Melwood’s vocational support services are model for increased quality of life for people with differing abilities

This content is sponsored by Melwood 

In March, hundreds of social service organizations such as Melwood are highlighting Developmental Disabilities Month aiming to increase awareness of creating a world where people of ALL abilities are fully included. Each year, Melwood impacts the lives of over 2,150 people with differing abilities in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. They benefit from vast services such as employment placement, job training, life skills, and recreation opportunities.

Melwood employs 800 people with differing abilities at over 65 federal government and military contract sites, as well as private sector employers.

A primary goal at Melwood is making available programs and services that allow people with differing abilities to fully participate in the economy if they so choose. One of the many ways the organization is able to do this is through its Vocational Support Services – an effective means of assisting historically unemployable individuals to acquire and retain work.

Led by a licensed clinical social worker, Melwood’s Vocational Support Services team is made up of nearly 20 highly trained and dedicated professionals. The majority of the team are skilled in human services fields. March is also National Professional Social Work Month. This year’s theme is Social Workers: Leaders. Advocates. Champions. Melwood’s Vocational Support Services has two licensed clinical social workers on staff.

Finding the Right Fit.

Staff provides one-on-one support to every Melwood employee with a differing ability to achieve employment goals and to transform his or her own life by experiencing personal development, career growth, community integration, and financial independence. Melwood supports employees with myriad differing abilities, such as sensory, psychological, developmental, cognitive, as well as physical and emotional impairments.

Once a job match is made, Vocational Support Services identifies potential barriers and develops a plan of action for successful outcomes. The individualized plan includes strengths, abilities, and personal goals and addresses potential barriers through improved skills, self-advocacy, or navigation of community resources. Trained staff also identifies reasonable accommodations that may be necessary for success. Progress is assessed and necessary changes are made through regular counseling sessions that employ a solution-focused approach to responding to challenges and crises.

Vocational Support Staff also provide guidance to employers on how to apply activities that may help an employee master a skill. They also help employers identify potentially adverse behaviors that may impact job performance, and ultimately, their quality of life.

Accept the Melwood Employment Challenge.

Melwood employees are trained in various administrative trades, as well as landscaping, janitorial, fulfillment, warehousing, and packaging. Some of Melwood’s customers include the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, NASA Goddard, Annapolis Naval Academy, Fort George G. Meade, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, General Services Administration, the U.S. Courthouse, and several more.

Most recently, Melwood recommitted the organization to refining and developing programs and services that respond to the needs, dreams, and desires of the next generation. Along with increasing the number of people with differing abilities in the workforce, the organization will begin focusing on working to implement innovative adjunctive therapies for its support services, focusing on increasing modernization, and growing its veteran services program.

This year’s theme for Developmental Disabilities Month is “See Me for Me!” By recognizing individuals with differing abilities as full of potential, employers can accept the challenge to create an inclusive workforce by hiring people with differing abilities.

Melwood staff are continuously recognized, locally and nationally, for their excellence in service and performance.

To become a Melwood business partner or for information on job program opportunities, visit Melwood’s business services online or email communications@melwood.org.

About Melwood

Melwood is an AbilityOne non-profit organization, and one of the largest employers of people with differing abilities in the Northeast U.S., with a highly competitive and inclusive workforce – providing a range of services to federal, state, and local governments, and the private sector. Using an innovative and effective social entrepreneurial model, Melwood offers job placement, job training, life skills for independence, and support services to more than 2,150 people each year in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, Maryland, and Virginia. Melwood also provides recreation opportunities through seasonal inclusive camp programs for children and adults with and without differing abilities. In addition, Melwood provides employment and support services to veterans and active duty military members coping with a variety of service-related traumas such as post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, and substance abuse. Melwood operates a training program that graduates approximately 100 workers with differing abilities each year, and employs more than 1,300 workers, including nearly 800 persons with a differing ability. Since 1963, the 501(3)(c) organization has envisioned a world in which people with differing abilities are fully included by advocating for and empowering them to transform their own lives through unique opportunities to work and play in the community. For more information visit www.Melwood.org.

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