Transcript - slide 1

Hello, my name is Beth Durkee. I am the Director of Services for people with developmental disabilities from Allegan County Community Mental Health in Allegan, Michigan. Allegan is in southwest Michigan right by the lake. We are very rural and one of the [state's] biggest counties with a population of a little over 100,000 people. Our population centers are divided around the county. The county itself is in a rectangular shape with population centers at each corner and in the center. So, we've got a lot of distance to travel between the population centers. Allegan County Community Mental Health is an agency serving people with developmental disabilities as well as people with mental illness. I am going to be talking today about a system-change that we have made, primarily in the DD side of the agency. However, employment services also encompass persons with mental illness, so it has also affected that population.

Our big system-change effort started back in 1987 when we received a grant from MRS [Michigan Rehabilitation Services] for supported employment. At that point, we had approximately 120 people on [14 c] certificates in two different workshops, six people in enclaves, and only two people working in the community. We also had two day programs with over 60 people in them.