RE:CON 2026
PRESENTATIONS

We’re excited to welcome Dr. Tana Bridge as the keynote speaker for re:con 2026!

Her presentation, “Finding Your Way Back to What Matters,” will invite us to pause amid the personal and professional stressors of today’s helping environment and reconnect with the values that first called us to this work.

Together, we’ll explore the values, strengths, and personal practices that can build resilience, protect against burnout and compassion fatigue, and help us stay connected to our purpose—even when the work feels overwhelming.

Come re:connect with what matters.

This page will be updated as presentation proposals are approved.

2026 Michigan Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment

PRESENTED BY: Dr. Sukyeong Pi, Dr. Alicia Strain, LPC, CRC, and Megan Lingris

Section 101(a)(15) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by Title IV of the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA), mandates that state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies conduct a comprehensive assessment every three years of the rehabilitation needs of individuals with disabilities (IWDs) residing in the state. The purpose of this assessment is to identify service gaps, evaluate the effectiveness of existing VR programs, and inform strategies to improve services and outcomes for individuals with disabilities.

In collaboration with multiple service agencies, Project Excellence—a long-standing program evaluation partnership project between Michigan Rehabilitation Services and Michigan State University—conducted the 2026 comprehensive statewide needs assessment. The assessment incorporated multiple data sources, including state disability statistics, existing VR service outcome data, and findings from surveys and interviews with diverse stakeholder groups, such as individuals with disabilities, family members, advocates, service providers, educators, administrators, employers, and community leaders.

Drawing upon and synthesizing these quantitative and qualitative data, the presenters will share key CSNA findings, with particular attention to unserved and underserved populations identified through the assessment. The presentation will also highlight the unique needs of these groups and discuss promising practices and effective strategies for enhancing access, service delivery, and employment outcomes.

A Leader’s Playbook for Standing Up a Project SEARCH Program

PRESENTED BY: Sarah Winslow, and Michael Zivsak LMSW

Project SEARCH is a business-focused, one-year employment preparation program for young adults with disabilities, now operating at 800 sites in 48 states and 9 countries. Behind every successful site stands a leader who turns the model’s promise into a launched program. This intermediate session equips that leader. Built for directors and senior administrators, it walks through the full lifecycle of standing up a new site — from carrying the vision to a board, to recruiting a host business and braiding funding. When community partners align, agencies reduce duplicate intakes and share employment outcomes, communities gain a visible pipeline of trained workers and an inclusive-hiring employer, and interns get one coordinated team — faster eligibility, consistent supports, and a clear path to a real paycheck. Attendees leave re:fueled and re:invigorated to build their next new beginning.

Beyond Burnout: Sustaining Engagement in Vocational Rehabilitation Teams

PRESENTED BY: Rene Dell

 Vocational rehabilitation team members carry some of the heaviest caseloads in the human services field — balancing complex client needs, documentation demands, and systemic pressures, often with limited time for the relational work that drew them to the profession in the first place. The result is chronic burnout: emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and a shrinking sense of impact. This session moves past awareness of burnout and into practical strategy. Participants will explore the specific drivers of burnout in VR settings (caseload size, administrative burden, secondary trauma, and outcome-metric pressure), examine what current research says about sustainable engagement in helping professions, and walk through concrete, low-cost strategies that supervisors and agencies can implement — from workload redesign to peer support structures to leadership practices that restore a sense of purpose. Attendees will leave with a personal action plan and a team-level discussion tool they can bring back to their own agency.

Bridging Benefits and Employment: Michigan’s Benefit-to-Work Coach Model

PRESENTED BY: Tracy Howard, BSW, CPWIC, WIP-C, and Crystal Dowding, LMSW, CPWIC

Individuals with disabilities face significant barriers when navigating the complex relationship between employment and public disability benefits. Fear of losing critical income, healthcare coverage, or other benefits can prevent people from pursuing meaningful employment opportunities.
Michigan’s Benefit-to-Work (B2W) Coach Model expands upon traditional benefits counseling by combining benefits expertise with ongoing coaching and support. The model empowers individuals to make informed, proactive decisions about work and benefits throughout their employment journey.
This session will provide an overview of Michigan’s statewide Benefit-to-Work Coach Model, funded through Michigan’s Federal Mental Health Block Grant administered by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). Participants will learn how Michigan developed a scalable approach that embeds benefits and work incentive expertise within behavioral health systems while also expanding access through pilot partnerships with Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS).
Presenters will describe the model’s tiered service delivery approach. Attendees will learn how the model builds the capacity of professionals to address benefits-related employment barriers, helping individuals overcome fears about working, make informed decisions, and successfully navigate complex federal and state benefit programs while pursuing their career goals.
Presenters will share data demonstrating the impact of the model, lessons learned from statewide implementation, and emerging findings from pilot partnerships with Michigan Rehabilitation Services.

