. But it definitely has given me an opportunity to think about pursuing the working here or working at any school system because I love children. I have a lot of passion for helping kids and wanting to help them, which I think I’ve talked to a lot of teachers who don’t necessarily love their jobs, but I think if you have the right attitude that I think I would love working in.

Rick Sizemore:  Sounds like you’re on such a good path. Moving out of this horrific car accident and engaging with DARS and thinking about going to work, what kinds of accommodations or supports has DARS provided that make the biggest difference in you being able to move back into the workforce?

Lauren Worley:  I mean, I had a horrible injury, yes, absolutely. But I’m not going to sit at home for the rest of my life and do nothing. You have to get back out. You have to get back in reality eventually. And it’s definitely helped me be social, learn to be social again, to put in some hard work, and I wouldn’t have been able to have that without this DARS program.

Rick Sizemore:  Now what kind of things have they helped you with? What did they do?

Lauren Worley:  They helped me with driving. Definitely get to be back out driving again, which is nice because I like to have my freedom. I like to drive. Just helped me overall be social because for a long time I didn’t want to be social. I was just like just really had no desire to be social. But then when I got back out and I started socializing, I was like, “Okay, this is nice. I definitely needed this.” I needed to feel normal again, and this has helped me to [inaudible 00:07:18].

Betsy Civilette:  Well, you’ve learned a lot about yourself it sounds like surviving the accidents or recovery, now preparing for work and college. What else can you share with us that you’ve learned about yourself?

Lauren Worley:  You can have a plan for your life and it definitely won’t go accordingly. I mean, sometimes it will, but for me it definitely didn’t. I had my whole life planned out and then with the blink of an eye, my whole life that I had planned out was just flipped and I have nothing planned out, which I’ve learned is okay. You don’t have to have everything planned out all the time.

Betsy Civilette:  All right. Well, Lauren, we have Donna and Gen with you, right?

Lauren Worley:  Yes.

Betsy Civilette:  What do you want to say to them about the work all of you have accomplished on the road to recovery and the road ahead?

Lauren Worley: Just want to thank them because I wouldn’t have been able to do this without them. They’ve definitely helped me so, so much and I’m very grateful for them.

Betsy Civilette:  You did the hard part.

Rick Sizemore:  What do you think you would be  doing  if you didn’t have DARS and Gen and Donna?

Lauren Worley:  I don’t think I would be doing as well as I am right now because I mean, I didn’t have a job. I mean, I had a job before the accident, but after the accident I didn’t have a job. I really have no desire to get a job, but then I pushed myself and they’ve helped me to get back in the workforce and be motivated to go to work and to do things like I used to do.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah. But Lauren, if someone listening has faced their own challenges, you’ve been through it, what would you say that would encourage someone with a disability to get back into the workforce and to talk with DARS?

Lauren Worley:  Absolutely. Never give up. I mean, I could have given up if I wanted to, but never give up. No matter how you feel like you’re in a storm, you’re never going to get out of it. You will get out of it. There’s always a light at the end of tunnel. You hear people say that all the time and it’s like, oh yeah, whatever. But then when it actually happens to you, you have to realize that you will get out of your storm eventually and you will be okay.

Betsy Civilette:  Think back, what would you say again about the role DARS has played in helping prepare now for your future?

Lauren Worley:  It makes me feel like I’m going to be more successful in this life just I’m very grateful that I had this opportunity to be part of the DARS program.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, we’re fortunate to have with us Mandy Worley, Lauren’s mom. What has this whole experience been like for you as a mom watching your daughter move into the workforce after a horrific accident like this?

Mandy Worley:  Lauren has always been the child that her expectations of herself have always been so high. She was a 4.2 GPA in high school honor grad when we were in the hospital, and they told us that she had a 1% chance of surviving that if she did survive that she would never be the same. Nothing in her life would ever be normal. So as a mom, you’ve watched your child excel at everything she’s ever done and she’s always worked and we have a farm and she’s always worked hard on our farm, and I felt like that could possibly be stripped away from her that all these goals that she had set from her herself, would she ever go to college? Would she ever be able to work again?

