As part of the ongoing evaluation of the SWTCIE Illinois project, during the Fall of 2024 the Evaluation Team conducted interviews with eight of the eleven project vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors. Guided by the VR Services Evaluation Framework construct, the interviews were designed to gather data related to the overall role of VR counselor and have a more specific focus on the counseling and guidance function and informed choice processes with SWTCIE IL participants. More specifically, the evaluation questions of interest were:
- What evidence exists regarding SWTCIE Illinois participant informed choice?
- What is the level and quality of counseling and guidance provided to SWTCIE Illinois participants?
Methods
Data was collected via a one-time semi-structured interview (Adams, 2015; Adeoye-Olatunde & Olenik, 2020; Patton, 2015). All semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom. The eight semi-structured interviews ranged from 28 minutes to 1 hour and 2 minutes with the average interview being 42 minutes. It is worth noting that one interview was not recorded; the interviewer took detailed notes of the conversation. Multiple procedures were implemented to ensure the trustworthiness of the data collected. These procedures were as follows: participants were appropriately and purposefully selected, an interview guide was developed using semi-structured interview methods (Adam, 2015; Adeoye-Olatunde & Olenik, 2020; Brantlinger et al., 2005; Patton, 2015) and informed by the state of the research (Austin et al., 2019). In addition, data was analyzed using the steps outlined by Braun and Clarke (2022). The evaluation team maintained an audit trail and an evaluator consensus of themes were generated from a triangulation process where three evaluation team members iteratively analyzed, coded, and discussed the data. Member checks were completed with interviewees to ensure anonymity and accuracy of findings.
Findings
As shown in Figure 1, the following three themes were developed during data analysis: Dual Customer Approach, Counseling and Guidance Processes, and Active Collaboration. The data collected during the interviews with SWTCIE Illinois VR counselors indicates that these counselors possess experience and the requisite expertise to a) work effectively with customers with intellectual disabilities or SWTCIE participants, b) utilize promising supported/customized employment practices, and c) tailor their knowledge of the world of work (i.e., local labor market, occupations, job positions, and on-the-job demands) to both a customer’s interests and abilities and employer’s needs. This dual customer approach informs and guides both counseling and guidance processes and active collaboration. Per counselor descriptions, counseling and guidance and collaboration have a reciprocal relationship in which they each influence the other during the vocational rehabilitation process with SWTCIE Illinois participants. In turn, counseling and guidance processes and active collaboration function in combination to lead to optimized SWTCIE Illinois participant competitive integrated employment outcomes. Each of the three themes identified from the counselor interview data is described below.
Figure 1. Role of the SWTCIE Illinois Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor
Counseling & Guidance Processes with SWTCIE Illinois Participants
For the purpose of explicating the role of the SWTCIE Illinois VR Counselor, counseling and guidance is defined as:
Information and support services to assist an individual in exercising informed choice (RSA-PD-19-03, 2019). An exchange of information that helps the VR professional and consumer prepare for and make informed decisions over the course of the VR process. Utilizing specific techniques to form a trusting professional-consumer relationship (i.e., therapeutic alliance) and valid vocational profile during the interview (Austin et al., 2015, p. 39).
The Counseling and Guidance Processes theme describes how counselors perceived the services they provide to SWTCIE Illinois participants and how they generally approach VR counseling. The data summary indicates that the Counseling and Guidance Processes theme comprises of the following three sub-themes: Dual Customer: Counselor Knowledge of SWTCIE Illinois participant and the World of Work, Development of the Working Alliance, and Informed Choice Processes to Promote Self-Determination.
Dual Customer: Counselor Knowledge of SWTCIE Illinois Participant and the World of Work
Viewing a VR customer and employer as dual customers and applying supply- (VR customer) and demand-side (employer engagement) strategies to meet the needs of both, has continued to gain traction among State VR agencies (Engelman & Johnson, 2023, November; Haines et al., 2018; Moore et al., 2018). In fact, many counselors have business relations responsibilities or provide services to businesses (Haines et al., 2018). The findings from SWTCIE Illinois VR counselors interviewed support this trend of counselors implementing both supply- and demand-side strategies.
Counselors report to maximize use of the initial interviews to gather relevant information about SWTCIE participants’ vocational interests, abilities, skills, and needs. Further, SWTCIE participants are asked by counselors about their hobbies, activities of daily living, families, and their previous work and school experiences. Situational (work-based) assessments in a real work environment are also reported to be used by counselors to help determine customers’ strengths, needs, and wants. Other counselors discuss how providing direction and support is important to motivate and reinforce a SWTCIE participant’s vocational behavior, as pointed out in this counselor statement: “… counseling and guidance with that customer was trying to let her know to communicate more with the employment specialist, to be patient, to have a good attitude, to have a positive attitude with the employer and to communicate well with the employer when she was taking time off.”