Bridging College Education and Employment Through Collaboration

PRESENTED BY: Liz Shawl, Brittany Hamilton-Reed

While transition services frequently focus on individuals in high school and adult transition initiatives, college students are often overlooked. However, higher education students remain eligible for Pre-ETS through BSBP and MRS. They need targeted skill cultivation to foster academic success and facilitate effective vocational rehabilitation case closure. Drawing on data from both higher education and vocational rehabilitation sectors, this presentation will examine the gap in skill development and strategies for engagement among college students. Additionally, presenters will highlight successful collaborative initiatives, such as disability-focused campus tours, the Eagle’s Work program, and a specialized work readiness curriculum centered on soft skills.

Bridging GAL and Vocational Rehabilitation Systems

PRESENTED BY: Melanie J. Poe, MA

Transition-age youth with disabilities involved in foster care and child welfare systems often navigate multiple services simultaneously, yet the professionals supporting them may have limited knowledge of one another’s roles, responsibilities, and resources. Guardians ad Litem (GALs) can play an important role in identifying disability-related needs and advocating for services, while Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) can provide critical supports related to education, employment, independent living, and successful transition to adulthood.

This advanced, practice-focused presentation examines opportunities for stronger collaboration between GALs, VR professionals, educators, attorneys, caregivers, and other members of the transition team. Participants will explore common gaps in cross-system communication, appropriate referral points, professional roles and boundaries, and strategies for connecting eligible youth with VR services earlier in the transition process. Through practical examples and case-based discussion, attendees will leave with strategies for strengthening coordination and improving transition planning for youth with disabilities involved in child welfare systems.

Building Resilience

PRESENTED BY: Yarden Blumstein

Resilience is a set of skills that can be developed and strengthened over time. This interactive presentation explores practical strategies for building resilience in the face of adversity, stress, and change. Participants will learn how mindset, emotional regulation, healthy relationships, and purposeful action contribute to long-term well-being. Through evidence-informed concepts attendees will leave with actionable tools to navigate challenges and foster resilience in both their personal and professional lives.

Creating Work Experiences that Matter

PRESENTED BY: Nick Murphy and Sharlene Organ

This session will explore practical strategies for designing and implementing Trial Work Experiences, On‑the‑Job Evaluations, and On‑the‑Job Training programs that effectively support customers in their employment journeys. Geared toward counselors, program managers, and placement staff, the presentation will highlight approaches for building strong community and business partnerships that lead to meaningful, individualized work‑based opportunities.

Curiosity Before Certainty

PRESENTED BY: Carie Branch

Every rehabilitation counselor and leader makes decisions based on incomplete information about clients, employers, families, and colleagues. The question isn’t whether we make assumptions. We all do. The question is which assumptions are helping us, and which ones are quietly getting in the way of better outcomes, whether that be in a session with a client, in a decision about who gets coached, delegated to, or considered for the next opportunity. This session invites professionals to examine the cognitive shortcuts that shape both client work and leadership practice. Grounded in counseling ethics and cultural humility, this interactive session explores how curiosity — as a professional discipline — leads to more accurate assessments, more inclusive leadership decisions, stronger relationships, and more equitable results. Participants will leave with a practical framework they can apply immediately, both in direct practice and in how they lead.

Customized Employment: Methods and Mindset

PRESENTED BY: Cassaundra Wolf and Rachel Mularz, MBA, CESP™, CDR,

As of April 20, 2026, Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS) has implemented our updated policy to allow for statewide expansion for Customized Employment services, ensuring that all eligible individuals can engage in this “no-fail”, strengths-based approach to employment. Customized employment is an available service option for individuals with significant and most significant disabilities when traditional job placement methods are unlikely to be successful. This presentation will explain a brief overview of customized employment services, before focusing on vendor reporting requirements and necessary credentials, as well as the important philosophical and practical mindset shift that vendors need to adapt in order to truly deliver exceptional customized employment services. Relying on the guidelines from vocational rehabilitation staff, as well as real-world insight from a current customized employment vendor and mentor, this presentation offers both the invitation to new vendors to participate in the delivery of these services, as well as education on the challenges and possibilities that customized employment can bring to our clients when we allow ourselves to change our perspective about employment services.

