Transcript

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 (00:38): Welcome to the VR Workforce Studio where we podcast the sparks at Ignite Vocational Rehabilitation. I’m Rick Sizemore, along with co-host Betsy Civilette, and we’re calling today’s episode Atomic Rehab. Our guest, William Anderson, has built a remarkable career in nuclear engineering. He served as a nuclear officer in the United States Navy, earned advanced education in nuclear engineering, and today works with Framatome in Lynchburg, Virginia, supporting an industry where precision, expertise, and performance matter enormously.

Betsy Civilette (01:13): Right. But William’s story also reminds us that disability doesn’t always enter someone’s career at the beginning, and vocational rehabilitation isn’t always just about helping someone find their first job. Sometimes it’s helping an accomplished professional, as you’ll hear, stay in the workforce, understand what they need, and find the environment where their talents can thrive. So William, welcome to the VR Workforce Studio.

William Anderson (01:40): Thank you. Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Rick Sizemore (01:42): William, before we get into your story, let’s welcome Nathan Roberts, a vocational rehabilitation counselor from the DARS office in Lynchburg, Virginia. We’ll bring him into the conversation momentarily. But William, tell us about what it’s like, first of all, to work at Framatome.

William Anderson (02:00): Okay. So like you said, Framatome is a nuclear company. They manufacture fuel for the civilian nuclear power plants in the United States. They’re a French-owned company, so I’m in the US sector, Framatome North America, as you can see. But we manufacture fuel for nuclear power plants. We provide engineering services. When power plants shut down for their regular refueling cycles, we provide teams to go and help with maintenance tasks, et cetera, to maintain the nuclear fleet of power generation in the United States, which is hugely important for the energy consumption that our country has.

Betsy Civilette (02:50): Well, it’s above my pay grade. That’s quite remarkable, but your career is quite remarkable. You earned your degree in chemical engineering, became a nuclear officer in the Navy, and then later earned a master’s degree in nuclear engineering. So walk us through that journey and some of the work you’ve done along the way.

William Anderson (03:11): Yeah, so like you said, I did chemical engineering. I attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. I knew from high school that I wanted to do chemical engineering because of my chemistry high school teacher, loved math, loved chemistry, and I was like, “I’m going to put those two together.” But then as I studied chemical engineering, I got more interested in nuclear. I wanted to go and teach at a university as a professor, but I had a really good friend that was a chemical engineer who had joined the Navy with the Nuclear Propulsion Officer Candidate Program or NUPOC as it’s called, which has a number of different entries to be an officer in the nuclear Navy. One of them is to be an instructor in Charleston, South Carolina, so that’s where I ended up. He knew I wanted to teach, but I got an opportunity to do it by serving our country, which I loved to be able to do and never though I would do, but I’m very grateful that I was able to.

(04:15):

So then I spent four years, nearly five years in Charleston, South Carolina teaching the sailors how to operate a nuclear power plant, nuclear propulsion system for submarines aircraft carriers. Earned my master’s from Penn State while I was active duty in Charleston, did that all online with a few courses that I went to campus for, but those were just short periods. And then decided to start a PhD because I wanted to teach, like I said earlier. I went to Virginia Tech as a PhD student, only lasted for about a year and a half once I realized it wasn’t quite the right career path I wanted to take. So then I came back to the Navy as a civilian in Idaho, taught there, worked as an engineer there, and then ended up at Framatome eventually about five years ago as I’m posting here on my little background.

(05:12):

So I thought that was appropriate.

Betsy Civilette (05:14): Celebrating.

Rick Sizemore (05:15): That is fantastic. What a journey. Clearly you were successful academically and professionally, but eventually you began to experience some challenges that were affecting your life and your work. When did you begin realizing that something was going on that you might need some help with?