To demonstrate the requisite counselor expertise to work effectively with SWTCIE participants who require supported/customized employment services, three counselors discussed how they transfer and communicate this type of SWTCIE participant information to potential CIE jobs in an individualized fashion. One counselor states the need to have skills to be able to apply a VR customer’s past skills or reported interests to other jobs, using a “dual customer concept” by meeting the employer and customer needs, having a relationship with an employer to customize a job, and assign homework to instill a job search, while utilizing the employment specialist and parent/guardian to help. One counselor emphasizes the importance of building relationships with employers by saying, “That employer is our customer as well. So getting to know them, getting to know their expectations and what they want in their job requirements and making sure that when we’re bringing folks together that it’s matching …” Another counselor reports how VR services serve to build trusting relationships with employers, as this counselor indicates: “… have relationship with employers before looking for work is helpful, customize job if needed because skills don’t match typical jobs available at a business but this is where customer interest is … job coaching and similar support services…[an] employer appreciates this type of support to help create an environment of trust.”
The Community Rehabilitation Provider (CRP) and Employment Specialists (ESs), the agencies and service providers who work directly with employers/businesses to place SWTCIE Illinois participants into CIE jobs, are also noted by counselors as key customers to enhance the dual customer approach, and a primary focus of the counseling and guidance VR counselors provide. All eight counselors interviewed highlight the value of their communications and relationships with CRPs and ESs. One counselor explained how one CRP frequently reaches out to problem-solve or seek support to better serve SWTCIE participants:
They almost call me on a daily basis sometimes about, Hey, I'm doing this with a person. What do you think about this? Or I encountered this problem, or I'm really struggling with this. So, it's almost like you're providing reflective listening for them and providing support or professional advice or guidance or just basically trying to empower them to do the best job that they can do because they're the ones that are directly providing the service for the individual on more of a day-to-day type basis than what I am.
Another counselor reports that using an active practice of reviewing case notes is helpful to working with and supporting CRP services and customer progress: “So I think I'm very effective in that way, keeping the cases and keeping the staffings [with CRPs] going consistently because if everything is done the way it should be timely providing everything, then I'm able to see how the customer is doing … Sometimes they [CRPs] don't meet enough during the month, so that's something that I discuss with them.”
Rapid Engagement
A couple counselors emphasized a process of getting their VR customers into a plan and referring to CRP services as soon as possible, consistent with the motivational interviewing strategy of rapid engagement (Austin et al., 2015; Moore et al., 2018). To illustrate, one counselor reports “… typically … I try not to have a lot of gap time that they come to me saying I want to go to work and getting them engaged in services so I don’t lose em’… [and get] from that person what they want to do, what their knowledge is, what they’re thinking about, and then being able to go on and get them certified and planned within 30 days”.
One counselor differed in their approach to rapid engagement. They described how they would “always do a second interview [with a SWTCIE participant] just to make sure nothing has changed … before I put them into plan.” The counselor noted that this allowed them to get a better understanding of the customer and would also allow them to make sure that the customer’s social support network, such as family member or guardian, are “on board” and understand realistic work expectations.
Discovery
A few counselors also describe how the discovery process, an aspect of customized employment services, may be selectively applied with customers who have more significant disabilities or have no work history. Further, these same counselors discuss how they provide supports to the CRPs to help ESs better understand discovery and the other steps involved in providing customized employment services that can help with discovery, such as use of job tours or situational assessments. One counselor shares how they make sure to be “available” to CRPs and provide guidance to have ESs “spend more time in discovery” when supporting a SWTCIE participant with a customized employment contract as inferred by this counselor comment: “I would suggest to not only the customer but to the CRP as well, that we spend more time in discovery, we spend more time learning about employers, we spend more time developing that relationship before we start filling out applications and things like that, because with the customers do require that extra level of care when it comes to finding employment, that I think we needed to spend more time doing that.”
Development of the Working Alliance
The central factor in all successful counseling processes, including VR counseling, is an effective working alliance. Researchers report that the counselor-client working alliance is critical for facilitating positive counseling outcomes (Lambert, 1992). As one of the essential components for success in counseling, an effective working alliance is represented by a positive collaboration between a customer and a counselor (Kosciulek et al., 2001). Consistent with the research literature, Development of the Working Alliance (i.e., counselor-SWTCIE participant agreement on goals, tasks to achieve agreed-upon employment goals, and emotional bond or rapport; Bordin, 1979) was described in some manner by all counselors as an essential component of effective VR counseling and guidance with SWTCIE Illinois participants.