Designing for Everyone: Digital Accessibility for Websites, Documents, Social Media, and Video

PRESENTED BY: Amy Maes, CPAAC

Digital accessibility is often treated as a website problem handed to the IT department. It isn’t. Every PDF posted to a public page, every social media graphic, every recorded meeting, and every slide deck shared afterward is digital content — and each one can quietly exclude people. In April 2026, the Department of Justice extended Title II compliance deadlines by one year without changing a single requirement. This session covers what digital accessibility actually spans, where the law now stands, and how organizations can use the extension as momentum rather than delay.

Disability Benefits Support for Job Seekers

PRESENTED BY: Karen Wynne

This presentation will outline employment supports available to help Social Security Disability Beneficiaries to become self sufficient.

Please join Karen Wynne for a presentation about how the Ticket to Work Self Sufficiency program assists those who receive SSI and SSDI benefits with returning to or maintaining gainful employment. We will also discuss how Employment Networks (ENs) work alongside Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) projects as part of the broader Ticket to Work program to help disability beneficiaries transition into paid employment

Disability Disclosure and Reasonable Accommodations

PRESENTED BY: Sharlene Organ and Cassaundra Wolf

In this session we will explore the nuances of both the disability disclosure and reasonable accommodations process, recognizing the perspectives of clients and employers. With an overview of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as our foundational discussion, we will examine the reasonable accommodation process, summarize practical strategies on disclosure and accommodations as well as provide examples of effective implementation. We will also highlight online and in-person resources for this process, as well as touch on growing concerns about anxiety within the workplace, and how the act of shared vulnerability in communication can enhance positive working relationships.

EPIC Advocacy & Allyship

PRESENTED BY: Christa Martin, MRC, CRC

How do we self-actualize and transcend in order to be the best advocate, self-advocate, and/or ally we can be to ourselves, our clients, our profession, and the disability community? This highly interactive and introspective session will dive into answering just that, as well as exploring where we came from and where we’re going within the disability rights movement. Participants will learn how the CRCC Code of Ethics affects each of these roles as vocational rehabilitation professionals, so we can become more culturally competent practitioners empowering ourselves and our client’s self-determination, dignity, and informed choice. By checking our own attitudinal barriers at the door, we can help break them down for those we serve as ethical clinicians and get EPIC in our advocacy and allyship efforts!

This presentation allows attendees to actively participate throughout the session feeling seen, valued, and heard with tangible takeaways to put into practice when they return from re:con. Understanding our history, how we got here, and where we are going in disability employment and vocational rehabilitation is critical to leading on, as Justin Dart called us to do. Empowered professionals empower their clients to reach their potential and help others do the same to choose work that works for them and “Lead On!”
(Specific CRCC Code of Ethics addressed include sections: A.1., C.1., C.2., D.2., D.4., E.4., and M.1.)

From Smart Homes to Greater Independence: Lessons from Michigan’s First Technology First Pilot

PRESENTED BY: Diane Fleser, PhD, Lindsay Calcatera, and Patricia Carroll, MA

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) increasingly face a critical contradiction: the desire for greater independence is growing at the same time that direct support workforce shortages and rising service costs are limiting traditional models of support. In response, MOKA launched one of Michigan’s early Smart Home pilots, exploring how enabling technology could complement, not replace, human support and help people achieve greater independence in their homes and communities.

From Supervision to Support: A Reflective Framework for Supervision

PRESENTED BY: Dr. Tana Bridge

Supervisors are navigating ever-changing agency demands while simultaneously carrying the emotional weight of supporting staff through increasingly complex work. This session introduces a strength-based reflective supervision framework designed to support both the worker and the supervisor. Participants will explore how a reflective supervision framework can protect against burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma while strengthening professional growth, connection, and psychological safety.