And so for me, when she was able to start the DARS program last year and to watch her blossom into her old self because with a frontal lobe brain injury, it is a complete personality change. My background is a nurse and I have taken care of frontal lobe injuries in my previous nursing jobs and a lot of times the outcome is very poor. And I watched her go from being at home and doing rehab, outpatient rehab in June, July, and then when she started the DARS program in August, it completely transformed her personality. She had to learn how to socialize with people again because that part of her brain had to make new synapses and new connections to know what was right and what was wrong. And the program completely gave me hope for her because she was not able to just go work in a normal workforce after her accident. She had to be rehabilitated back to work, and this program has meant everything in the world to me.

Rick Sizemore:  You’re a nurse, you understand particularly work with brain injuries, the positive nature of this outcome, particularly in Lauren’s verbal skills. And of course I’m not a doctor, but I’ve been in voc rehab long enough to know sometimes the impact on one’s ability to express themselves verbally is profound. And we just had a delightful conversation with Lauren.

Mandy Worley:  No, I was just going to say the talking about her frontal lobe injury, her neurosurgeon, Dr. Patel, he often says that he is going to do research on her because there’s no medical explanation for why she is the way that she is, and she’s definitely a miracle. We are very blessed of how phenomenal she has done, and I give all the glory to God. She’s doing amazing.

Rick Sizemore:  Donna Martin, manager of the DARS office that supported Lauren, what’s your take on all this?

Donna Martin:  Well, it’s not every day you get to be part of a remarkable story like this. It’s not every year, right? I’ve been with the agency 33 years next month and it’s this cool stuff that keeps us going and makes us… I tell folks we don’t work for the applause. We work for the cause, and every once in a while you get to hear some feedback like that. So that’s cool.

Betsy Civilette:  I like that. I’ve not heard that saying, but really it’s so true. I mean, it is a cause for sure that we all work for.

Donna Martin:  Exactly. So it’s nice to hear it and we certainly don’t work for that reason. Over the years, having been with the agency for years, I have always believed in students and young people being able to work and learn. I made my kids start working, but when they were 12, babysitting doing other things, just like Mandy said, working on the farm, doing that kind of thing, it’s important because you’re exactly right, figuring out what you don’t want to do. My daughter came to me and said, “I want to be a teacher.” I said, “Go spend some time in the classroom before you graduate high school.”

She came back, “I don’t want to be a teacher.” She’s an occupational therapist. She figured it out. She’s great with what she does. So everybody deserves that opportunity and our agency having these paid work experiences that they get to go out and try to do some stuff that we wouldn’t normally get to do unless we volunteered, I think that’s huge. It’s a huge potentially impactful thing for some folks. Not everybody gets to have a good one, but when we get a good one, it’s nice to hear.

Rick Sizemore:  That’s fantastic. Let’s hear from Gen.

Gen Cooley:  Hello.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, Gen, from your perspective as a voc rehab counselor, what do you want to say to Lauren?

Gen Cooley: I am extremely thankful to be Lauren’s counselor and have gotten to work with her and meet her and just to know her. Before even getting her case, I was reading about her and following her dad’s Facebook post and praying for her. So getting her as a client has just been amazing to see her growth and see how well she’s she’s grown and how well she’s done and all that she’s going to give back to the community in the workforce.

Rick Sizemore:  Would like to thank all of our guests for being on this episode, the VR Workforce Studio, Lauren Worley and her mother, Mandy, join us from Martinsville, Virginia where she’s involved in a paid work experience and pursuing education and other opportunities in our future. We hope to have you back once you move into full-time employment. Thanks for being on our podcast today.

Lauren Worley:  Absolutely.

Rick Sizemore:  Welcome back to the VR Workforce Studio podcast. In this segment, we’re thrilled to introduce a dynamic national initiative that’s amplifying the message of vocational rehabilitation like never before. It’s called 100 Stories in 100 Days, and it’s part of a bold effort by CSAVR to spotlight the incredible journeys of individuals with disabilities who found success through VR. Leading the campaign, Grace Miller with Brit Crampsie Communications, she joins us today to talk about how this project is coming together, what’s happening behind the scenes, and why your voice, your stories matter more now than ever. Betsy?

Betsy Civilette: Well, it’s such a perfect fit for the VR Workforce Studio. Since 2015, we’ve been telling these very stories and now we get to partner with Grace and with Brit and the CSAVR team to help launch this campaign into the national spotlight. So let’s welcome Grace Miller to the podcast. We’re glad you’re here, Grace.

