Increasing Successful Employment Outcomes for Individuals With Psychiatric Disabilities With On-the-Job Training

The Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment is an evidenced-based practice that is highly effective at helping people with psychiatric disabilities to obtain gainful employment. Within the State Vocational Rehabilitation CVR) system, the On-the-Job Training (OJT) service supports the rapid placement, client choice, competitive work, disclosure, and follow- along support components of the IPS model. We reviewed the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) 911 data for fiscal years 2015 and 2016 to examine California’s utilization of RSA Title I funds to provide the OJT service and examined the employment outcomes for individuals with psychiatric disabilities who utilized this service. We found that OJT, although highly effective (71.4% successfully employed), was underutilized (N=14,384, n=105). Furthermore, in an analysis of individuals with serious psychiatric disabilities (as indicated by receipt of Social Security Administration [SSAJ disability benefits at application, coded as significantly or most significantly disabled, and coded with a primary psychiatric disability), 59.3% of the OJT clients were employed, compared to 15.4% of the non-OJT clients (x2 = 10.85, p < .01). We provide a number of recommendations to both enhance the use of OJT services and improve employment outcomes for this population.