William Anderson (05:36): Yeah, no, that’s a really great question. And I think it was my experience in the Navy that really helped me identify what was going on because as a Naval officer, I would stand watch and duty for long shifts and help people that were struggling or in trouble or whatever. And so helping people with suicidal ideations and thoughts was something that we were trained to help and deal with in an emergency situation. And I had that experience to deal with that a few times as I was in the Navy. But for me, it was in 2020 during COVID, lots of people were struggling during COVID. There’s a lot of changes and things to deal with, and I started to have suicidal ideations. And that was when it finally triggered for me that I was like, “Oh, I need some help.” And so I started to reach out for help, got some help, but it took me applying to my job at Framatome, coming to Framatome, still struggling, and then eventually finding someone to do a full psych eval for me where I was eventually diagnosed with ADHD at about, that would’ve been in 2021, the fall of 2021, so about five years ago.

(07:02):

No, 2022. It would’ve been the fall of 2022, so four years ago. And so I would’ve been 35 years old, diagnosed with ADHD, and it was eye-opening for me. And I mean, all through this time, I’m returning to work, trying to figure out how to live my life and still work after going through major depressive episodes and anxiety and just navigating that all on my own. And same thing when I got diagnosed with ADHD, but it was last year, I guess, or maybe it was two years ago now, Nathan, that I met you, but it was last year when we started to actually meet together with DARS. And I heard that Virginia had a program to help people that had mental health struggles reentered the workforce. And I was like, “Why didn’t I know that?” Nathan and I kind of talked about that, and honestly, it was a huge blessing to meet Nathan.

(08:09):

I never would’ve expected to meet him in that situation for myself. It felt

Betsy Civilette (08:14): Like a miracle. Well, let me ask you, when you got that ADHD diagnosis, looking back, like I said, did that help explain, I guess, some of the challenges that you had earlier in your education career?

William Anderson (08:25): Absolutely. I mean, I said I started a PhD, I look back on that, I was like, oh, no wonder that was so hard. No wonder after a year and a half it was like, oh, this isn’t what I want to do or this is really hard to stick with, et cetera. Even with, like you said, I’ve been successful and there’s no denying that, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have struggles. And I look at my undergrad or my graduate education, I was like, how did I – How did you do that? How did I do that? Because now that I know I have an ADHD diagnosis, I look at it and I’m like, oh, no wonder these things were so hard, but here’s my – Absolutely. I mean, I persevered, worked hard and blessed to understand complicated technical concepts and be passionate about it, which is something that ADHD people often thrive in.

(09:18):

So I mean, it’s also obvious why I survived and I thrived.

Rick Sizemore (09:24): One of the fascinating parts of your story for me is how you discovered vocational rehabilitation. You weren’t actually looking for help for yourself initially. Folks have to hear about that.

William Anderson (09:38): Yeah, for sure. Nathan, I’d appreciate you helping me remember exactly what the event was, but there was an event –

Nathan Roberts (09:45): It was a community resource for parents of children and students with disabilities. And so they just had a bunch of tables around and they had some talk sessions, Q&A sessions in order to just inform the community of different resources they can reach out to. First of all, William, your vulnerability around suicide ideation, around sharing your diagnosis is pretty powerful and people need to hear that from you. It goes without saying that you were successful, but you’re even more successful today because of you know who you are fully. There’s oftentimes, and you ask for help, and there’s many people that don’t ask for help. They suffer alone and struggle, which is where maybe suicide ideation can come from for people. And without having the ability to say, I need some help and the willingness to go and seek out a potential diagnosis, for those people that are not going to seek out help, there is opportunity for that.

(10:54):

Now, we don’t make any diagnosis at DARS, but we help people who say, “I would like to be supported,” and that was totally William. The thing I wanted to submit is just to slow down in this podcast for a moment because William’s story is probably other people’s stories as well. And it’s so important to get this word out that you don’t have to do this alone. So for William, it was recognizing he had a diagnosis later in life, and that happens many times. So understanding what the diagnosis is a very key point here.

