Vocational Rehabilitation - What is it?

Vocational rehabilitation is a program that “helps eligible individuals with physical and/or mental disabilities obtain and/or maintain employment in a competitive integrated work site.” Did you know that we have a vocational rehabilitation program? Let’s break it down!

Everyone has a different way that they learn best. Participants in our vocational program have job training specifically tailored to working in a barn, but, we also teach skills that will transfer into other career paths. We have different methods of training that we will implement, depending on which method(s) work best for the individual.

Job duties will vary form person to person. Barn work includes tasks such as mucking stalls, filling up water troughs, turning in and out horses, getting horses ready for lessons, feeding horses, and general property maintenance. These types of physical tasks can help with things like time management, completing tasks, physical fitness, initiation, and personal accountability- all skills that would transfer over into career settings! Helping in lessons and doing volunteer orientations can help develop social skills, self-confidence, and leadership skills.

Helping the riders by sidewalking can help develop social skills.

Circling back to learning styles, how do we set each individual up for success? This varies, depending on the person and how they learn. We employ different methods, ranging from checklists to timers combined with one-on-one coaching. We also typically start out with 1-2 tasks, and build up from there as the individual is able to add more activities to their daily tasks.

This is a brand new program, and we are working hard on growing it. We cannot wait to keep you updated as our Vocational Rehabilitation program grows and develops!