Crystal and Steven MacArthur are the typical brother and sister: they enjoy watching football with their mom, attending their church, and spending time with their family, dog, and friends. Despite some sibling eye-rolling, they look out for each other. They also enjoy working. When looking for part-time positions, they wanted an employer where they could stay long-term. Crystal became a dishwasher for a staffing company at a Virginia university. She initially worked in the Annex, a smaller cafeteria off campus. She hand-washed dishes and eventually learned to use the automatic machine. Because Crystal has a visual impairment, Crystal’s co-workers always looked out for her, letting her know when the floor was wet or if there were crates that might get in her way. She became part of the team, discussing sports games and weekend plans while keeping up with the breakfast and lunch rush....
Keaton and his grandmother, Faye | Source New River CC During the Fall of 2014, Keaton Hanks was a volunteer with a new and emerging consulting group in the Pulaski area of southwestern Virginia. Around that time, Keaton began working with his job coach at The Choice Group through Community Support Services. His objective was to gain employment as the consulting group's part-time administrative assistant by working on his customer service and administrative assistance skills with his coach, Caitlin Igor. Together they worked on phone etiquette, data entry, and in-person customer interaction skills while he was volunteering at the consulting agency. After several months of progress, Keaton was hired as the part-time administrative assistant at the consulting agency where he was volunteering! He and his job coach continued to work on reading and interpreting detailed instructions to complete data entry projects as well as advancing his already improved customer service skills. ...
At The Choice Group, the goal of counseling is to provide a safe, accepting, and non-judgmental place where individuals can explore issues in confidence. Our goal is for the therapist and client to become a team that explores the client’s strengths, values, fears, and difficulties together. Many of our clients are on the autism spectrum. One such client had been told by a previous employer that he was never going to be able to hold a professional position. Before working with The Choice Group, this individual didn’t have a job coach and was terminated from many previous positions due to challenges with interacting with female coworkers. When The Choice Group manager Shadi Zadeh first met this client about six years ago, he was in his forties, held a Ph.D., and had been working off-and-on for years. By working with our counseling program, he has held down a position as an engineer making $42 an hour with the opportunity for consistent raises and the trust to work from home. Our client ...
Source: Ticket to Work Program, Social Security Administration . “Frances’ Success Story” , choosework.ssa.gov./library A Healing Journey Back to Work While at a local restaurant having lunch with her husband, Frances noticed a group of nurses in crisp white scrubs enjoying their lunch break together. It sounded like they were reflecting on something amusing from work or sharing an experience they had with a kind patient that day. They looked so happy, and it was this moment that sparked her desire to go further in her medical career and become a registered nurse. Frances was already a respiratory therapist and enjoyed a rewarding career, but becoming a nurse was her true goal. A few years later, Frances enrolled in school to pursue her dream. She became a registered nurse in 2004. At that time, Frances could have never imagined that in 2018, a medical crisis would pause everything… but only temporarily. “I think I’m having a stroke!” Frances said as she sat in her car alone with horri...
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