Supported Employment in The Netherlands: New challenges for integrated employment

Issue title: Are we Walking Towards Integrated Employment? A Perspective from Europe

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kamp, Michael

Affiliations: Consultant, Dutch Association of Support (NVS), Steenpad 3, 4797SG Willemstad, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 168472711; E-mail: ckamp@xs4all.nl

Abstract: In The Netherlands, Supported Employment is working through a European initiative: HELIOS and a project with international partnerships with Northern Ireland, Ireland, Portugal and later Spain. Successful experiences have come about, mainly in the region of Rotterdam, and have accounted for the subsequent creation of an Association of The Netherlands and the broader implementation of this alternative workplace model. Currently supported employment with an emphasis on job coaching is used, although there is a major struggle against the sheltered employment centers and disability allowances, which limit participation in employment. A new law proposes a better framework more focused on developing the skills of people and encouraging them into employment. There is suggestion of the need to restructure the reality of sheltered employment, enhance the figure of the job coach and encourage the assessment, analysis of results and effectiveness of organizations, especially in the current atmosphere of economic insufficiency.

Keywords: HELIOS, Supported Employment, NVSE, job coaching

DOI: 10.3233/JVR-2012-0610

Journal: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 155-162, 2012