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Workplace

June Listening Sessions
Let your voice be heard during these sessions regarding employment options for people with disabilities in Milwaukee, Appleton, Madison and Eau Claire.  To find out more view the flier (.pdf)


Mental-Health Friendly Workplace Trainings

The Business Team continues to work with employers by providing trainings to create “Mental-Health Friendly” workplaces. These trainings are a collaboration with WorkSource Wisconsin, DHFS-Pathways to Independence (through MIG funding), MHA of Wisconsin, local Disability Navigators, non-profits and employers. 2008 plans also include the production of a training module specifically directed to supervisors who are often the first to have “courageous conversations” about mental health with employees.

Workplace Symposiums

The Workplace Symposiums continue: Promoting Mental Health in the Workplace: The Competitive Advantage. Many partners are making these events possible such as Rogers Memorial Hospital, United Way of Fox Cities, Affinity Behavioral Health, NAMI Fox Valley, WorkSource WI and the Disability Navigators Program. Most symposiums consist of a panel format of presenters: an attorney to discuss ADA compliance, an insurance industry representative to address the cost-benefit analysis of mental health services, local business and health advocates, and a consumer representative.

 

Disability Program Navigators

Disability Program Navigators is offered in Wisconsin and funded through the Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration to assist persons with disabilities to “navigate” across multiple systems. Navigators assist persons with disabilities to access and navigate the complex provisions of various programs that impact their ability to gain, return to, or retain employment. They develop linkages and collaborate on an ongoing basis with employers to facilitate job placements for persons with disabilities. Navigators work to facilitate youth transitioning (aging out) from schools to secure employment and economic self-sufficiency through schools and the Cooperative Educational Services Areas (CESAs). They also serve as a resource to businesses to expand workplace opportunities for persons with disabilities to enter and remain in the workplace.

The Navigators will partner with WUMH to offer training-of-the trainer (TOT) opportunities for Navigators to increase understanding and awareness of stigma and discrimination as it impacts mental health consumers, adolescents/youth and their families in rural and urban areas.

Related Resources:

  • Employment (resources from the ADS Center)
  • Pathways to Independence  lead by two Wisconsin state agencies, The Department of Health and Family Services and the Department of Workforce Development, this organization strives to assist people with disabilities in their efforts to secure employment
  • WorkSource Wisconsin (download a .pdf flyer; a public/ private partnership providing effective, practical and sustainable resources for employers by employers to hire and retain persons with disabilities through education, partnerships, mentoring, and legal assistance.)
  • Employer Innovations Online  from the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health.   Employer Innovations helps employers take action to address mental health at the workplace by providing case examples of successful corporate approaches. Search for actual practices of leading employers in key areas, such as screening and education, Employee Assistance Programs, and disability management. Then apply these strategies to your own workplace - and come back to share your story with others!
  • Mental Health Works - This recent issue of "Mental Health Works," a quarterly newsletter by the Office of Healthcare Systems and Financing of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychiatric Foundation, focuses on employees with a psychiatric disability.