Grace Miller:  Thank you so much for having me.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah, we’re so excited to partner with you on this incredible effort. Let’s start right at the heart of it. What is the 100 Stories in 100 Days campaign and why is it so important to CSAVR and the national VR community?

Grace Miller:  So the 100 Stories in 100 Days campaign is a nationwide storytelling effort to spotlight the life-changing impact of vocational rehab. So from August 14th to about mid-November, CSAVR will be publishing one new success story every single day for 100 days in a row. And this is drawn from clients and business partners from across the country. It’s important because VR does incredible work behind the scenes, but those stories don’t always reach the broader public, and this campaign is about putting faces and names and real experiences front and center so that employers, legislators, and community partners can see the value that VR brings, not just in numbers, but in the human impact.

Betsy Civilette:  Well, Grace, this is a massive undertaking. Can you give us a glimpse into how this campaign came to be and what your role is in gathering and sharing these stories across the country?

Grace Miller:  So this is honestly Dacia Johnson from Oregon Blind was her idea. She really spearheaded this and CSAVR wanted a way to celebrate and share the VR success stories in this concentrated high-impact way. I’ve been working with an incredible team of ladies at CSAVR and we knew that if we could create a consistent drumbeat, a story every day, we could raise VR nationals profile, which gives each state agency something tangible to share locally. My role personally is to make participation easy, creating the submission process, reviewing and editing the stories, ensuring that they are concise, compelling, and coordinated how they’re published and promoted. I’m also here to support the state VR teams in identifying stories and using them in their own outreach.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah, wow. 100 stories, that’s a lot of work and you are connected with all 50 states and territories. Beyond that, what’s the energy been like as people start submitting their stories and have any early stories already stood out to you on a personal level?

Grace Miller:  The energy is fantastic. People are clearly proud to see their work recognized and they’re excited to contribute. Even before our official launch, we’ve seen an incredible mix of inspiring client stories and very powerful employer partnerships. I got the opportunity to speak with the communications professional network with CSAVR and they were so excited and they gave me incredible feedback.

One story that really stuck with me, this came from Alabama, is the story of Ben Abercrombie from Hoover, Alabama. And in 2017, he walked onto the field as a starting safety for Harvard’s first game of the season. His teammates called him Badgercrombie for his relentless pursuit of receivers, but after one hard tackle, he sustained a severe spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. But what’s really remarkable is that Ben didn’t quit and he committed to returning to Harvard and the VR services in Alabama became a big part of his game plan. Through assistive technology and eye navigation for his wheelchair, voice-controlled software, he was able to regain independence in his studies. And this year he graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics and is now pursuing a career as a personal financier for professional athletes. And his story is such a powerful reminder that VR isn’t just about employment, it’s about giving people the tools to keep chasing their dreams no matter what life throws at them.

Betsy Civilette:  We are always interested in the people behind the mission. Grace, how did you get into the world of communications and marketing and what sparked your interest in working with people with disabilities and the VR community?

Grace Miller:  I’ve always been drawn to storytelling. I was always that kid who loved theater or just reading the children’s books. Storytelling is very important to me because it can really drive change, I think. My background is personally in communications and marketing across a ton of different sectors, whether that’s nonprofit or government organizations. And I had the incredible opportunity to in intern with my lovely boss, Brit Crampsie, who is one of my favorite powerful women in the world. She started her own public relations firm after leaving the PA State Senate and she has worked with incredible clients. We have been able to do incredible work of amplifying stories and amplifying advocacy through this. But seriously working with CSAVR has really opened my eyes to the profound impact of VR on individual people’s lives, and it’s just incredibly motivating to be a part of something that pairs my love of storytelling and strategic communications with a very meaningful mission.

Rick Sizemore:  Can you tell us more about what it’s been like for you on an emotional level as you go about collecting and preparing these stories for the larger VR community and beyond?

Grace Miller:  It’s been humbling and energizing at the same time, which is a weird mix because some of these stories will absolutely bring tears to your eyes, just incredibly powerful stories while others just want to cheer. You just want to share the story with everyone because it’s so inspiring. It’s really just a reminder that VR is about possibility. It’s about helping people overcome barriers and achieve goals, and that is, that’s just a universal feeling, overcoming barriers, achieving goals that once felt out of reach. It’s just been an honor to help shape these narratives for people who care so much so that we can have other people hear them.

Betsy Civilette:  Well, a lot of our audience works in VR or has gone through it. So what would you say to them about why sharing these stories matters now, especially beyond the VR community to partners, businesses, even legislators?

