Transcript

Interviewer: Today we are very fortunate to have with us John Luna. John, thank you for joining us today.

John Luna: You are welcome.

Interviewer: Could you tell us a little something about yourself, John, as well as your organization? I know that our listeners would be very interested.

John Luna: Sure, I would be glad to. First of all, I have been with Dallas MetroCare, formerly Dallas Mental Health and Retardation Services, as director of Career Design and development services, which is the vocational component of Dallas Mental Care Services for 32 years. I really enjoy what I do. It involves dealing with all of our consumers, their family members, the local political system, and the state political system. And, we work a lot with the businesses through the Chamber of Commerce.

Interviewer: I know that you have a lot of valuable things to tell us today. So we are going to jump right in, and I am going to start with our first question. What services or resources does a community rehabilitation program have to offer employers?

John Luna: What we have to offer would be reliable, dependable employees through a pool that has been screened. The employer does not have to think, "If I hire somebody, what do I really know about them?" What we do is screen for the employer. We know them about as well as anyone. We have worked through their interests, their skills, their abilities, what they really want to do, and match them to the respective job. When we come to an employer, we have screened out someone who does not know what they want to do. But get them in a job that they wish to do, which meets the employer's needs.

Interviewer: When you say, "screened out", just so that we will not leave any misconceptions in the minds of the people listening, you do not mean screened out from the possibility of having a job do you?

John Luna: No, I do not. It is that we go through assessments and personal interests of just exactly what they want to do. In other words, what we are trying to do is find out their strong points of what they wish to do in their work life.

Interviewer: Basically you are saying, perhaps, not an appropriate or good match for this particular job. But then you are going to continue your assessments to find a job that would perhaps best match to that person?

John Luna: That is correct. Yes.

Interviewer: Sometimes when people hear "screened out" it means different things to different people. They might think that you meant, "The person was not appropriate for community employment".
John Luna: No. That is not what I meant at all.