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Promotional VIDEO of SPHERE-Québec

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The integration in employment of the disabled persons: three success stories, you have only to click here !

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Chapter 1 – Introduction
• Chapter 2 – The adaptation of a work environment/Ranch Macandi SNC
• Chapter 3 – A project model to be exported/Supermarket IGA Extra
• Chapter 4 – A success of integration in the workforce /Académie Les Coccinelles

Chapter 1 – Introduction

SPHERE-Québec is a non-profit organization which focuses on the implementation of activities promoting the integration in the labour market of a larger number of disabled persons everywhere in Quebec.

Our interventions are always based on the person’s actual needs. Therefore, we developed an expertise which offers a customized help to our clientele., our services result in concrete actions which, with the help of partner organisations, allow to supervise the person and to guide the employer for a successful integration.

Our team is composed of specialists in project management, in consultation and in process animation. It distinguishes itself by its flexibility, its initiative and its creativity in the development of practical and effective measures. We offer a range of financial support measures to improve the employability of the participant, and so, facilitate his work integration in short or medium term.

As we adapt ourselves to every person’s particular needs, our support can take several forms, by paying part of the employee’s salary, by offering coaching in the work environment, by supplying equipments to adapt work stations or by covering interpretation or transport expenses.

All our actions are carried out thanks to the collaboration of local and regional partners who we can count by hundreds. Moreover, our partnerships facilitated the transfer of expertise from one region to another. And so, the success of some became a model for the others.

We also take part in several consultation activities and in committee meetings for the development and implementation of innovative projects. Since 1997, more than 5 000 disabled people and almost as many employers of all regions of Quebec benefited from our services. Our only desire is to be at the heart of their realizations. Include by the employment one person at the time: for us it is more than a slogan; it’s a way of defining and characterizing ourselves.

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Chapter 2 – The adaptation of a work environment/Ranch Macandi SNC

Nicolas, participant : Me, I am paraplegic, I can barely use my legs, I can stand on them, but I have no balance, thus I walk with Canadian crutches, that is the way I move everywhere on the farm and especially with my quad.

When I made my DVS at the Agricultural college of Nicolet, the director gave me a leaflet on the SEMO and it is how we managed to get in touch with SPHERE-QUEBEC and were able to begin adapting my work environment.

Denis Boily, director general of SEMO Drummond inc.: Nicolas is a young man who has been raised on a farm and always have worked on a farm. Following his accident, he continued to have activities on the farm. What stood out were two things: a very big motivation and a capacity of finding means to compensate for his lack of mobility.

Jasmin Pelletier, project agent SPHERE-Québec: Nicolas's project as such allows him to work on a bovine husbandry farm in spite of his limitations. The big stages of intervention in this file were in the first place, to receive a call: "do you think it would be possible for SPHERE-QUEBEC to bring help in this file? Obviously, we said yes".

Denis Boily: Contacts with SPHERE-QUEBEC are mainly estimating what we need with the help of the rehabilitation center of and the occupational therapists, thus to built up a file, to get submissions and to present them to SPHERE-QUEBEC. It is simple, effective and is centering on the clientele’s needs.

Diane Brochu, owner of Ranch Macandi: It is very easy to do business with SPHERE-QUEBEC because we are well supervised at the base, they guide us well with the needs of our employee, in other words we do what has to be done in priority to improve his efficiency. On paperwork level, we don’t have many forms, we review together what must be done, we sign and… the supervision is very good. For the greater part, the agricultural machinery was adapted for Nicolas’work. Nicolas won a lot of efficiency and time, which is good.

Nicolas : Among the things that SPHERE-QUEBEC allowed to be adapted, I have barriers to go to pastures, I have a remote control for the spreading of pig manure, I have my lift which helps me get on or get off my tractor - it is one screw without brake with an electric engine on the top which serves for rising and for coming down, then I press on a button on the edge of the cabin inside the tractor and those are all things which help me do my work like a real one!

Mario Paradis, owner of Ranch Macandi: Well, I can not do everything here in the first place and instead of coming down to do manual work then later on the machinery, he is on the machinery and I do the rest. We complement each other well and we are very effective together.

Denis Boily : A project like this one allows the employers to see that it is possible to integrate a handicapped person and then she becomes productive and competitive on the labour market.

Jasmin Pelletier: In the Ranch Macandi project, we paid adaptations; we also contributed on the salary level. There was also a partner in the file which is called Emploi-Québec who contributed for the purchase of a cage for keeping back the animals. All things considered, it is to team up to better help the person. What we can learn from this project or what it says to us, what it puts in example is that nothing is impossible. There are many things which are possible but that we would not have thought of to give access to employment to persons who have limitations.

Nicolas: All is possible; there is nothing impossible in life!

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Chapter 3 – A project model to be exported/Supermarket IGA Extra

Lyne Vincent, project agent of SPHERE-Québec : The specialized service of employment Trav-action which support handicapped people in job search in Estrie acknowledged the fact that there was a shortage of workforce in the Estrie’s food industry. Thus, they suggested to this business industry to train specialized workforce to work in the food field.