Grace Miller:  These stories aren’t just incredibly inspiring to us as personal people. These stories are powerful advocacy tools. They help employers see the value in hiring VR clients. The stories show legislators the return on investment on VR programs, and these stories inspire partners to get more involved. VR professionals already know the magic that they can make happen, but when we share it widely, we build understanding, support and momentum for people who may not have known the true impact of VR.

Rick Sizemore:  If you’re watching this on one of our many channels or listening, you must share a sense of what I’m feeling right now is how do I get involved in this? This is exciting. So Grace, where do people turn if they want to be part of this campaign? How can they get involved?

Grace Miller:  That’s my favorite thing to hear. I’m hoping that it’s nice and easy for you. We will have on the CSAVR website, we have a web page dedicated to the 100 stories in 100 days, which will have a short online form to submit stories. We’ll also be sending out emails to our network in CSAVR. So submitting stories through this short online form, even one or two, makes a difference. Just repurposing those success stories that you already have from your newsletters or your reports or your social posts. Send them our way.

Once you share those stories, if you could share the other stories that you see posted to CSAVR on your own channels that will help to reach a wider audience. And if you need any help identifying or shaping a story, you don’t think your story is exactly right yet or it’s too long or you need a little judge to it, submit the story. Our team will work on it. We’re here to assist. We will be uploading these stories to our brand new and improved social media channels for CSAVR. You can find us on Facebook, CSAVR Official, and you can find us on Instagram, @csavrofficial. No spaces, no dots.

Betsy Civilette:  Yeah. Well, this is clearly more than 100 day project. You hinted that this campaign might be a long-term storytelling initiative. Can you tell us more about the vision beyond November?

Grace Miller:  Well, the 100 Days will be a major push. The long-term vision is an ongoing storytelling platform that continues to showcase VR’s impact year-round. We will keep the 100 Stories in 100 Days webpage up on the CSAVR website, and that will include a map of all the stories from each state that makes it easy to find for businesses, legislators, or employers. We are hoping that this campaign builds momentum for a culture of continuous story-sharing at both the national and state levels.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, as we close, what’s one thing you hope listeners walk away from after hearing about this campaign? Maybe a challenge, an invitation.

Grace Miller:  I hope that people walk away with the idea that your story matters. The stories from your state really do matter, and they will really change things. Whether it’s one client or one employer, or one partnership. Sharing your story can change perceptions. It can open doors, it can inspire others. So my challenge is simple. Think of one story you can share and send it in. That single act could be a spark that changes someone’s life.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah. And that spark is what we’re all about as we podcast the sparks that ignite vocational rehabilitation, we’re so excited to partner with you and be involved in this campaign. I know some of the guests that have appeared on our podcast are certainly going to show up in those 100 Stories 100 Days. Grace, we can’t thank you enough for your time, and as a younger person, your passion, this is exciting to see you out there helping lead this national celebration of success through vocational rehabilitation. We’ll be following this campaign closely and look forward to having you back, maybe even Brit, to talk about the stories that moved the nation.

Betsy Civilette:  Yeah, thank you, Grace. Your energy is infectious. We wish you the best of luck on this project.

Grace Miller:  Thank you guys so much.

Sage Wilson:  Hello, I’m Sage Wilson, part of the team here at VR Workforce Studio, inviting you to join us for the National Clearinghouse Report, featuring all the latest news updates and information in VR with Rick Sizemore and Heather Servais.

Rick Sizemore:  Welcome to the VR Workforce Studio. It is time for the always entertaining and informative Heather Servais from our National Clearinghouse. Welcome, Heather.

Heather Servais:  Hey, Rick. Great to be with you.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah, well, our library is filled with stories of young people who have gone through vocational rehabilitation, finding themselves in an unpaid work experience that leads to employment. What do you have for us in the Clearinghouse today?

Heather Servais:  You just mentioned that your library is full of resources, and I’d like to just throw out there that NCRTM also has a library full of resources-

Rick Sizemore:  Amazing library, I might add.

Heather Servais:  Over 3,800 different resources available, some about paid and unpaid work experiences, but just overall a wide variety of materials. So I’m going to give you three different materials that are in our library today that I think you will enjoy. So the first is a new video that we put out NCRTM, it’s called Accurate Versus Poor Captioning. And what does-

Rick Sizemore:  Wow, great.

