What is the difference between Supported Employment and Customized Employment?

Supported Employment is the most common way for individuals with disabilities to become employed. In Supported Employment, a program known as Community Rehab Program (CRP) provides support. A CRP is a local vendor or company providing support and job coaching. Initially, it is paid for by the Department of Rehabilitation, and then after a certain time, it will transfer to the Regional Center for continued funding, but the client won't notice a difference.

On-the-job support for a client can go on indefinitely up to 20-25% support. If the client is in need of more support than that, it will not be indefinite, but the limit is determined on a case-by-case basis. If a client needs 1:1 support at all times, they will not qualify for Supported Employment.

Customized Employment, if done correctly, ensures that the person finds a job where the support is natural and therefore they don’t need a 1:1 job coach or aide to be successful. The goal is to tailor the environment to the individual so that they don’t need a lot of other support.

There are two phases for customized employment:

1. During the discovery phase, a discovery specialist comes into the home and learns as much as they can about the individual and their family's life (to the family's comfort level).
2. The discovery specialist will then create a family profile based on what they have learned, and they can come up with different vocational ideas.

All the individual's support staff and family have a meeting to decide which way to go with employment. Then, the specialist can help find a place in the community to work.

The DOR is unlikely to accept someone into the Customized Employment model who could be supported by the Supported Employment model. Essentially, the DOR will try the Supported Employment system before they will pay for the more in-depth evaluation. Regional Center may fund the discovery piece of Customized Employment; however, DOR is responsible for finding the place of employment.

For more information, see our full article The Transition to Adulthood: How the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) Can Help.