From Umm to I’m Hired: Virtual Interview Training and AI powered coaching

PRESENTED BY: Nichole Ellwanger, and Matthew J. Smith, PhD, LCSW

For the past three years, Peckham has incorporated Virtual Interview Training (VIT) into its employment readiness services, providing learners with opportunities to build and strengthen their interview skills through realistic, technology-assisted practice. This presentation will highlight learner outcomes and demonstrate the progress participants have made in developing confidence, communication, and interview competencies through ongoing virtual interview practice.

In partnership with the University of Michigan and Sonata Learning, Peckham has also been engaged in the development of an innovative AI-powered assistant designed to further support learner growth. The AI assistant helps learners interpret feedback, reflect on their performance, and develop effective strategies for answering interview questions. Attendees will learn how virtual interview training and AI-enhanced coaching can work together to create personalized learning experiences that improve interview preparedness and support successful employment outcomes.

How Emotional Intelligence Supports Relational Leadership

PRESENTED BY: Shonda Rushing

The traditional view of leadership as an individual or positional endeavor has evolved. Relational leadership recognizes that leadership occurs through relationships and is influenced by trust, communication, collaboration, and the interactions between leaders and the people with whom they work. Emotional intelligence provides leaders with practical skills for navigating these relationships. The ability to recognize and understand emotions, regulate one’s own responses, appreciate the perspectives of others, and respond effectively to interpersonal dynamics can strengthen communication, trust, conflict resolution, collaboration, and decision-making.

This session will examine the intersection of emotional intelligence and relational leadership and provide participants with practical strategies for increasing self-awareness, improving communication, navigating difficult interactions, and building stronger professional relationships.

Inclusion in Motion

PRESENTED BY: Marina Forgue

challenges audiences to move beyond simply talking about inclusion and begin putting it into action. Drawing from my lived experience with cerebral palsy, humor, and real-world examples, I explore how assumptions can create greater barriers than disabilities themselves. Through my **ABLE framework—Attitude, Barriers, Limits, and Envision—**I encourage leaders and employees to recognize ability first, challenge unconscious assumptions, and create environments where everyone feels seen, valued, and empowered to contribute. Because true inclusion isn’t just about having a seat at the table—it’s about making sure no chair feels invisible. I believe the best way providers and organizations can serve people is to stop asking only, “What can we do for you?” and start asking, “What can we do with you?”  As someone who has cerebral palsy and works full-time, I’ve learned that inclusion often has very little to do with big programs or expensive accommodations. Sometimes it is simply someone taking the time to understand how I work best instead of assuming what I cannot do.

Lead Like a Coach: Using Motivational Interviewing to Inspire Change

PRESENTED BY: Torry Gargano and Chris Smith

Motivational Interviewing (MI) offers leaders a practical framework for engaging others, reducing resistance, and supporting meaningful change. In this interactive session, participants will explore the spirit of MI, practice core communication skills, and learn strategies for fostering accountability and collaboration. Attendees will leave with concrete tools they can immediately apply to leadership, supervision, and coaching conversations.

Leadership’s Role in Safety and Health

PRESENTED BY: Rebekah Mosci

Effective safety programs depend on strong leadership and active supervisory involvement. OSHA emphasizes clear safety policies, resource commitment, goal-setting, and leading by example. Supervisors translate these leadership expectations into daily practice by identifying hazards, conducting inspections, engaging workers, facilitating training, and driving corrective actions. Together, management direction and hands‑on supervisory action create a cohesive system that prevents injuries, strengthens safety culture, and supports continuous improvement. This presentation looks at requirements and best practices from a MIOSHA lens.

MiABLE 101- Saving without Sacrifice

PRESENTED BY: Scott de Varona

Financial security shouldn’t come at the cost of essential benefits — and with MiABLE, it doesn’t have to! Join MiABLE Program Director Scott de Varona for a deeper dive into how MiABLE accounts empower people with disabilities to save money while preserving critical benefits like SSI and Medicaid. MiABLE is a vital financial resource designed for individuals with disabilities, who have historically faced barriers to saving money. Learn how MiABLE works, who qualifies and how you can help your clients take advantage of this game-changing program. With real-life success stories, discussions and a Q&A, you’ll be equipped to further advocate for financial independence within the disability community! Help those you serve achieve financial success — without sacrifice.

