Many people served by the Division of Behavioral Health are capable of experiencing rewarding careers in competitive jobs. Work provides financial benefits, a sense of purpose and often leads to the development of meaningful relationships. The opportunity to work should be open to everyone served by the Division, despite recent substance use, hospitalizations, clinical diagnosis or mental health symptoms.
Individuals with substance use, mental health disorders and/or criminal justice backgrounds have strengths, talents and abilities that are frequently overlooked. The Division seeks to integrate clinical and vocational supported employment services though state-wide partnerships with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, agencies providing employment programs, community mental health centers, ADA providers and state-operated facilities. The goal is to help individuals who are interested in employment, participate in the competitive labor market, hired to do a job of their preference, with the appropriate level of professional help needed to be successful.
- DBH Employment Services at a Glance
- DBH Employment Services Overview - Watch to learn more about the role of the Department of Mental Health in providing employment support services to Missourians. The Department of Mental Health and the Division of Behavioral Health have the expectation that every Missourian of working age and those supporting them should consider work as their first option as fully participating members of their community, and should engage in work that makes sense to them.
- Division of Behavioral Health Employment Team Contact Information
- Individual Placement and Support Program Sites
- Partners
- Work and Benefits
- Missouri's Tiered Benefit Planning Model
- Medicaid Facts, Fiction and Updates. Presented by Charles Bentley, Department of Mental Health
- Medicaid Facts, Fiction and Updates – Power Point presentation
- Medicaid Facts, Fiction and Updates – Script
- Medicaid Facts, Fiction and Updates – Video - Coming Soon
- Work and Benefits Resources
- Assessing the Financial Planning Needs of Americans with Mental Illnesses
- Benefit Planning Scenarios
- Disability Services - a U.S. government website for information on disability programs and services nationwide
- Financial Education Reference Guides
- Financial Education for Persons in Recovery
- Quick Reference to Social Security Benefits
- Ticket to Work Health Assurance Calculator
- Missouri Disability Benefits 101: Free Benefits Calculator
Gives you tools and information on health coverage, benefits, and employment. Plan ahead and learn how work and benefits go together. - Supported Employment Outcomes for Transition Age Youth and Young Adults
- Work Incentive Counseling Strategies to Meet the Unique Needs of Beneficiaries with Psychiatric Disabilities
- Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE Act)
Federally enacted in 2014, the Stephen Beck, Jr., Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act amends the federal tax code to allow eligible individuals with disabilities to save money in a federally tax-exempt account while still allowing those individuals to be eligible for federal public benefits. The money in those accounts may be used for qualified disability expenses. Funds in an ABLE account can be used to pay for qualified disability expenses. A qualified disability expense is an expense made from an ABLE account that is used to pay for certain types of expenses related to the beneficiary’s disability, such as paying for: assistive technologies, education, personal support services, housing, health care expenses, transportation, administrative services, and employment training and support. For more information, please visit the Missouri State Treasurer website at https://www.moable.com/ - The Positive Impact of Employment and Financial Stability - Michael Roush
- Five Strategies to Assist Individuals Move to a Life of Work, Savings, and Asset Development - Michael Roush
- Tools, Resources and Activities that Make a Real Economic Impact - Michael Roush
- Employment Services Information
- Appropriate Use of Community Support in Workplace Environments and Substance Use Programs
- Appropriate Use of Community Support and Targeted Case Management in Workplace Environments
- Appropriate Use of Community Support for Transition Age Youth in School, Training and Workplace Environments
- Billing Guidance for IPS Supported Employment Programs
- Quadrant
- Almost 10 Things Non-Employment Staff Can Do to Support Work
- Need For Change (NFC) — NFC Self-Rating Scale
- Manuals and Publications
- Supported Employment Introductory Video
- Supported Employment Webinar: An Overview of Evidence-Based Supported Employment. Featuring Tish Thomas, IPS State Trainer and Mickie McDowell, Peer Services Program Specialist
- Employment Resource Book
- Supported Employment Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) KIT
- Links to Valuable Resources
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- Consumer Operated Service Programs
- Medicaid Eligibility
- Social Security Administration 2018 Red Book
- Justice Involved Applicants
- Veteran Employment Services
- Disabled American Veterans
- United States Chamber of Commerce Foundation Hiring Our Heroes
- National Resource Directory Veterans Job Bank
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs
- Show-Me Heroes - Provides resources, tools and links to help Missouri’s Veterans and members of the National Guard & Reserve reconnect with meaningful careers.
- Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law Supported Employment Fact Sheets
- Supporting Students with Disabilities in College
- Success Stories
The Department of Mental Health is sharing the many success stories of its clients and consumers from across all the divisions. Many receiving mental health services in Missouri have made great strides to not only make life better for themselves, but their accomplishments help make a difference for others around the state. If you would like to share a success, please complete and submit the Sharing Success form.
- Training Opportunities
- DB101 Overview - webinar
- Benefits Plannings Query - webinar
- Understanding SGA - webinar
- Social Security and Wage Reporting - webinar
- Unemployment Insurance, Economic Impact Payments, SSI, Social Security Disability and the COVID-19 Emergency - webinar
- Unemployment Insurance, Economic Impact Payments, SSI, Social Security Disability and the COVID-19 Emergency - webinar
- Considerations working with Transition Age Youth/Young Adults - Part 1
- Considerations working with Transition Age Youth/Young Adults - Part 2
- TIPS for New Transition Age Youth Teams - Part 1
- TIPS for New Transition Age Youth Teams - Part 2
- Engaging Family Members and Other Supporters in Transition Age Youth Services
- Helping Transition Age Youth clients Move through the Stages of Change
- Appropriate Use of the Medicaid Rehabilitation Option to Support Persons Served in Employment and School Settings - click this link to view the webinar and see the handouts referenced within the webinar and quiz within the links below -
- Documents for the appropriate use of community support that are referenced in the webinar are located within the "Employment Services Information" tab above.
- Community Support 101 training
- Disability Benefits 101
- Sample Scenarios for Benefits Planning - Navigating the Systems of Employment and Support
- Medicaid Rehab Option Quiz
- Supported Employment and Education Services for Transition Age Youth
- Youth
- Clinician’s Toolbox
- Missouri Reverse Career Fair
- Elevator Pitch
- A Practical Guide For People With Mental Health Conditions Who Want To Work
- Employment Toolkit
- Supported Employment & Education Motivational Tools
- Employment Stages of Change
- Business Biography
- Tips for Employer Relationship Building
- Wrap for Work - Recovery at Work Workbook
- Wrap for Work - Presentation by Stacey Williams
- Key Parts of WRAP
- Recovery & Resiliency Oriented Employment Services - David W. Lynde
- Helping People Move through Individual Stages of Change Regarding Employment - David W. Lynde
- Organizational Stages of Change regarding Providing Employment Services - David W. Lynde
- Describing Yourself - Here is the list of personal qualities that you can use to help a person begin to identify some of their own strengths related to employment. You can give it to people and ask them to fill it out or fill it out together, either way it is important to discuss each of the things that people choose for themselves. You can also ask people which of these others might circle about them or share your own observations about some of these qualities that you see in the person that they do not recognize in themselves.
- IPS Works: An App for Tracking Employer Relationships
- Newsletters