All Services

Each program at Morningside is designed to provide a unique set of services to our clients.

Read the service descriptions below to learn more. To participate, browse our programs and find a service location near you.

Employment Programs

Community Based Assessments

We determine person-centered goals & identify work related interests and skills. Some activities may include: trying out different types of jobs, getting to know preferences, determining transportation, job site tours, participating in informational interviews, and more.

Discovery

Discover your interests, skills, and abilities. Help you identify, build and develop. We determine person-centered goals & identify work related interests and skills. Some activities may include: trying out different types of jobs, getting to know preferences, determining transportation, job site tours, participating in informational interviews, and more.

Independent Living Services

Independent living services help you learn how to manage barriers related to a disability that get in the way of work. Independent living services may include:

  • Skills to live independently, such as following a schedule, managing a daily routine, and time management
  • Money management skills
  • Learning how to get around in the community using public transportation

Individual Placement & Support Services (IPS)

Individual Placement and Support Services is a rapid job search employment service to help people with mental illness find a lasting and competitive job placement that is the right fit for them. This service centers the needs of the employee, and does not measure readiness, diagnosis, current symptoms, their history of substance abuse, hospitalizations, or involvement in the legal system. The goal of IPS is to partner with the employee to meet their preferences and choices, and if desired, identify specialized training or education opportunities that may enhance their chosen career path. This service also collaborates with mental health teams to create a plan for ongoing support.

Intensive Training & Job Retention Coaching

Intensive Training and Job Retention Coaching are available for adults that have a placement plan through DVR and a contract to find a job. Morningside will partner with you to build your intensive training plan, learn the skills to be successful at your job and ultimately gain independence. Think of it as a launching pad to help you succeed!

While DVR supports short term training, we also partner with DDA to support ongoing development and long term planning to help you stay happy and fulfilled in your chosen profession.

Internships

Paid Internships are available to students that are enrolled in Morningside’s Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS). Paid Internships are set up and scheduled by Morningside. A paid Internship is a minimum of 40 hours within a 12 month period; up to 120 hours per year. A student aged 16 or older is placed into a work setting in the community and is paid at least minimum wage.

Morningside’s Pre-ETS Facilitator sets up the internship and supports a student to learn the dress code, expectations, and schedule.

Pre-ETS Eligibility:

  • Students who are enrolled in a secondary, postsecondary, or other recognized education program.
  • Students who are between the ages of 16 through 21 
  • Students who have an IEP, a 504 plan, or a documented disability. 

Please Note: Unpaid internships are an option for students if preferred for any reason.

Job Club

Job Club is a weekly meeting that helps students to prepare for employment and is part of a Transition Service curriculum. Classes include interviewing skills, dressing for success, understanding employer expectations, transportation, soft skills, work interest inventory, and other employment related discussions and activities. Job Club is an excellent social opportunity that helps increase confidence as students lead activities and provide feedback to one another.‍ Meetings are 60 minutes and held at South Puget Sound Community College. If you have students who would enjoy a teaching based environment and would benefit from this curriculum, they are welcome to attend.

Job Coaching

Job coaching is a personalized service that provides the necessary support for an individual to be successful in the workplace.

Job Foundation

Job Foundation provides more employment support at an earlier age to help high school transition students exit school with a job at the age of 21. Morningside’s Transition Coordinator’s will use their expertise to gather important foundational information about skills and supports needed for a job. They will work in partnership with school staff to leverage vocational, academic, and life skill preparation being done in the schools on behalf of the individual student. The intent is that with a completed Job Foundation report, a student and their team will have an actionable next step for employment. Morningside will be ready to serve the student through School to Work or DVR services in either a Community Based Assessment or job placement plan in their last year of school. The goal is for students to complete transition programs with a job or secondary education connection.

Program is made possible through a partnership between school districts, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA), Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), County, Developmental Disabilities, and Morningside.

  • Job Foundation: Age 19 – 20; (second to last year); Morningside Transition Coordinator completes job foundation report.
  • Job Development & Placement: Age 20 – 21 (last year of school) Student is enrolled in School to Work or is referred to DVR. Ideally job placement will occur by June.
  • Stabilization: Age 21 – 22; Job stabilization and coordination of DDA employment services for long term job coaching services. 

Job Placement

Our Business Developers start off with a meet and greet. This meeting takes around 45 minutes and it’s a chance for the client and developer to really get to know each other. Job takeaways are environment, location, size of business, sounds, etc. We talk about transportation, clothing for interviews, tasks that they would like to do and tasks they will not do. We try to know as much as we can so when in the community we are targeting the right businesses. When we feel a business meets most if not all the desired points we will take the client on a tour of the business, make introductions and if all goes well an interview. It’s very important that we make a good match for client and business. 

Person-Centered Planning

A Person-Centered plan is a process that Morningside participates in to collect information from a person and their team to get a blueprint of who someone is, how to support them, and ideas for a positive possible future. This process includes collective information gathered from a team of people who know the student well to support with creating a living document that identifies their strengths, gifts, and capacities and identifies their next steps that will move them toward the future they want. Person-Centered Planning varies in length, time, and location depending on what works best for a person. It typically is a 2-3 hours meeting that is offered in person, virtually or a hybrid of both depending on what works best for the student and their Person Centered Planning team.

School-to-Work

School-to-Work is part of our Transition Services. School-to-Work helps students find employment before graduating from their High School Transition program. Through School-to-Work, students have more experience on their resumes and have a shorter time waiting for work, where students can often lose the skills they've gained. This program offers a seamless transition from the world of school to the adult service world.

