Broadcast live on March 6, 2024, this web panel of experts focused on post-secondary options for young adults with disabilities that impact behavioral health.
Three panelists from Breakthru Services, Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS), and the ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia shared information on skill building services, the basics of eligibility for DARS post-high school services, as well as targeted supports available for young adults with mental health and neurobehavioral needs and other conditions which present challenges to traditional post-secondary education, training and employment options.
Panel webinar recording
Shared in 2022, these resources from the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services offers youth and families great tools for planning for key medical, housing, social, educational and other supports as youth enter young adulthood.
Virginia Supported Decision Making Agreement fill-in document
How to fill out the Virginia Supported Decision Making Agreement document
Virginia Supported Decision Making Discovery Tool
Virginia Supported Decision Making Relationship Map
Plain language authorization for education release of information
Plain language authorization for medical release of information
A product developed by Formed Families Forward for the Parent Educational Adocacy and Training Center (PEATC)’s WAZE to Adulthood project. This fact sheet offers tips and best practices for implementing strong transition planning for youth and young adults with disabilities who are also in foster care. Virginia-specific policies and resources are provided.
Designed for parents, caregivers, professional partners and others.
Planning for Transition IEPs fact sheet
This tip sheet provides parents and allies of youth and young adults with lived experience of a mental health condition tips be able to improve their connection with them. This tip sheet was developed as a collaboration between the family member and young adult advisory boards that work with the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research at University of Massachusetts. The tips are based on advisory board members’ real experiences.
Charting the LifeCourse is designed to be used for individuals with disabilities, family members, or in the work individuals do. The framework and tools will help organize ideas, vision, and goals, as well as problem-solve, navigate, and advocate for supports. The LifeCourse Nexus website provides links to resources and information for individuals, families and professionals, including e-learning modules.
Charting the LifeCourse Tools website
From The Arc of Northern Virginia, a collection of resources on supported decision making, an array of services and procedures to support adults with disabilities into adulthood, often as an alternative to Guardianship.
Supported Decision Making resources
From PEATC, several booklet guides from the Transition to Adulthood Series.
Is Guardianship My Only Option? – This short 16-page guide reviews guardianship arrangements for adults with disabilities and presents options for supported decision making.
Supported Decision-Making in Special Education Programs – This guide reviews options for supported decision making in schools, related to special education planning and services.
Is Guardianship My Only Option?
Supported Decision Making in Special Education
The road to adulthood for youth with disabilities is filled with opportunity, and parents play a key role. PACER’s National Parent Center on Transition and Employment is ready with the information families want, presented in a way families can use. The site features a wide array of transition-related resources for families and youth.
This fact sheet reviews key eligibility and services provided under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). It focuses on the supports for youth and young adults with psychiatric disabilities.
This Guide from Virginia Family Special Education Connection offers families and professionals links to state- and local-specific resources for enrolling students, education, medical care, mental health, transitioning students to post-secondary settings, courts, and other areas.
Updated Summer 2023
Website resource
Flyer
From the Va Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS), this site helps consumers understand and navigate long term care waivers for persons with developmental and other disabilities.
From the site: Commonwealth’s system of services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities is undergoing significant transformation as Virginia redesigns its waiver system under the My Life, My Community initiative. The term My Life, My Community encompasses an overarching vision whereby people with developmental disabilities live, work, play and thrive in their communities, just as others do, with the support they need.
The site features a publication Navigating the Developmental Disability Waivers: A Guide for Self -Advocates, Families and Support Partners.
Navigating the Developmental Disability Waivers: A Guide for Self -Advocates, Families and Support Partners.
This fact sheet from the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC) provides families and students an overview of the 5 C’s of what skills a Virginia graduate should have.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) information on who is considered “Parent” for financial aid.
If you are considered a dependent student for FAFSA® purposes, you will need to provide information about your legal parent(s) on the application. A legal parent is your biological or adoptive parent, or your legal parent as determined by the state (for example, if the parent is listed on your birth certificate). If you have a stepparent currently married to your legal parent, you generally also must provide information about him or her.
More info and how to apply
A number of resources have been developed to support community and state-level implementation of the Virginia HEALS Model for the provision of services and referrals to children, youth, and families. The toolkit includes a family engagement guide, resource mapping, a screening tool for use with individuals who may have been victimized or have trauma impact, and a trauma informed agency assessment, among others.
Supporting the Education of Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions:
State of the Science
presented by Marsha Ellison, PhD, Michelle Mullen, MS, CRC, CPRP, and Kathleen Biebel, PhD of the Implementation Science and Practice Advances Research Center at U Mass (formerly The Transitions RTC)
Originally broadcast on January 7, 2016
Description:
The majority of college students with serious mental health conditions do not finish school, jeopardizing their long-term employment. Can supported education services help?
Marsha Ellison, Michelle Mullen and Kathleen Biebel, researchers and trainers of supported education services, will host a 2-part webinar series presenting the state of the science 2nd state of the practice of supported education and related strategies for achieving post-secondary education goals of young adults with SMHC.
Think College: College options for people with Intellectual Disabilities
The Center for Parent Information and Resources provides a webpage on Education/Training Connections resources.
The Center for Parent Information and Resources offers this webpage on Employment Connections resources.
Best Colleges offers an article on Top Mental Health Challenges Facing College Students
PACER’s National Parent Center on Transition and Employment provides information and resources for youth, families, employers and others helping teens and young adults with disabilities as they transition.