(11:31):

What is ADHD? Okay, now who am I with ADHD? It’s not a negative diagnosis, it’s an opportunity to understand who I am fully and then move forward successfully in that. And so after just many sessions of meeting with William, it was, “Let’s talk about how do you have hard conversations with your employer to share with them who you know you are today?” And that’s different from who I was when I accepted the position and moved into that role at Framatome. And so I want to say to them without them being hard on me, and ends up, we had some high level conversations with your leaders at Framatome who were saying his productivity is through the roof. And William is telling me in a side conversation, “I’m getting done with my job the first day on Monday. I still have Tuesday through Friday to go. What do I do with the rest of my week?” And so we talked about social opportunities.

(12:34):

How do you talk to people at the water cooler? How do you talk to people at the printer? DARS helps all people with disabilities. That is something to be very clear here is we also want to support on the social end of things to see people be successful. So this was an opportunity for him to just explain who he was and where his strengths are, which ended up turning into an incredible opportunity, William, that you could probably talk way better than I ever can.

Betsy Civilette (13:07): Well, thank you now for adding that dimension to the story. That is crucial and like you said, involving. And then William, I mean, if you want to elaborate, what are you doing now? You moved into a different position, is that right? And how has it helped?

William Anderson (13:24): Yeah. I mean, this is kind of a little funny, honestly, but the position I accepted is working as a process engineer doing some of these maintenance tasks for nuclear power plants. But interestingly, and Nathan doesn’t know this yet, but it turns out that that position and our. I’m trying to think of the right way to say this, but some of the opportunities to get trained in that position have fallen through this year. And so I actually needed to find other work to do. And because of the relationships I had with my old group, even though it was more desk work that I was struggling with, I still had those relationships and was able to procure more work to do and support the company in this time where this opportunity we did have this year kind of fell through. And so I’m actually working for my old team and some of my friends in that same organization again, just temporarily because of my expertise.

William Anderson (14:33): With a different – And it honestly comes full circle with what you talked about, Nathan, just able to advocate for myself and that was advocating for myself in a different way to be like, “Well, now this job that I started and started learning, and I still have some stuff to do in that job that is hands-on, and so I get to go to a lab and work with some equipment, but it’s just not taking up most of my time. But because I had these relationships and because I learned to advocate for myself, when they said,” You need to go find some more work to do, “I was like,” Well, I know lots of people that need help doing work. “So I went now and I reached back to them and I’ve been helping them again. So that’s the end of the story that Nathan didn’t even know at this point.

(15:15):

I mean, that’s the current part of the story, it’s not the end.

Rick Sizemore (15:19): That is just fantastic. I have a question for Nathan. When you started working with William, and we’re getting into the VR process right now, what strengths did you see and how did you help him identify the supports and the career direction that could help him not only remain successful on the job, but as we’ve heard, expand, to use the old COVID word, pivot to be able to find work and really create a path forward? Take us through the VR process and what you saw and how you helped William.

Nathan Roberts (15:56): Yeah, sure. First of all, I got to meet William and his family because he started talking to me about his son, which was beautiful. Can’t wait to serve him from a rehab side. But William said, “I was recently diagnosed with ADHD. This is the position I have, and this is where it’s not fitting for me anymore.” We talked about and did, I think, a career interest inventory to find out what was the best type of field for him to be in, and it landed in this. And I said, “So we can’t get out of your aptitude and interest are all in this, so how are we going to make this suitable for you?” Because we could have looked for another job in a heartbeat. We have great relationships with employers. But here’s the thing, the same issues would’ve arisen for him, and he would’ve still been struggling in that position, no matter what it was.

(16:47):

Teaching. I mean, we also went to a local employer who does some engineering with leather, and we got to do some tours, sites of the engineering opportunities at those places because I wanted him to see some other opportunities out there where his expertise could be used. All of them led us to this type of work. Everything that we did led to this type of work. So now we need to adjust this type of work to fit you, not you fit that type of work. And so that’s where the conversation was. What other type of positions do they have in this company? Which by the way, all high level leaderships are like, “This man can’t leave us. We need William at Framatome, so whatever it takes, we want to make it work.” I mean, he is highly respected at Framatome, and everybody is just really grateful for the productivity that he’s doing.

