Affiliations: Region VI Community Rehabilitation Programs –
Rehabilitation Continuing Educational Program, University of North Texas, P.O.
Box 31456, Denton, TX 76203-1456, USA. E-mail: DOBrien@scs.unt.edu | Center for Continuing Education in Rehabilitation,
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA | University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability,
UCE, Durham, NH, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: Laurie Ford, M.S., Project Director,
Center for Continuing Education in Rehabilitation, Western Washington
University, 6912 220th Street SW, Suite 105, Mountlake Terrace, Washington
98043. E-mail: Laurie.Ford@wwu.edu
Abstract: Alternate funding arrangements such as personal budgets and vouchers
have the potential to allow consumers to re-direct service system funding
towards their desired outcomes, including employment. Voucher and personal
budget systems typically include methods to provide person-centered planning
and decision support. Facilitated decision-making systems allow consumers to
reclaim lost confidence. The act of directing, with decision support as needed,
one's own services counterbalances the disempowering effects of mental illness
and its treatment. Decision support services related to personal budgets and
vouchers can assist consumers to negotiate for positive employment outcomes.
The Dollars and Sense Individual Career Account project in New Hampshire and
the KEYS to Employment Project in Oklahoma described in this paper are two
successful experiments in alternate funding arrangements for individuals with a
psychiatric disability. Both projects were based on the assumption that to
change the system, the consumer/customer, must be in charge of financial
resources.