Performance Evaluation and Ethical Considerations: Employment of Persons with Disabilities

PRESENTED BY: Andrew Nay

Employees with disabilities receive performance ratings comparable to their peers, yet employers consistently show bias in judging future job-fit — a gap with direct consequences for career advancement. This session examines how performance evaluation can be made both rigorous and ethically sound, drawing on the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act and the EU’s Employment Equality Directive. It is organized around three principles: equal standards with equitable paths, in which accommodations adjust how work is done rather than the standard itself; disability awareness as an affirmative employer duty requiring individualized rather than blanket responses; and leadership through transparent, standardized, evidence-based evaluation. Production and non-production work environments are contrasted to show where consistent quantitative criteria apply and where adaptive measures are warranted. Practical guidance addresses employee agency over disclosure, paternalistic bias in supervision, and the low cost of accommodation. Ethical evaluation is defined as much by process as by outcomes.

Policy and Politics Update 2026

PRESENTED BY: Malcolm Kletke and Todd Culver

Michigan’s disability services landscape continues to evolve amid shifting political priorities, changing budgets, and significant policy decisions that directly affect the people and communities served by human service organizations. This session will provide an engaging look at the current political and policy environment, with a focus on what recent developments could mean for disability services and providers moving forward.

Attendees will receive an overview of current legislative priorities, a recap of the 2026 election, and insights into Michigan’s FY27 budget and what may lie ahead as policymakers begin looking toward FY28. The session will also examine key disability-specific policy issues, including the potential impact of Medicaid cuts, PIHP competitive procurement, and efforts to address direct care worker wages. Beyond understanding the issues, participants will explore practical approaches to advocacy and civic engagement. The session will highlight ways social workers and human service leaders can stay informed, communicate effectively with policymakers, build meaningful relationships, and engage their organizations and communities in the policy process.

POLITICS: Current legislative priorities,

• 2026 Election recap
• FY27 budget, and what may lie ahead in FY28

• Disability-specific issues
• Impact of cuts to Medicaid
• PIHP competitive procurement
• Direct care worker wages

Learning Objectives

1. Identify current political, legislative, and budgetary developments affecting Michigan’s disability services system and human service organizations.
2. Examine the potential impact of key disability policy issues, including Medicaid funding, PIHP procurement, and direct care worker wages.
3. Apply practical advocacy and engagement strategies to effectively communicate with policymakers and influence issues affecting the people and communities they serve.

Real Talk in Rehabilitation: What Nobody Told Us

PRESENTED BY: Rachel Mularz, MBA, CESP™, CDR, David Klenk, MA, NCC, LPC, Omar Deadwilder, MA, CRC, Emily McElmurry, CRC, LPC, Amelia “Amy” Shelton, M.A., CRC, LPC and Megan Lingris, MA, CRC, LPC

Working in rehabilitation is incredibly rewarding—but it also comes with challenges that are rarely discussed in graduate programs, onboarding, or professional development.
This engaging panel discussion brings together experienced leaders from Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS), the Bureau of Services for Blind Persons (BSBP), nonprofit rehabilitation, and private rehabilitation to have honest conversations about the realities of our profession. Through authentic storytelling and practical discussion, panelists will share experiences navigating difficult cases, system barriers, compassion fatigue, career transitions, and professional successes.
Beyond discussing challenges, each panelist will offer practical strategies they have used to build resilience, strengthen partnerships, and remain effective throughout their careers. The discussion will also highlight how involvement with the Michigan Rehabilitation Association (MRA) has provided professional support, networking, mentorship, leadership opportunities, continuing education, and new initiatives that strengthen rehabilitation professionals throughout every stage of their careers.
Rather than a traditional lecture, this interactive session encourages audience participation through facilitated discussion and Q&A. Attendees will leave with practical strategies, renewed professional perspective, and a greater understanding of the value of professional collaboration and engagement through MRA.

Stress and Vicarious Trauma: Opportunities for Wellness

PRESENTED BY: Dr.Tana Bridge

Burnout and Vicarious Trauma are recognized as occupational hazards for those in helping professions. Approaching stress and prioritizing wellness must be intentional if one is to improve personal wellbeing, ensure professional competence and guard against impairment. In this session participants will gain an increased understanding of the biology of stress and vicarious trauma. Further building habits in decreasing stress and advancing well-being will be explored.