Counselors detailed how they went about developing the working alliance including meeting clients in the community and settings they were comfortable in, explaining the process of VR services, and being respectful of the person seeking services. Multiple counselors described the importance of respect when communicating with SWTCIE Illinois participants, such as “just talking to them like a person and listening to them like a person… I talk to my customer to the best of their ability … but I don't talk down to 'em.” Another counselor described a similar approach “… try to be simple but friendly and make them feel comfortable.”
The above quotes underscore the importance of respectful communication in developing a working alliance based on trust and respect. Most counselors explain how the initial interview was an important part of developing a working alliance and several note the significant amount of time (upwards to three hours) they spend with SWTCIE participants. Intake interviews provide a significant amount of information to the SWTCIE participant, but it also was an opportunity to provide information to the parents/guardians of SWTCIE participant. One counselor details their approach as “… a holistic view and get to know where they come from, what they're interested in, what their family life is, what's going on in their day-to-day activities. So just generally approaching it as like, Hey, this is making people feel comfortable and making it easy for them to talk to me”
Informed Choice Processes to Promote Self-Determination
In the SWTCIE Illinois project, informed choice is defined as a process during which a participant sets goals, gathers information, considers a range of options, and then takes responsibility for selecting the option that best meets the individual’s identified goals . Informed choice refers to a person’s ability to understand and use programs successfully, because the programs and services are designed to enable customers to navigate them competently. In the context of VR services, informed choice is a process by which an individual with a disability makes decisions related to the following: (a) the selection of methods for procuring service, (b) service providers, (c) the settings for service provision, (d) assessment, skill training, job placement, and other services provided by state VR agencies, and (e) employment goals including the setting in which employment occurs (Kosciulek, 2007).
During the interview process, counselors described the processes used to ensure that SWTCIE participants made informed choices regarding VR services and employment goals. Counselors explain the types of VR services available to SWTCIE participants, including providing information about CRPs and transportation. One counselor described how they read the customer rights regulations directly to Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) customers. The counselors emphasized that VR services are individualized and that participants are in control of the VR process. Counselors also noted how they explain to participants that they are empowered to make decisions regarding what services they participate in and what jobs they pursue. One counselor described this aspect of the informed choice process as: “letting them take control on what they think is best for themselves.”
Several counselors reiterated that informed choice includes respecting customer decision-making and not judging what type of employment the SWTCIE participant may select. As an example, one counselor reported:
As long as the person has information, has the opportunity to explore other options, knows what's out there, knows what they want to do. If they're choosing to work at a place like that, I think that I don't have a problem with that. As a counselor, it's your job, it's your life. You get to decide what you want to do, and I'm not going to try to put my value system on you when you're thinking about that.
Multiple counselors described how informed choice is about exploring what jobs are available and developing realistic employment options based on customer interests, abilities, and job requirements. One counselor explained: “Some of the guidance tends to come into helping them find an appropriate fit, a good job match, either they don't always know what's available out in the community or they maybe want to do something that do a type of job that really just doesn't fit their skillset or kind of the level where they're at.” Based on the information provided by the counselors during the interviews, informed choice involves SWTCIE Illinois participants in the VR process, facilitating independent decision-making, fully informing the individual regarding their rights, providing information on VR service options, and assisting the individual with developing realistic employment goals.
Contextual Factors
There are multiple contextual factors identified by counselors who were interviewed that may influence the SWTCIE counselors counseling and guidance processes. These contextual factors include the passing of the Illinois Dignity in Pay Act, internal systems such as DRS policies and procedures, and relationships with schools. Some of the counselors interviewed explicitly describe these contextual factors and how they affect them. In fall 2024, Dignity in Pay was passed by the Illinois state legislature and signed into law in January 2025. The central provision of Dignity in Pay is the sunsetting of the utilization of Department of Labor 14c sub-minimum wage certificates in Illinois by December 31, 2029. The elimination of 14c sub-minimum wage employment as an option for people with disabilities is a reported concern by two counselors as highlighted by this counselor comment:
I just feel that getting rid of the [14c sub-minimum wage certificates] you are taking away a choice from the clients. I hear in one hand you’re saying that everybody can work, but everybody don’t want to work… that should be a choice… you cannot push people. I just think that’s unfair. That really bothers me because again, I’m always fighting for the underdog, and I feel you’ve taken that choice away. Somebody’s been there 30, 40 years, and if they want to [work in competitive integrated employment], I’m all for it. But if they don’t why are we getting rid of it? They’re happy. It works for them.
This counselor also notes the potential impact on parents and the employment futures of subminimum wage workers— “I don’t know about just getting rid of them totally, because what are we doing to the parents. They have to work … I know they’re safe, they’re taken care of, and now [the parent] can go to work. But once you take that out, where are these people going?”