(17:40):

By the way, that was during him saying to me, “I’m only working eight hours a week and my productivity is for…” The employer was like, “He’s blowing it out of the water. He’s doing more than what we even ask.” So VR is all about accepting who we are, as I mentioned before. Am I in the right place? Do we need to look for a different type of career opportunity or do we need to take that career opportunity that we’re already in and make it fit us as an individual? And so that’s what it looked like for him. And it was coupled with some mental health counseling as well, working through how to adjust mentally to this space as well. So William did the hard work. William did the hard work. And then we have been able to successfully close his case, and now he’s got this great promotion and doing more, as I’m not surprised to hear that, actually.

(18:34):

I’m totally proud of you, but I’m not surprised, man, because wherever you are, whatever you do, you do it with excellence and I’m grateful that you said yes to getting help and to moving forward.

William Anderson (18:49): Thank you, Nathan. Very kind of you to say all that. I really appreciate it.

Nathan Roberts (18:53): And he’s had another child since, by the way.

David Leon (18:56): Oh, wow. That’s

William Anderson (18:56): True.

Betsy Civilette (18:57): Well, closing thought, William, what would you tell another accomplished professional who is struggling but thinks, “Well, vocational rehabilitation isn’t for somebody like

William Anderson (19:09): Me?” That’s an interesting question for sure. I mean, I think Nathan nailed it on the head. It’s okay to ask for help,

William Anderson (19:21): There’s a lot of avenues. Obviously, DARS and vocational rehabilitation helps me a ton, and I think it could help other people, but there’s lots of avenues, and it’s okay to ask for help. It really is. And to seek that help and to learn to advocate for yourself and your career so that you can be happy and productive and excellent, I think was the word Nathan used or

Rick Sizemore (19:46): Something. I think that’s certainly apropos. William Anderson, Nathan Roberts, thank you for sharing your amazing story. Your experience expands the way we think about vocational rehabilitation. Success isn’t always simply getting the job. Sometimes success is having the support to stay, grow, adapt, and thrive once you’re there. And that is certainly a spark that ignites vocational rehabilitation. Thank you both for being here.

VR Workforce Singers (20:18): Celebrating International Podcast Day, VR Workforce Studio.

Rick Sizemore (20:28): Well, Betsy, I’ve got a question for you. What are your two favorite neighbors on the calendar?

Betsy Civilette (20:34): My favorite neighbors on the calendar.

Rick Sizemore (20:36): Absolutely. They live right next door to each other on the calendar.

Betsy Civilette (20:41): Okay. Well, I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.

Rick Sizemore (20:43): September 30th, International Podcast Day.

Betsy Civilette (20:46): Of course. I should have seen that one coming, knowing you.

Rick Sizemore (20:50): And right next door, beginning October 1st, National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

Betsy Civilette (20:56): Right. Well, that is a pretty great neighborhood.

Rick Sizemore (21:00): Yeah. And when International Podcast Day and National Disability Employment Awareness Month get together.

Betsy Civilette (21:06): It’s a party here at VR Workforce Studio.

Rick Sizemore (21:09): Exactly. And we’ve invited someone else to the party, David Leon. You’ve spent your career helping connect people with disabilities with opportunities in Virginia’s workforce. Welcome back to the VR Workforce Studio, David.

David Leon (21:24): Thanks, Rick. And this is a great time to celebrate because National Disability Employment Awareness Month gives us an opportunity to recognize something that vocational rehabilitation demonstrates every day. People with disabilities bring talent, skills, and value to Virginia’s workforce.

Betsy Civilette (21:42): And throughout October, DARS will be introducing people across Virginia to some remarkable individuals and businesses, our champions of disability employment.

Rick Sizemore (21:52): We’ve been traveling around the Commonwealth and recording their stories, so for the next few minutes, let’s meet a few of them.

