Long Term Follow Along

Arc of Cumberland County
Supported Employment Services
Phase 3 – Long Term Follow Along

Now you have been at work for at least a month or two – maybe more. You have a great attendance record, you get to work on time, you are well groomed and your uniform is always clean as well. You have learned your basic work responsibilities and you are flexible when asked to take on different jobs during the day. You show respect for all of your co-workers and supervisor and, in return, they show respect to you. Things are going very well.

The last phase of supported employment that might be offered to you is called Long Term Follow Along. It is entirely up to your NJ DVRS counselor as to whether you will be offered this service. While you may not need this service, we have found that even after they have settled in at their new job, many of our consumers benefit from an Arc employment specialist stopping in once a week for no longer than an hour or less, in order to make sure that things are continuing to go well.

If you are offered long term follow along services, you will continue to work with the same employment specialist that helped you get your job and supported you during the intensive coaching phase. The goal remains the same – maintaining employment. Here is an idea of what to expect from your Arc of Cumberland County employment specialist in this phase.

  1. You will see your Arc of Cumberland County employment specialist much less than you did during the Intensive Coaching phase. He or she will generally be given 3 or 4 hours per month to provide follow along services unless you are having extreme difficulty at work in which case we can usually be able to spend more time with you to help you figure your way out of the problem.
  2. You and your Arc employment specialist will develop another individual service plan that will continue to list your employment goals for maintaining your employment and the things that you and your employment specialist will be doing to help you keep your job over the long term. This plan will also be reviewed and revised as needed by you and your Arc of Cumberland County employment specialist on a regular basis.
  3. Your Soft Skills Training will also continue in this phase because it provides a lot of information about maintaining relationships and job skills over the long haul. The fact is that over time job responsibilities change, supervisors change, co-workers change, and even owners may change. It doesn’t take much of these changes to make your job a very different one than it was when you first started. We will make sure you are ready to meet these changes head on and continue to be successful at work.