IAJVS Program Award
The Program Award was established to recognize individual and collaborative agency programming achievements in the IAJVS field. Submissions are made by IAJVS agencies in cooperation with their executive directors. “Cognitive Enhancement Therapy”, a program from JFSA Cleveland, is the recipient of the 2009 IAJVS Program Award.
Established at JFSA Cleveland in 2006/2007, Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET) was
designed as a Vocational Intervention to address the challenge of increasing vocational
effectiveness for those with severe mental illness through an intensive 55 week program. The
format addresses cognitive deficits (attention, memory and problem-solving) as well as social
cognition (the ability to act wisely in social and vocational arenas).
CET begins with an individualized assessment and treatment plan for each consumer, and
continues in a group setting. Each member is paired with a partner to enhance skills of
collaboration and cooperation. They work together for an hour a week on computer-based
cognitive exercises. Participants also attend a social-cognitive group that addresses a psychoeducational curriculum which focuses on a different topic each week, such as vocational effectiveness, perspective-taking and coping with stigma. The program is enhanced further by individual one-on-one coaching sessions.
CET helps those individuals with Schizophrenia and related mental illnesses whose cognitive
and social deficits prevent them from being successful in vocational opportunities. It helps the severely mentally ill individual to become successful at navigating a more independent, self-determined life in their communities.
The program is staffed by trained CET coaches who are social workers, mental health
therapists or vocational counselors that have gone through a year of apprenticeship and
become certified as coaches. One staff member at JFSA has gone on to become a “Master
Coach” and can teach others to become coaches.
Initially funded through a grant, the program is now self-sufficient and serves as a source of
significant net revenue which is primarily supported through government funding (e.g.
Medicaid). Currently in their third year of CET, JFSA has 38 graduates and is currently working with 19 individuals. The attendance and graduation rate, an astounding 90% average, attest to the success of the program. 87% have acquired and retained employment, and have shown
greater volunteerism and participation in other groups.
CET as a treatment paradigm has proven to be effective in a study funded by the NIMH and the results were published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Further research showed that individuals in CET attain significant improvement and maintain this improvement at 36 months.
Through this process participants learn that their disorder does not define their entire self. They learn what their realistic limitations are but they also learn that they have strengths; talents and that they can grow to become more fully integrated in their community and more hopeful about their recovery.
IAJVS is proud to honor this innovative program with the 2009 IAJVS Program Award.