Betsy Civilette (22:06): Let’s begin with Daniel Patterson. Daniel is 26. He’s on the autism spectrum, and he works as a custodian at Jim Barnett Park with Frederick County Parks and Recreation. But Daniel’s story isn’t simply about getting a job.

David Leon (22:21): Employment gives someone the opportunity to demonstrate what they bring to a workplace, and Daniel did exactly that. One day at work, he heard a frightened child crying. He recognized that something wasn’t right, found someone who could help, and made sure that child received assistance. His employer recognized him with a shout-out award for going above and beyond.

Daniel Patterson (22:43): This is the shout out award that I won while I was working there. While I was doing my usual routine, I heard a little girl crying in the girls’ room near the social area room and sounding concern, and I was a little concerned, so I went because there were some summer camp things going on around there, so I went to one of the counselors to inform them that there was someone crying in the girls’ room, and after going to check her out and helping her out a bit, I was awarded this shout out here for going above and beyond helping someone who was clearly scared and out of my field.

Betsy Civilette (23:21): There is so much in that little award.

David Leon (23:23): Absolutely. It’s reliability, awareness, caring about other people, taking responsibility. Those are workplace qualities every employer wants.

Rick Sizemore (23:36): Daniel told us one of his biggest goals is to live independently and to support himself. That’s why employment changes lives in such a profound way.

Daniel Patterson (23:48): One of my most important tasks I want to be is be able to live independent and be able to support myself. Before I was working with DARS, I was pretty sad. I was having a hard time trying to find a job, but thanks to the help that I received from them, I managed to get the support I need to help me feel better and allow me to become more proactive when it comes to looking for a job, especially after several opportunities that fell through. And eventually I found this position as a custodian at Frederick County Parks and Recreation, and after working there a couple months, I did something that earned me this.

Rick Sizemore (24:33): But vocational rehabilitation isn’t only a story about individuals looking for work, there’s another essential partner.

Betsy Civilette (24:41): Right, the employer.

David Leon (24:49): And when employers recognize this talent pipeline, everybody benefits. Dayton and Gloucester is a great example. Danielle Potter and Erin Lambert describe their relationship with DARS, not as simply receiving a referral, but as a genuine workforce partnership.

Danielle Potter (25:08): Director of people operations for Dedon and Gloster. What we appreciate most about working with DARS is that it’s not just a handoff of the youth in our program and we just trying to figure out where their skills are. There’s communication, support, collaboration from the DARS program through the whole process, and really finding ways for these youth to become successful in ways they’ve never had the opportunity to, and we’ve been fortunate enough to see growth in these youth through this program.

Erin Lambert (25:40): When we found DARS and started the relationship, we were looking for an avenue to fill positions, and we had to get outside the box. When Danielle first stumbled upon the DARS program and had a new idea of how we could find some hopefully untapped individuals to bring in here and work, it was really exciting for us. It’s something new that we had been involved with before, and the program’s really helped us out greatly with that. It’s been difficult to fill positions, and at this point, we’ve found people that can come in here, learn the positions, grow with positions, and try different positions along the way with us and see where they really fit for us.

Betsy Civilette (26:17): Well, that phrase really stands out to me. It’s not just a handoff.

David Leon (26:23): Exactly. Effective vocational rehabilitation involves partnership. The individual brings talent, the employer brings opportunity, and DARS can help bring those two together to provide support along the way.

Rick Sizemore (26:38): And the employer said something else that’s really important. They needed workers. This isn’t charity, this is workforce development. By the way, check out David’s reel on the DARS Facebook page as we finish up Workforce Development Month. After beginning today’s episode with a nuclear engineer, I think we need at least one more technology story.

Betsy Civilette (27:02): And I think we’ve got one.

Rick Sizemore (27:04): We certainly do. Jeffrey Scroggins works for Cloudfit Software. Jeffrey met DARS at a job fair. That connection eventually helped him obtain an internship with Cloudfit, and that internship opened the door to employment.

David Leon (27:27): And Jeffrey describes a challenge familiar to many young professionals. Employers want experience, but it’s difficult to gain that experience until someone gives you that first opportunity. VR helped create that bridge.

