Vocational Rehabilitation Conference Room

1Region II committee meeting June 10th, 2015 9:00 AM-11:00 AM Vocational Rehabilitation Conference Room Great Falls, MT 59405

Welcome and Introductions Kathy Reed - Great Falls Public Schools, Ann Taylor-Great Falls Public Schools, Dusti Zimmer-Center for Mental Health, Laurel Gebo-DDP, Lori Wertz-DD, Misti Hofland-Vocational Rehabilitation, Jill Keough-Vocational Rehabilitation, Sheri Devlin-MBLVS, 2Nicole Cosby - Great Falls Job Service, Ann Verploegen-OPI, Margaret Keener-NCILS, Mike Woods - NCILS.

Minutes from April/May 2015 Meetings All the committee members were able to review the April & May minutes and agreed to approve them as read. The May and April minutes were combined into one document because we did not have a standard meeting in May, but rather a training opportunity.

Mental Health First Aid Training Review The committee discussed the different aspects of the Mental Health First Aid Training, and what we thought was beneficial throughout the day. Many of the members ever able to attend at very good feedback about the training, trainers, and information presented. Many of them also agreed that it would be nice to take the youth track of the same type of training.

Other training ideas It was brought up how beneficial the trainings that have been provided throughout the different committee meetings have been, especially with justifying to employers the benefits of going to meetings themselves. We brought to the table about who we should ask to present next. Some of the suggestions included Aware and Easter Seals Goodwill. We decided that the September meeting will consist of having Easter Seals Goodwill give a presentation to the committee. Job shadowing/mentoring day & Tour The committee was able to discuss the different job shadowing activities that NCILS is offering in collaboration to the MYTransitions project. Several of the committee members that were able to attend. Discussed the job shadowing tour at the ADF group facility. This discussion led into another conversation about how to approach discussing my ability with employers in developing a waiver of some kind. It was reassured that these questions would be passed on the MYTransitions director.

2015 MYTransitions Conference The committee was able to talk about the 2015 MYTransitions conference and our recruitment strategies, as well as specifics about the conference itself. The committee also discussed specifics regarding location, as well as the availability information & scholarships.

Interagency Discussion All of the committee members were able to disperse in order to establish interagency discussion to talk about specific consumers that they work with mutually. The committee finds this to be very beneficial because the sometimes is the only opportunity they have the able to discuss these consumers in person and coordinate services.

Resource Fairs The committee discussed the idea that the resource fairs will be coming up in September and that we would like to participate once again offering information about the MYTransitions conference, as well as individual tables for each agency. We also discussed having another raffle and how we can potentially put the word out sooner. We also discussed since we are taking. July and August off, that we will keep in touch via email about the resource fairs.

Upcoming meetings Many of the committee members will be taking vacations, leaving for the summer, and other related absences, everybody agreed that the committee will be taking July and August off, but will be communicating via email if necessary. The next meeting will resume on September 9.