Supported Decision Making and Guardianship

PRESENTED BY: Jan Lampman

This presentation will describe what Supported Decision making is and what tools are available for Supported Decision making. We will also look at guardianship in Michigan and highlight the differences between guardianship and supported decision making models.

• Learning Objective 1: Participants will identify 3 tools for Supported Decision Making.
• Learning Objective 2: Participants will identify the reasons that guardianship is sought and what tools can address those issues.
• Learning Objective 3: Participants will understand the role of providers in Supported Decision making.

Tech & Tranquility: AT for Mental Health and Self Care

PRESENTED BY: Aimee Sterk, LMSW

Many individuals associate Assistive Technology (AT) solely with physical or sensory disabilities, overlooking its vast potential in supporting mental health, substance use and neurodiversity. In this interactive workshop, we invite you to explore the wide array of high and low-tech apps and devices tailored to enhance mental health and substance use management across all age groups.
From aiding executive functioning to managing stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and fostering organization and communication skills, AT offers invaluable resources. Join us as we delve into the diverse landscape of AT solutions, encompassing task reminders, mental health supports, time management, and neurodiversity support.

The Organization We Built Isn’t the Organization We Need

PRESENTED BY: Jennifer Grace

The disability services field has changed—and it continues to change at a pace that many of us could not have fully anticipated fifteen or twenty years ago.Workforce shortages, increasing wages and operating costs, changing reimbursement structures, greater compliance expectations, evolving service models, technology, and uncertainty surrounding Medicaid funding are challenging organizations to look differently at how we operate. At the same time, the people we serve are counting on us to be here. As leaders, this requires us to ask a difficult question: If we were building our organizations today, knowing everything we know now, would we build them the same way? For many of us, the answer is probably no. That does not mean the organizations we built were wrong. They were designed for the needs, funding systems, workforce, and expectations of their time. They changed lives, created opportunities, and helped move disability services forward. But the environment has changed. Our organizations must be willing to change with it. In this interactive session, Jennifer Grace, President & CEO of Arnold Center, Inc., will share lessons from one organization’s ongoing journey of transformation. The discussion will explore how leaders can identify organizational non-negotiables, challenge long-standing assumptions, examine leadership and governance structures, strengthen compliance systems, and use scenario planning to prepare for an increasingly uncertain future. This is not a presentation about having all the answers. It is about becoming willing to ask better—and sometimes more difficult—questions. Participants will be challenged to examine their own organizations and determine what they need to preserve, redesign, and reconsider in order to remain strong enough to carry their missions forward.

The Serious Business of Play

PRESENTED BY: Melissa Kaekel LPC LMHC

Many adults quietly abandon play as responsibilities increase, despite growing evidence linking play, curiosity, creativity, and leisure participation to resilience, emotional wellbeing, cognitive flexibility, and recovery. Rehabilitation professionals are uniquely positioned to help clients reconnect with joy, exploration, hobbies, social connection, and meaningful activity. This interactive presentation explores the role of play in adult mental health and rehabilitation and provides practical interventions that clinicians can immediately incorporate into practice.

The Vocational Matchmaker Moving Beyond Test Scores to Meaningful Employment Matches

PRESENTED BY: Dessie Johnson

Vocational evaluation should do more than generate test scores or catalog a person’s disability. At its best, it brings together the individual’s strengths, interests, abilities, functional performance, work history, transferable skills, support needs, and the realities of the labor market to answer one practical question: what employment options are realistic, meaningful, and worth pursuing?
This session presents contemporary vocational evaluation as a flexible, individualized process rather than a fixed battery given to everyone. Participants will consider when existing information and focused career assessment are sufficient, when comprehensive evaluation is warranted, and when real or simulated work reveals what standardized testing alone cannot. Using case examples, the session demonstrates how evaluators integrate interviews, record review, standardized and informal assessment, transferable skills analysis, behavioral observation, situational and community-based assessment, job analysis, and current labor-market information — then translate those findings into specific recommendations for occupations, accommodations, supports, training, and next steps.
The session challenges participants to move from “What does the assessment say about this person?” to “What does the evidence tell us about where and how this person can succeed at work?”

