Regarding Training for Rehabilitation Counselors And Their Supervisors at SSB
A2003-02: Regarding Training for Rehabilitation Counselors And Their Supervisors at SSB
Adopted In : 2003
Topics : State Services for the Blind
WHEREAS, rehabilitation counselors who work at State Services for the Blind (SSB) are responsible for assisting customers in determining a vocational goal and the services required to reach that goal; and
WHEREAS, in order to assist blind customers effectively, rehabilitation counselors and their supervisors must have a positive attitude about blindness and more than superficial knowledge of the details of the services from which a customer can benefit; and
WHEREAS, in the recent past, direct service staff and supervisors at SSB received eight consecutive weeks of blindness-specific training which provided adequate background in blindness, but this training was discontinued and not replaced with a comparable program; and
WHEREAS, SSB has hired a large number of new counselors within the past three years; and
WHEREAS, SSB has provided the new counselors and supervisors, who often have little or no background in blindness, with very minimal and often piecemeal training which specifically relates to blindness; and
WHEREAS, the results of a recent customer satisfaction survey conducted by the Department of Employment and Economic Development show that a significant percentage of customers felt that their counselors were not sufficiently knowledgeable about blindness; and
WHEREAS, these findings are acknowledged by SSB’s Director of Workforce Development as indicative of an area that needs attention and improvement at SSB; now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in convention assembled this second day of November, 2003, in the city of St. Paul, that this organization call upon State Services for the Blind to impplement a program of concentrated and comprehensive immersion training on blindness for its rehabilitation counselors and their supervisors; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization offer its assistance and expertise in designing such a training program.