Jeffery Scroggins (27:40): Hey, I actually got promotion and a pay raise now. My life is better with DARS because it helped me get this job because most people don’t know, but in the tech industry, you don’t normally get entry level jobs without fresh out college because usually they want you one or two years of experience. The problem is you can’t get those unless you have the job, and you can’t get the job unless you have the experience. So with DARS, it helped bridge that gap, allow me to actually get my foot in the door and get an entry level job to able to actually get the experience and then eventually get career job. I can say with DARS, it makes the process a much easier and less stressful because usually someone with my disabilities and whatnot, it makes it much harder to give a good impression on employers to hire because a lot of times most people tend to not exactly look favorably sometimes on people with disabilities, sadly, but it helps.

(28:42):

It helps a lot.

Betsy Civilette (28:43): A promotion and a pay raise.

Rick Sizemore (28:45): I loved hearing that.

David Leon (28:48): Because that’s the progression we’re talking about, not simply placement, but career development.

Betsy Civilette (28:54): Right. And Jeffrey talked about what employment means outside the workplace too, paying his bills, having his own apartment, and building a life.

Rick Sizemore (29:04): Employment, independence, career. That’s a pretty powerful progression.

Betsy Civilette (29:09): Our next champion brings us to another dimension of employment, purpose.

Rick Sizemore (29:14): Justin Shepheard works at a rehabilitation and retirement center in the Portsmouth area supporting residents, and there was something Justin said almost immediately during our conversation that stopped me in my tracks. He said, “Essentially, when I’m there, I’m there for the residents. I’m not there for myself or for a paycheck.”

David Leon (29:36): That’s the voice of someone who understands the purpose of his work.

Justin Shepheard (29:41): Working and joining with the residents, and that’s just my life. I’m there to support the resident. I’m not there just for myself or there for a paycheck. I’m there to look out for the resident. Well, DRS made the life easier. They help me show you how to build a resume and they start from scratch for you. And they’re by your side 100%. Whatever you need, they’re there for you to create a resume, to find a job. And they’re also there for when you have an interview with your job. I’m blessed to have it because the job opportunity I got now, it’s only eight minutes from my house. And I can’t complain. And it’s been a blessing. And everybody’s been working with me, been very patient with me. It’s meeting my standards, meeting at touch station because I’m a full-time single father. But I can’t complain with DRS.

(30:59): They were there whatever I asked them, they were the answer for me. If they can’t find the answer, they’ll find it for me.

Betsy Civilette (31:09): That’s my passion. I think that says it all.

David Leon (31:13): It does. People want the opportunity to contribute. They want to be needed. They want to use their abilities and know that their work matters.

Rick Sizemore (31:22): And Justin’s work matters to the residents that he serves every day. Well, there’s one more voice we want to bring into this celebration. Someone our VR Workforce Studio audience may recognize.

Betsy Civilette (31:40): Lauren Bacon Smith, chief people officer at Enabled Intelligence.

David Leon (31:46): Enabled Intelligence provides a strong example of what can happen when an employer and vocational rehabilitation build an intentional talent pipeline. Their partnership with DARS has included paid work experiences, registered apprenticeships, on-the-job training, and other workforce supports, creating pathways into high-demand technology careers for people with disabilities.

Betsy Civilette (32:12): And Lauren brings the employer perspective. Inclusive hiring isn’t simply about opening a door. It’s about recognizing talent, developing that talent, and then creating an environment where people have the opportunity to succeed.

Rick Sizemore (32:26): We had the chance to hear that firsthand in the VR Workforce Studio when we sat down with Lauren and the Enabled Intelligence team. Let’s give it a listen.

