The Choice Group

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. ...

The Choice Group is happy to participate in two great events this month that both happen to be taking place on Saturday, March 17th! We want to get awareness out there so anyone who wants to attend has ample time to plan ahead. We hope to see you out and about at one of these great events!  Life After High School Transition & Resource Fair Join us in Charlottesville for this FREE event available to students, parents, and Educators! March in March upcoming The Culpeper County Disability Services Advisory Committee is hosting its 2nd Annual March in March from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Culpeper Baptist Church, 318 S. West St. The rain-or-shine event will promote disability awareness while providing resources and information about available services. The event will involve a 30-45 minute walk or ride up to Main Street through the downtown area. There will be balloons, vendors, and food by the Lions Club. No sign-up is necessary. For information or to sponsor a booth,...

Ryan Page, a vocational counselor for the south-west region of Virginia started working with his client in June of 2016.  As a friendly and hardworking individual, Ryan’s client felt like his skills fit well in a grocery store setting.  When he first began his job, Ryan’s client was to stock vegetables as well as sort and unload palettes.  They worked together on pacing and efficiency in completing his everyday tasks. Now, after being employed for a year and a half, Ryan’s client has seen a raise and a promotion at work.  He is currently in follow-along services and his employer states that he continues to excel. 

Katelyn Lacy, a vocational counselor in the Central Virginia region, started working with Lauren Garrett in April of 2017.  They began by completing extensive job development training for four and a half months. Together, they worked on job interviewing skills, social interactions within interviews as well as with coworkers.  Lauren worked on distinguishing boundaries with coworkers as well as learning appropriate topics of conversation in the workplace. While Lauren has many personal strengths — she is a straightforward and friendly person— when Katelyn began working with her it was clear she wasn’t a fan of change. However, as time went on, Katelyn was able to support Lauren through the transition of finding employment, transportation, and learning communication styles with different individuals in different environments.  After this learning period and 11 interviews, Lauren obtained her current position at UVA Runk Dining Hall with Aramark as a Food Service worke...

Heather Gilman, a Choice Group counselor serving Central Virginia started working with her client, Christopher in July of 2017.  Together they made lists of Christopher’s job preferences such as cleaning and stocking, and she was able to set up vocational assessments to try out those skills in action. While he performed well, they did not seem to be the best job fit.  As Heather got to know Christopher and his family, discussing his hobbies and interests, his family told her that he enjoys cooking loves helping out in the kitchen. Bingo! They immediately began looking for opportunities in local restaurants to complete another assessment. It was during this time that Heather came across a flyer for the Stone Soup Project . Stone Soup is a food service training program designed to help those who complete the course get necessary job skills to enter the workforce. After talking about the opportunity with Christopher, she advocated to support him in this program to his DARS ...