  • Intake: We gather general information and determine funding (by school district, county, & the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation).
  • Discovery: Morningside & Transition staff help students discover their work interests, skills, and capacities. Students participate in Person Centered Planning, job tours & Job Club, where they gain soft skill training. 
  • Internships: Students are matched with existing internship sites, or new ones are created, according to their interests.
  • Job Development: Students and Morningside staff look for paid work based on what students learned and experienced throughout the school year.
  • Training: Once students find a job, we work with them to determine the level of support they need. Morningside contracts to provide that support for a successful training period.
  • Long Term Supports: After the initial training period is over, if individuals determine that they need ongoing job coaching support, they enter into Employment Services through the county.

Short-Term Training Services

Morningside works with each client and the employer  on an individual basis to provide the necessary training when a client starts a new job or receives new job tasks on a current job.  These  services usually take place over a 60-90 day period.

Skill-Building Workshops

Skill-Building Workshops are available to students that are enrolled in Morningside’s Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS). Workshops are set up and scheduled by Morningside and occur on a weekly basis in the students' classroom, virtually or at our Morningside office. Morningside offers both Work Readiness Skill building and Self Advocacy Skill building workshops. Students are eligible for up to 120 hours of both types of workshops. 

Morningside’s Pre-ETS Facilitators set up workshops, typically in partnership with teachers and students for a time that works for students. Workshops vary in length and are typically 60 minutes long.  Workplace Readiness Workshops help students acquire or enhance skills that employers commonly expect from most employees. These workshops help students to develop skills to become more employable in their future and better prepared to meet employer expectations. Some examples of workshop topics include Soft Skills (such as Communication in the workplace, teamwork, and professionalism), First Impressions, Elevator Speeches, Job Applications, Mock Interviews, Resume Building, and Budgeting. Self Advocacy Workshops help students acquire or enhance skills such as the ability to effectively communicate, convey or express their own interests and desires. Some examples of workshop topics include Self Advocacy Goals, Disability Disclosure, and How to ask for Accommodations in in the workplace. Pre-ETS Eligibility for Skill Building Workshops: 

  • Students who are enrolled in a secondary, postsecondary, or other recognized education program.
  • Students who are between the ages of 14 through 21 
  • Students who have an IEP, a 504 plan, or a documented disability.

Supported Employment

In some settings a potential employee may need additional support to be successful on the job. This support may be in the form of a job coach who works with persons who experience disabilities by providing on-site job training assistance and long term support to the employer and employee. The job coach will help the employee learn good work habits and job skills Morningside often contracts with DVR to provide supported employment services and long term support. During this process, businesses gain reliable, dependable and hardworking employees with a better than average chance of success.

Supported Housing

You must receive medicaid to qualify for supporting housing services. Supportive Housing is a philosophy and a program that is rooted in the belief that no one should have to prove “housing readinessto be housed. The service is an evidence-based practice with decades of research, as well as personal and professional stories that highlight the success of community living paired with intensive, personalized supports. A person is supported in the process of securing community-based, affordable housing of their choice along with individualized support to assist the person with stabilization and self-identified goals. Supportive Housing adheres to the principles of Housing First, Harm Reduction, Trauma Informed Care, Motivational Interviewing, Person Centered Planning, and Strengths-Based Approach. Program participation, medication adherence, and abstinence are not required to keep one’s housing.

Work-Based Learning Activities

Work-Based Learning Activities are offered in the community and based on students interests that include Job tours, Informational Interviews, Job Shadowing. These activities help students explore their future vocational goals. 

Job Tours are offered both individually or for a group of students. Morningside’s Pre-ETS Facilitators set up tours at businesses in the community. A tour is typically 1 hour long and led by the employer or Manager of the business. Students have an opportunity to learn about the various jobs that are within the business and have the opportunity to connect with the employer and ask questions.

Morningside is able to offer transportation to and from job tours on a limited basis. Informational Interviews are offered both individually or for a group of students. Morningside’s Pre-ETS Facilitators set up the Informational Interviews at businesses in the community. An Informational Interview is typically 45 minutes to 1 hour long and is an opportunity for students to interview an employer in the community. 

Students are given suggested questions to ask but are able to ask their own and learn directly from an employer about a potential job they are interested in. Morningside is able to offer transportation to and from job tours on a limited basis. Job Shadowing is offered both individually or for a group of students. Morningside’s Pre-ETS Facilitators set up the Job Shadow opportunity at businesses in the community. Students are able to spend part of a work day shadowing and learning about a potential job they are interested in directly from an employer or employee in that same field.

Morningside is able to offer transportation to and from job tours on a limited basis. Pre-ETS Eligibility for Work Based Learning Activities:

  • Students who are enrolled in a secondary, postsecondary, or other recognized education program.
  • Students who are between the ages of 14 through 21 Students who have an IEP, a 504 plan, or a documented disability.

“Everyone deserves a chance. Everyone can do something. An employer can match a job that their business needs to fit the strength of the person with a disability.”

- Erica Nation, Pita Pit

“Looking past the disability and seeing the person that they really are is the biggest thing.”

- Thomas Black, Warehouse Demo Services

“Felix is awesome. He is a huge help to us. He does everything that is asked of him and he is a good guy.”

Hany Mosad, Manager of the Federal Way Jack in the Box