Laruen Bacon Smith  (32:37): Are creating training data for AI models to learn from. So we created the company with a very specific mission to support the federal government, mainly the Department of Defense and Intelligence community on mission-critical national security programs. And we are helping them develop AI and technology that increases the accuracy and the timeframe that decisions are made for analysts and war fighters on the ground towards national security. We started looking at the skills that would be needed to build a truly expert and professional data labeling team. And those skills like attention to detail, ability to hyper-focus, strong pattern recognition, ability to work on repetitive work. We recognized that a lot of people within the neurodivergent and disability community have those skills and unfortunately experience high levels of unemployment and underemployment. So we saw an opportunity to create a company with a double mission where we have our national security public service mission, and then we have our mission to create meaningful career opportunities for people that are underrepresented in really any industry, but especially IT and AI.

(34:03):

Given that I was a team of one and we had very specific hiring goals and needs, being able to develop this partnership over years in this relationship, we were able to use DARS as kind of an extension of my team to have recruiters out in the field that knew what we were looking for and could pre-screen people and refer people to us. So that’s where, yes, we posted our jobs online and we would get some applicants online, but really the bulk of our hires up until this big volume hiring and then even since have been through referrals through talent partners like DARS.

David Leon (34:46): And that’s the employer side of this equation. There’s talent in our communities. Sometimes what changes a life and strengthens a business is creating the pathway that allows that talent to be seen.

Betsy Civilette (35:01): And these are only a few of the stories DARS will be sharing throughout National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

Rick Sizemore (35:08): We’ll also hear from champions connected with James Madison University and Innovative Technology Solutions of Southwest Virginia. We’ll introduce you to Anniston McLaughlin who works for probation and parole.

David Leon (35:21): And Towanda Shirley with Chesapeake Public Schools.

Betsy Civilette (35:26): And many more Virginians whose stories demonstrate the value, talent, and contributions people with disabilities bring to the workforce.

David Leon (35:34): And that’s an important point, Betsy. These aren’t all the same kinds of jobs. They’re not all the same kinds of people. They’re not all the same employers or career paths. That’s precisely the point. Disability is a part of Virginia’s workforce across occupations, industries, and communities.

Rick Sizemore (35:52): So maybe those two neighbors on the calendar really do belong together. September 30th, International Podcast Day.

Betsy Civilette (36:00): And starting October one, National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

David Leon (36:06): One gives us the microphone, the other gives us something extraordinarily important to talk about.

Rick Sizemore (36:12): David Leon is the workforce director for Virginia DARS and leads a team of business development professionals that create opportunity at the intersection of VR and business. Thanks for joining us, David.

David Leon (36:23): Thank you, Rick and Betsy.

Rick Sizemore (36:26): National Disability Employment Awareness Month is all about the value and talent of people with disabilities in America’s workforce. And here at the VR Workforce Studio, we’ll keep doing what we love to do.

Betsy Civilette (36:39): Sharing the voices.

David Leon (36:41): Celebrating the opportunities.

Rick Sizemore (36:44): And podcasting the sparks that ignite vocational rehabilitation. Throughout October, follow DARS social media as we introduce you to many more of Virginia’s champions of disability employment and don’t go anywhere. Coming up next, we have our National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation Training Material Showcase with all the latest resources, training and tools from our partners at the NCRTM. I’m Rick Sizemore.

Betsy Civilette (37:12): And I’m Betsy Civilette.

Rick Sizemore (37:14): This is the VR Workforce Studio.

Betsy Civilette (37:17): Celebrating

VR Workforce Singers (37:19): Value and talent at DARS. Celebrating value and talent at DARS. It’s the Clearinghouse update with Heather Service.

Rick Sizemore (37:41): Well, it’s time for our National Clearinghouse report with the always entertaining and informative Heather service. Welcome to the podcast, Heather. Hey

Heather Servais (37:48): Rick, happy International Podcasting Day to you.

Rick Sizemore (37:53): International Podcast Day, September 30th. We’re now in our 11th season, and one of the highlights of this podcast for me is welcome you to every episode to talk about the incredible things that are available in the Voc Rehab community and how people can find that. Of course, National Disability Employment Awareness Month throughout October will feature this podcast. So what do you have for us in the clearing house?