To AI or not to AI: Save Hours in Your Week with BOOST Online Job Search Support

PRESENTED BY: Matthew J. Smith PhD, LCSW, Tara Forster MA, CRC, LPC, NCC, Nichole Ellwanger, and Celia Crompton MSW, LLMSW

Vocational rehabilitation professionals often spend several hours each week reviewing online job postings, many of which do not align with their clients’ skills, goals, preferences, or support needs. This labor-intensive process can duplicate effort across staff, reduce the time available for individualized employment services, and delay connections between job seekers and relevant opportunities. A University of Michigan national survey of 245 employment service providers, supervisors, and administrators confirmed this perspective as they identified online job-search support as a high-burden workflow with redundancies that could potentially be reduced through technology. Approximately 70% of respondents reported high interest in using artificial intelligence (AI) to assist with this work, highlighting the need to develop and evaluate tools that fit real-world service-delivery practices while preserving professional judgment and person-centered decision-making.

To address this need, the University of Michigan partnered with AI developer Sonata Intelligence and Incompass Michigan member organizations Peckham and Gesher Human Services to co-develop and pilot an AI-augmented online job-search support tool. The partnership used a staged, practice-informed development process. The Peckham team contributed vocational rehabilitation expertise and collaborated with U-M and Sonata Intelligence to translate workflow needs into developing “BOOST” a prototype AI tool. Then Gesher Human Services participated in two rounds of usability and feasibility testing. In round 1, three Gesher staff were trained and used BOOST for 1 month. The staff identified multiple design features requiring improvement. Their feedback informed real-time refinements to BOOST’s design and functionality. In round 2, the optimized BOOST was piloted by a single Gesher staff member during a three-month case study. This staff reported saving 3-5 hours per week for a caseload of three clients and used the saved time to lesson plan for job readiness clients, work on job development, and enter case notes. Upon completion, the staff recommended refining features to make creating and accessing client profiles easier and support accessing companies who are welcoming to returning citizens, which were completed. This presentation by the University of Michigan, Peckham, and Gesher will describe the rationale for targeting online job-search support, the roles of each partner, and the iterative process used to move from workflow identification to prototype development, testing, refinement, and implementation. The presentation will include a real-time demonstration of BOOST with presenters discussing lessons learned about cross-sector collaboration and the practical considerations involved with integrating AI tools into vocational rehabilitation services.

Transition Through to Employment

PRESENTED BY: Dr. Lynn Boza

Accommodations used in school through to employment will be identified, presented and discussed using case studies and interactive input from the audience.

Learning Objective 1: As a result of participation in this workshop, audience will be able to define the terms “accommodation” and “transition” used when providing services to individuals with disabilities.
Learning Objective 2: Using two samples, audience will identify typical accommodations for individuals with specific physical and learning disabilities.
Learning Objective 3: Using specific disabilities of “expressive and receptive language disorder” and “rheumatoid arthritis”, audience will engage in an interactive problem-solving session, in which they recommend specific accommodations for each individual. Final actual employment outcome and evolving need for accommodations for the latter individual will be presented.

Unconscious Bias: Multicultural Competency, Ethics, & Challenging Our Beliefs

PRESENTED BY: Christa Martin, MRC, CRC and Dr. Lynn Boza

This dynamic interactive session assists professionals in overcoming ethical obstacles involving unconscious bias by increasing multi-cultural competencies and providing methods to address our own bias. There’s an ethical obligation to reduce our implicit bias, so it’s not an additional barrier to clients obtaining gainful employment or putting professional relationships at risk. This presentation will demonstrate differentiating types of bias, examples of bias, identifying ethical risks and implications, as well as tangible takeaways to put into practice. Attendees will participate in individual activities designed to develop introspection of their own implicit bias and uses a “Challenging Your Beliefs” exercise, as well as “Creating a Life Plan with Self-Determination” activity to help put change into action.

This session will assist rehabilitation professionals in overcoming ethical obstacles involving unconscious bias by increasing multi-cultural competencies and providing “best practices” in accordance with the CRCC Code of Ethics. Many clients with disabilities are impacted by unconscious bias in the workplace and within service settings such as ours. We have an ethical obligation to reduce our unconscious bias, so as not to serve as an additional barrier to clients obtaining gainful employment or putting your professional relationship at risk. This timely presentation will end with a facilitated discussion, as we often learn best from one another by sharing best practices and innovative ideas.
(Specific CRCC Code of Ethics addressed include: A.1., A.2., B.1., D, E.1., and M.1.)

