Employment Exploration Services (EES) are “community-based” services which help a person to gain a better understanding of “competitive” employment opportunities in their community. “Exploration” activities can help a person think about whether or not they want to work in the community and what kind of work they want to do. Employment Exploration Services are provided under BI, CAC, CADI or DD waiver services.
Employment Exploration Services may include:
- Educational visits to businesses to learn about products, services and employment opportunities
- Career education activities to learn about specific occupations, job positions and work opportunities
- Ongoing education and counseling assistance about jobs/careers that may interest the individual
- Peer-to-peer mentoring opportunities to meet, and learn from, people with disabilities who are employed in competitive, community jobs
- Job shadowing and try-out experiences for work involved in different occupations
- Employment education support groups
- Individualized work experiences, including volunteer work experiences
- Education about post-secondary educational opportunities that enhance employment, community employment resources and use of transportation services
- In-service transportation
- Progress review and reporting meetings
Employment Exploration Services that do not require direct contact with the person may include:
- Performing benefit(s) fact gathering, review and analysis to determine how benefits will interact with employment
- Planning and coordinating related to the person’s needs for assistive technology (e.g., ergonomic workstations, magnifiers, speech-to-text or text-to-speech software, captioning, audio or visual cueing, etc.)
- Planning and coordinating related to the person’s needs for adaptive accommodations (e.g., modified work tasks or responsibilities, flexible schedules, telecommuting, etc.)
Employment Exploration Services are time-limited and typically end 12 months following the initial authorization of services.
In some circumstances, however, a person may receive continued employment exploration services; their “lead agency” may reauthorize employment exploration services when the person:
- Has not made an informed decision about competitive, integrated employment
- Experiences a debilitating health condition or life event that significantly interrupts service delivery
- Changes service providers.
For more information about EES including eligibility, please visit the MN Department of Human Services website, or contact your county case manager.
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