Heather Servais (38:21): Absolutely. We have three new resources to talk to you about. The first is an Assistive Soft Skills and Employment Training (ASSET) Curriculum (STEMM-Up). And this curriculum is structured to help with some of those employment readiness skills that are designed to help both youth and young adults with disabilities build those workplace skills. So things like self-advocacy, communication, teamwork, problem solving, all of these kind of soft skills that we know are so important when you’re entering the workforce. And so one of the things I love about this particular resource is that it includes facilitator materials, the participant handouts that are there, and they can be used in individual or group settings. So for those VR counselors or even for those community rehab providers, this asset curriculum can be great for your pre – ET services, job readiness training. It can really help you with your participants and helping them understand workplace interactions, prepare for those internships and employment, and really identify those areas for continued skill development.

(39:26):

So super excited to be able to share that with one with you today. We also have another resource. It’s an on-demand training, so you can take this anytime that works for you, whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, you can do it from your computer. It’s called Building Stronger Career Pathways Across the Disability Employment Ecosystem (CIT-VR PATH). And this training really focuses on building those stronger career pathways across the disability employment field. So think about a lot of people who listen to this podcast are part of that VR system. So how are we addressing recruitment and onboarding and the professional development for those folks in that ecosystem and what ways can we help them develop and advance in both the traditional and related professional backgrounds? So this can be particularly useful for VR leaders or supervisors, counselors, and those service providers that are looking to address staffing challenges and help build a more prepared and sustainable workforce in their organization or their agency and can really help support that planning around your staff development.

(40:37):

So excited to pass that on and hope you’ll take a look at it. It does also offer CRC credits. We always love some free CRC credits.

(40:46):

Absolutely.

(40:47):

And then the final resource I want to share with you today is our newest NCRTM curated list. This list is navigating employment challenges beyond disability. And so we know as we work with our VR participants that there are so many employment related challenges that can affect individuals with disabilities beyond their specific disability needs that go into things like transportation, housing, financial stability, food access, mental health and wellness, and caregiving responsibilities, and even things like digital internet access. So this curated list gives us an opportunity to really look at some of those other challenges and give us resources to help serve our customers as we prepare for employment and address all of those challenges beyond disability that can sometimes be a barrier to employment. So happy to pass those on for counselors. These resources are also great to work directly with your customers. They’re focused mostly on individuals with disabilities and their families, so we’re really hoping you can use these to better connect with resources to your customers.

(41:55):

And so this is one of our curated lists. I’ve talked about curated lists on the podcast several times and we now have 27 of these curated lists available. So the link to all of those 27 lists will be available in the show notes, but we’re hoping that you’ll check this one out and that you’ll find it useful and want to check out the others as well.

Rick Sizemore (42:14): I think that one of the key issues for the voc rehab community in sustaining the professionals that populate all of the service positions in VR is welcoming teachers, social workers from other professions into the VR. We’re away from that older model where you went to college, you got a degree in rehab counseling, you got a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling, then you got your CRC. And now we’re expanding in so many ways to bring this synthesis of professionals from other areas into the rehab community. I would say to anyone who asked me, what’s one of the first deliverables you could give one of these incoming folks from another profession? And I would say it’s a curated list. As a desktop, it’s a treasure trove of how you do this work and how other people, what the best practices are, what the resources are. So hats off to you and the team at the NCRTM.

(43:20): You’re doing a wonderful job and we appreciate your being on this podcast and we look forward to having you for many more years as we go down the career pathway and the podcast highway here to VR Workforce Studio.

Heather Servais (43:37): Thanks, Rick. It’s great to be with you. And also just a quick side note for National Disability Employment Awareness Month, if you haven’t connected with NCRTM on X or LinkedIn, highly encourage you to connect with us, especially over National Disability Employment Awareness Month. We’re going to have a lot of fun material on social media that can be used to really champion National Disability Employment Awareness Month and keeping up that good work towards competitive integrated employment.

Rick Sizemore (44:05): Thank you, Heather.