Understanding and Applying Resilience

PRESENTED BY: Yarden Blumstein

Resilience is not about avoiding adversity, rather it’s about developing the capacity to adapt, recover, and grow through life’s challenges. This interactive presentation explores the science of resilience and provides practical, evidence-informed strategies that participants can immediately apply in their personal and professional lives. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the factors that influence resilience, including mindset, emotional regulation, supportive relationships, and purpose. Through discussion and real-world examples, participants will learn how to strengthen their own resilience while fostering it in others. The session is designed to leave attendees with actionable tools to better navigate stress, setbacks, and change with confidence and hope.

Using Clinical Supervision to Minimize Burnout and Turnover

PRESENTED BY: Dr. Trenton Landon, Melanie Poe, MA, and Seth Dubinski

 This session will discuss the present research on turnover intent in state Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies. With turnover around 30% each year in most state agencies, this represents a substantial problem impacting agencies, clients, and the employees “left behind”. Clinical supervision has been shown by research as one way to decrease turnover intent and increase counselor satisfaction with their work environment. Recommendations for clinical supervision practices and interventions will be provided.

What Happens When AI Joins the Treatment Team

PRESENTED BY: Courtney Wang, MHS, OTRL, CBIST

Discover how AI can enhance vocational rehabilitation while supporting compliant, high-quality clinical practice. This session explores practical ways to use AI for clinical documentation, as a treatment tool, and to help clients use AI safely and effectively with humans in the loop. Participants will leave with sample prompts and actionable strategies they can immediately apply—whether they are just getting started with AI or want to maximize its potential.

When Guardianship Changes: Disability, Adulthood, and VR

PRESENTED BY: Melanie J Poe, MA

Transition to adulthood represents a significant legal as well as vocational milestone for youth with disabilities. When a young person reaches the age of majority, assumptions about parental authority, educational decision-making, informed consent, confidentiality, and who may make decisions on the individual’s behalf can change. For Vocational Rehabilitation professionals and other transition partners, understanding guardianship is therefore an important component of ethical and person-centered transition practice.

This advanced, practice-focused presentation examines minor and adult guardianship through the lens of transition-age youth with disabilities receiving or preparing to receive Vocational Rehabilitation services. Participants will distinguish minor guardianship from adult guardianship, examine full and limited guardianship and less restrictive approaches to decision-making, and learn how to recognize court documentation establishing a guardian’s actual authority. Case scenarios will illustrate how guardianship can affect informed consent, confidentiality, service planning, employment goals, education, and collaboration with families and transition partners. Emphasis will be placed on preserving the young person’s voice, autonomy, and participation while recognizing legally established decision-making authority.

WorkChat: A Virtual Workplace Conversation Simulation for Transition

PRESENTED BY: Matthew J. Smith, PhD, LCSW

Autistic transition age youth frequently receive pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS), but still face barriers to getting and keeping jobs. Conversational skills, social anxiety, and emotion regulation are known factors that influence job stability among autistic transition-age youth; however, the field lacks evidence-based practices to support growth and development in these areas. To address this gap in services, our team partnered with the autism community, Pre-ETS experts, and SIMmersion LLC to develop WorkChat, a commercially available web-based simulator to practice talking with virtual customers, coworkers, and supervisors. WorkChat offers trainees the opportunity to repeatedly practice talking with virtual customers, coworkers, and supervisors whose personalities range from friendly to sassy to disgruntled. Trainees receive automated feedback through color-coded transcripts and performance assessments that can be reviewed independently or with their transition specialist. Our randomized study evaluated WorkChat when delivered by Michigan Career and Technical Institute and two Michigan Disability Networks for autistic transition-age youth. The study results suggest that autistic youth engaged in Pre-ETS with WorkChat improved their ability to manage emotions, social anxiety, and their conversational skills with customers, coworkers, and supervisors; while employed WorkChat users were found to work more hours and earn more money within the same job by the end of the study–when compared to a Pre-ETS as usual control group. This presentation will share study results, provide a brief demo of WorkChat, and initial implementation outcomes (i.e., what did staff and youth think of WorkChat, helpful implementation tips to overcome observed challenges with delivery). A four minute demo of WorkChat is here.  WorkChat is a commercial product licensed by SIMmersion LLC, due to his role as an inventor of WorkChat, Dr. Smith anticipates receiving royalties on WorkChat revenue in the future.