Other counselors shared their experiences with DRS policies and procedures. One counselor reported to not get the chance to provide input, and would’ve like to, and be involved in the discussions to rolling out special projects, such as SWTCIE, from the beginning—given how project activities may require extra time and effort. This counselor also indicated that DRS counselors should be asked for their input and involved in the shaping of CRP contracts. For instance, one counselor stated: “…in the planning process of how you’re going to implement, especially if you’re going to request counselors to do additional things, additional duties, then it would be nice to actually get counselor feedback on things and … - that always makes me feel more invested if you feel like you’re actually part of the project versus being kind of told, well, this is how it is and this what you’re going to do…[also] once you think, when you're in the process of putting together [CRP] contracts like that, you would want feedback from your VR counselor who's the one that's going to make referrals to the CRPs…”
In addition, one counselor describes an accountability process utilized by DRS that feels punitive and petty when a counselor does not click an indicator in the case management system, as highlighted in this example, “… if we forget to put an indicator in WebCM…instead of just emailing the counselor directly… that email gets sent to the assistant bureau chief over our region …”. These two examples highlight internal systems that may negatively impact SWTCIE Illinois VR counselors.
SWTCIE Illinois counselors who were interviewed also discussed the variance in how schools prepared high school students with disabilities for employment. One counselor shared how some students don’t know they have an IEP meeting, are unaware of their disability diagnoses and how it might impact employment. This same counselor shared that the level of support some high school students with disabilities receive in high school does not prepare them for the “real world” or provide them the opportunity to develop soft skills necessary to earn and maintain competitive integrated employment. Another counselor, who has a transition caseload, also shared their experiences. This counselor reports providing much education about adult services to help facilitate a student’s transition to adult life, including advocating for some customers to get on the PUNS list (i.e., waiver funding for developmental disabilities services) as soon as possible.
Active Collaboration with SWTCIE Illinois Partners
Along with counseling and guidance processes with SWTCIE Illinois participants, active collaboration with SWTCIE partners is necessary to promote wrap-around services for each SWTCIE participant in transitioning to CIE. The counselors collaborative efforts focus on working with CRPs, families and guardians, and employers. For this theme, active collaboration promotes positive working relationships between SWTCIE Illinois VR counselors and other stakeholders to maximize resources and services, and opportunities available to SWTCIE participants seeking CIE.
Community Rehabilitation Providers
Regarding collaboration with CRPs, counselors described the nature of meetings with CRP staff (i.e., employment specialists) who provide direct job placement and on-the-job supports to discuss SWTCIE participants. According to the counselors, they regularly meet with participants and ESs a minimum of every 8 weeks to review and discuss a participant’s progress toward meeting goals outlined in their Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE). Several counselors noted that they hold such meetings more frequently, ranging from almost daily, to every two weeks, to being available as needed to ESs and SWTCIE participants. One counselor described how important it is to act with fidelity in their role “my role is helping you find employment and never wavered from that was [being] consistent with availability, consistent with information sharing, consistent with relationship building. Not only with the customer but with the employer as well …”
Counter-examples can also help define themes because it either underscores the importance of the theme or helps identify what the theme is not (Braun and Clarke, 2022). The importance of active collaboration with CRPs was strengthened by some of the challenges counselors shared when discussing their relationships with CRPs. For example, one counselor shared “feeling out of the loop” since they are not always included on emails and other communications. Another shared that the relationship with the CRP is poor because of interpersonal conflict between CRP staff and the DRS office.
Families and Guardians
Counselors shared the importance of communicating and working with families and guardians of SWTCIE participants. Specifically, counselors noted the importance of family involvement in the VR process that supports participant employment goals. One counselor referred to families and guardians as “secondary clients” that needed to be involved in the process and understand the various aspects of employment including transportation and benefits. Whereas another counselor described the need “… to get buy-in from the family members, from the parents or whoever, and if you have that as part of it, then usually your outcomes are going to be more successful.” A separate counselor also reported that working with parents helped reinforce the importance of CIE by stating that parents advocated for their child to be out in the community particularly after doing community-based instruction during high school saying, “I just don’t want them to sit at home … I want them to be a part of the community”.
Employers
Engaging with employers was described as key by most counselors interviewed. Being aware of local employment opportunities and potential job matches for SWTCIE Illinois participants necessitated frequent collaboration with employers. Further, counselors described having to “sell” employers on hiring people with disabilities. Some counselors also describe how the relationship with employers focuses on natural supports and how having strong natural supports lead to longer job-tenures for DRS customers.
Conclusion
Three themes were developed based on the counselor interview data: Dual Customer, Counseling and Guidance Processes, and Active Collaboration. These themes all play a vital role in maximizing competitive integrated employment outcomes for SWTCIE Illinois participants. Counselors also shared contextual factors that should be considered and multiple promising practices that could be emulated across the state and provide a path forward that may be particularly helpful for SWTCIE Illinois VR counselors supporting individuals transitioning to CIE after spending time in or contemplating sub-minimum wage employment in Illinois.
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