Supported Employment Specialist

Job Description:

Job Title: Supported Employment Specialist

Location: Springfield, Missouri

Department: Employment Services

Employment Type: Full-time


Job Summary:


Build a meaningful career helping individuals with disabilities and other barriers achieve lasting vocational success. As a Supported Employment Specialist, you will have the opportunity to provide individualized career planning, connect clients with competitive and integrated employment, develop partnerships with local employers, deliver job-retention support, and become a knowledgeable resource on the Springfield labor market. Join a compassionate, collaborative team committed to treating every client, employer, referral source, stakeholder, and team member with dignity and respect. Successful candidates are resourceful, adaptable, organized, and motivated by helping others reach their employment goals.


In this role, you will guide clients through career exploration, job development, placement, accommodations, and ongoing employment support. You will evaluate vocational information, teach job-seeking and retention skills, build productive employer relationships, coordinate with community partners, and provide support at job sites when needed. This community-based position requires extensive local travel and flexibility to respond to client needs, including occasional evening, overnight, or weekend availability.


This position offers...

• Employee Assistance Program - 24/7 counseling services, legal assistance, & financial consultation for you and your household at no cost

• Mileage Reimbursement - Company paid for work functions requiring travel

• Employee Discounts - Hotels, Theme Parks & Attractions, College Tuition

• Workplace Culture - An environment cultivating employee wellbeing, valuing each individual's humanity, and actively promoting a healthy, joyful workforce

• Additional Perks & Benefits - Scroll down to bottom of this post to learn more

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide individualized career planning, vocational counseling, job placement, and retention services based on each client's strengths, needs, abilities, preferences, and employment goals.

• Develop relationships with local employers and deliver employer services that create competitive, integrated employment opportunities while addressing recruitment needs.

• Teach and reinforce job-search, interviewing, workplace-readiness, and job-retention skills through interviews, coaching, and community-based activities.

• Review vocational, medical, psychological, and educational information to support informed career planning and employment services.

• Assist clients with benefits planning at the beginning of services, before starting a new job, and when considering changes in work hours or pay.

• Conduct client orientations covering available services, rights, responsibilities, and employment-related disclosure.

• Participate in team and planning meetings that use shared decision-making to support clients' employment goals.

• Advocate for clients with employers, referral sources, family members, schools, social service agencies, and other community stakeholders.

• Educate employers about the benefits of hiring individuals with disabilities and help facilitate reasonable job accommodations, assistive technology, workplace adaptations, and job carving.

• Promote services and clients professionally through employer outreach, community events, awareness activities, presentations, and public speaking.

• Maintain frequent communication with referral sources to coordinate services for shared clients and identify potential referrals.

• Provide on-site or off-site job coaching and employment support, including responding to crises that may occur at a client's worksite.

• Travel extensively within the community to conduct job development and employment-support activities, including transporting clients when required.

• Report referrals, placements, retention outcomes, job-development activity, and areas of concern to the supervisor regularly.

• Maintain confidentiality and comply with CARF, contractual, documentation, and service-delivery standards.

• Perform other duties as assigned by Leadership.

Education, Experience, and/or Credential Qualifications:

• Possess a high school diploma or equivalent certificate.

• Possess at least one year of experience providing employment services.

• Preferably possess an associate or bachelor's degree in an applicable field from an accredited institution.

Additional Qualifications:

• Demonstrate an understanding of how to support individuals with disabilities and other barriers to employment, education, or independent living.

• Apply knowledge of case management and rehabilitation methods, principles, and techniques related to mental health and substance use disorders.

• Understand challenges experienced by individuals with mental illness or substance use disorders and know how to access appropriate community resources.

• Demonstrate knowledge of relevant treatment methods, modalities, legal requirements, and court procedures related to mental health and substance use disorders.

• Apply working knowledge of supervisory and training practices used in substance use disorder or mental health settings.

• Evaluate services within the assigned program and provide constructive input.

• Communicate clearly and professionally, both verbally and in writing, including producing concise reports.

• Provide strong customer service to clients, employers, referral sources, and community partners.

• Demonstrate proficiency with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, internet platforms, and other electronic media.

• Maintain flexibility in work availability, including evenings, overnights, and weekends as necessary.

• Maintain a current driver's license, an acceptable driving record, and current automobile insurance.

• Successfully complete required criminal-record, driving-record, abuse and neglect, fingerprint, and other applicable background checks.

• Provide required evidence of being free from infectious and contagious diseases, such as tuberculosis, before beginning employment and annually thereafter, as applicable to direct-care and residential-care requirements.

Physical Requirements


Sedentary work requiring the ability to exert up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, up to one-third of the workday, and/or a negligible amount of force frequently, from one-third to two-thirds of the workday, to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects, including the human body. The position requires repetitive movements of the hands, fingers, and arms for typing and/or writing during the work shift.


Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time but may include walking or standing for brief periods. Walking and standing are required only occasionally, and all other sedentary-work criteria apply.


Position Perks & Benefits:

Paid time off: full-time employees receive an attractive time off package to balance your work and personal life

Employee benefits package: full-time employees receive health, dental, vision, retirement, life, & more

Top-notch training: initial, ongoing, comprehensive, and supportive

Career mobility: advancement opportunities/promoting from within

Welcoming, warm, supportive: a work culture & environment that promotes your well-being, values you as human being, and encourages your health and happiness

Brightli is on a Mission:

A mission to improve client care, reduce the financial burden of community mental health centers by sharing resources, a mission to have a larger voice in advocacy to increase access to mental health and substance user care in our communities, and a mission to evolve the behavioral health industry to better meet the needs of our clients.

As a behavioral and community mental health provider, we prioritize fostering a culture of belonging and connection within our workforce. We encourage applications from individuals with varied backgrounds and experiences, as we believe that a rich tapestry of perspectives strengthens our mission. If you are passionate about empowering local communities and creating an environment where everyone feels valued and supported, we invite you to join our mission-driven organization dedicated to cultivating an authentic workplace.

We are an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

Firefly is a Smoke and Tobacco Free Workplace.