Katia Valdevit, development agent at Trav-action: When the first meeting took place, Emploi-Québec was there, as well as SPHERE-QUEBEC and the regional school board of Sherbrooke plus Trav-action’s director. This first meeting was to build the project, see towards where we were going and to make the project go foward.

Lyne Vincent : They gathered all the financial partners interested in this project, and I would tell you that in half a day the project was almost ready.

Katia Valdevit: Following this, the project was put in motion, so I met Lyne maybe once or twice during the project, otherwise, we communicated by telephone or by e-mail.

Lyne Vincent: The part of SPHERE in the success of this project is that SPHERE can offer for each of the participants an individualized action plan. So, it allows setting up any sorts of tools which are going to give to the participant the possibility to realize his objectives which are meant to integrate the workforce. In this particular case, we contributed to pay for internal resources, in each of the companies, to coach in a permanent way the participants in their personnal training. The project is really a turnkey solution for the employer because as in this case, the employer showed us a need and we answered by fulfilling it in company workforce training according to his own criteria. Thus, for the employer, it is a success because at the end of the project, he will have a qualified workforce which can integrate his company.

Yves Chapdelaine, owner of Supermarket IGA Extra: The organizations are much opened, very pleasant and I much believe in this project because it helps people to find a place again in the working environment.

Lyne Vincent: It also happens that we visit the integration environment where we can meet participants. It’s always interesting to see how much a person is happy to have integrated the labour market.

Gabriel, participant :, I liked my practical training, but for sure at the beginning, I didn’t know what to expect, but I know that later I wish I could continue in the same department I am in now. I really discovered a passion and I would like to pursue it.

Samuel Vigneux, supervisor of Supermarket IGA Extra : Gabriel, what kind of employee he is… Someone very shy, reserved, but after a little while, when he knows the circle a little more, I could say that he is someone with a drive… he is very dependable. I am proud of what Gabriel became.

Katia Valdevit : I really believe that SPHERE-Québec was a key partner in this project. This has allowed the employers to coach our trainees, to keep them in training all along the project and then to integrate them in the workforce.

Lyne Vincent : This model is very interesting because it can be exported in every industry that wishes to hire people, industries that live a workforce shortage problem. It is a key formula to be able to train participants while working in a business. It’s winner for all employers and participants.

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Chapter 4 – A success of integration in the workforce /Académie Les Coccinelles

Lise Prud’homme, project agent of SPHERE-Québec: The first stage was that I received the request from the councillor of Action main-d’oeuvre. It was a request for a project and I analyzed it. It completely suited our program. Tania, the participant, is a person who had no working experience and maybe because of that, a low self esteem. So, I informed the councillor that it was accepted and Tania, a short time after, was able to start her work there.

Nicole Marchessault, employment councillor of Action main-d’œuvre: Tania had no working experience, so I asked for the measure regarding development in employability. The paperwork we have to supply is very simple, we can complete it quickly and the waiting period between the moment we deposit the request and the moment we receive the acceptance of SPHERE-QUEBEC is short.

Lisa Filice, director of Académie Les Coccinelles: The documents were very well made and very easy to fill out; a very easy procedure.

Lise Prud’homme : For a company, the advantage it is to have a subsidy because it allows to have the resources to supervise the person and to also have support if ever there is a problem and finally to resolve the problem together.

Nicole Marchessault : After the period of employability development which was subsidized by SPHERE-QUEBEC, Tania was very well integrated. She is very well accepted, she is a part of the team. There is no difference between her and the others.

Michelina Capozi, educator of Académie Les Coccinelles: Tania helps us to do all that has to be done in the class, which could be cleaning or help the children do a task. Sometimes from time to time, if there is an educator who is not there, Tania is capable of replacing the educator. As long as we give her specific tasks - what there is to be done during the day - she is capable of replacing the educator and does all day long for them.

Lisa Filice: Tania as an employee is a very energetic girl, she likes smiling very much, she likes helping very much, so for her, help-educator, suits her very well.

Lise Prud’homme: Towards the end, we had a spot meeting, a visit of company where the supervisor was present, Tania, the participant and the councillor in employment. I saw her with the children, I saw up to what point she was competent in her work, how the children went towards her naturally and that she also had authority on the children. So, she was ready to integrate the employment in a permanent way.

Michelina Capozi: We are really proud of her because when she began, we didn’t know her as a person nor as an employee. Now, we know her as a person, as an employee. She grew up, she changed, and she smiles. For me, she can be an educator. If she wants to, she could do it, I’m sure of it.

Lise Prud’homme: What the program allowed, because it lasted long enough, was to learn a profession which interests her, to develop good connections with all of her colleagues and finally, to find a permanent job in the domain which interests her.

Tanya, participant: Later, I would like to continue working in a daycare center because I feel good when I am here with them and when I know that they are safe while their parents are working, and that they’re ok.

Nicole Marchessault: What I like about the workers of SPHERE, it is that they come on the ground, they meet the customer, they meet the employer, and they look at the work environment. They are really aware of what it is, what these customers live.

Lise Prud’homme: At SPHERE-QUEBEC, we have a slogan that is "to integrate into employment a person one at the time" and what it means it is that we consider the particular needs of a person and we try as hard as possible to answer these needs and we have the flexibility which allows us to do it.

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