Heather Servais:  It shows just how big the gap can be when captions that can be helpful or when they can hinder. And so most of the time we see that folks think that auto-generated captions just are good enough at first glance. But when you take a look at this video, you’ll see with the side-by-side accurate captions, the difference, just how much it can make to the user when the captions are correct. So when you’re viewing this video and you can see whether there’s a noisy environment or a quiet library, or whether you’re just making sure your content’s accessible to deaf and hard of hearing community, these accurate captions are going to make sure that your message is clear and very easy to understand. So check that out if you’re interested in learning more about that and seeing how poor captioning can really [inaudible 00:31:34] user experience.

Rick Sizemore:  I’ll definitely check this one out because captioning is such an essential part of the communication process, particularly for people with disabilities and others as well. So that’s going to be a keeper.

Heather Servais:  Absolutely. The second resource I have is our new curated list. We put these out almost on a quarterly basis. Yes. And this curated list that we have is all resources that are coming out of those Disability Innovation Fund grants. And so on this list you’ll find toolkits, different training videos, success stories, and guides. All of these materials are designed to improve education or transition services and employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities. So this is a great opportunity to look at how the innovation is taking shape across the country through these grant funded tools. And most of these can be put to use right away, whether you’re a VR counselor or if you’re an individual with a disability that’s interested in looking at these services in your area. It’s great.

And if you’re new to our NCRTM Curated List, we have quite a few of them. And so if you’re new to them, we actually have a video tutorial that shows you how to learn how to navigate through those lists and how to use them so that they don’t have to be scary. Because most of these lists that we produce have a lot of materials that are divided by audience types. So whether you are from the general public or you’re an individual with a disability or VR counselor or a business, there’s resources on there that are going to be specifically for you. So take a look at the video to learn how to guide those lists and definitely check out the new Disability Innovation Fund curated list so you can really take a look at some of the really cool innovation that’s happening across the nation right now.

Rick Sizemore:  For sure.

Heather Servais:  And then the last product I have for you is success stories. Everybody loves a success story.

Rick Sizemore:  Everybody loves the success story.

Heather Servais: So as you know, RSA has launched their success stories webpage, and this webpage has success stories that are going to be featured from all 56 US states and territories. So these are real life accounts that are showing the impact of RSA and the vocational rehabilitation programs all across the nation and in the territories. So even if you check it once, you should keep coming back because the stories are going to be added regularly. So if you are an individual with a disability that’s looking at career possibilities or families looking to better understand VR or even VR counselors who you’re looking for real world examples and maybe a different way to approach your work, these are great ways to take a look at some of the services and the successes that are coming out of the VR program across the country.

Rick Sizemore: Yeah, check that. We’ll have in the show notes the links for that CSAVR Facebook page where all these are being posted (in addition to the RSA Website). They’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram. Follow those, put them in your feed because there’s some great stories. Very excited to have submitted some stories of individuals who have been on this podcast. One of them, Malik Thornton, you heard his episode last month, episode 132 VR and the Band Director paired him up with Steve Wooderson, and we’ve just got word that he’s going to be featured in a national magazine. More to come on that next month. And all of these stories are so exciting, and we thank you for all that you’re doing.

One last plug for the Clearinghouse. You started talking about your library. Save the NCRTM in your favorites. Rehabilitation counselors that listen to this podcast say to me all the time, it’s right there on my desktop. I go to it all the time. It’s a great resource. So Heather, thank you and the team at the NCRTM for the great work you’re doing. I look forward to checking out that video on captioning.

Heather Servais directs RSA’s National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation training materials and joins us each month for the Clearinghouse. Links and resources from the MCRTM are included in the show notes at vrworkforcestudio.com.

Well, thank you for getting involved in today’s show. If you or someone has a disability and wants to get into the workforce, vocational rehabilitation may just be the answer to kick your career. Visit us at vrworkforcestudio.com to find links and resources as well as our contact information. On behalf of my co-host, Betsy Civilette, I’m Rick Sizemore inviting you to join us as we podcast the sparks that ignite vocational rehabilitation.

Jake Hart:  The VR Workforce Studio Podcast is owned and operated by Vocational Rehabilitation’s Partners in Podcasting. Audio content for the podcast is provided to VR Partners in Podcasting by the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services in exchange for promotional considerations.