Translating the Evidence on Individual Placement and Support into Practice: Applications with Spinal Cord Injury

About the Webcast

A researcher and practitioners on the panel will review research on use of IPS with individuals with SCI, evaluate the unique aspects of applying the IPS model in a SCI healthcare setting, and discuss guidelines for successful implementations of IPS in SCI settings.

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  1. This webcast originally aired on May 31, 2017: https://youtu.be/p6pMHOBtHaM
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About the Presenters:

Photo of Lisa Ottomanelli, PhD

Lisa Ottomanelli, PhD
Dr. Lisa Ottomanelli is a clinical psychologist at CINDRR and an Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling at the University of South Florida, in Tampa. She received her PhD from Texas Tech University and completed her internship at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center. She has over 20 years of clinical and research experience in the area of disability and rehabilitation with an emphasis in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI).

Dr. Ottomanelli's research focuses on the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based practices to restore employment and community reintegration among Veterans with SCI and other disabilities. She served as the principal investigator of two consecutive multi-site VA service-directed research projects including the first randomized trial of vocational rehabilitation in SCI. She extended this work to examine best practices for improving outcomes and implementation through the recently completed “Predictive Outcome Model Over Time for Employment” (PrOMOTE) study. This work led to the development of a guide book and toolkit for implementing Individual Placement and Support in SCI care. Her work has advanced and supported VA policy changes that expand the provision of evidence informed employment services to Veterans with physical impairments as well those with mental illness.


Photo of Jennie Keleher, MSW

Jennie Keleher, MSW
Ms. Keleher has over 15 years' experience as a provider, supervisor and trainer of IPS with particular expertise in applying the model to spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Her career began as the Sumter, South Carolina Site Program Director on the Employment Intervention Demonstration Program, one of the primary studies conducted by Dartmouth's Psychiatric Research Center, which tested the effectiveness of IPS with individuals with mental illness (SAMHSA Cooperative Agreement SM51820). Ms. Keleher served as a Research Assistant on the Mental Health Treatment Study, a subsequent large scale project which studied implementation of IPS with individuals receiving Social Security Disability benefits funded by the Social Security Administration. From 2001-2003, she provided training and consultation services to a mental health agency in Florida and its 10 teams that implemented IPS statewide. In August 2014, she completed the Dartmouth-sponsored IPS Leadership training. Ms. Keleher was the National Supported Employment Clinical Coordinator for Dr. Ottomanelli's (PI) RR&D SCI-VIP: PrOMOTE Study (RR&D 07814R). As such, she led Vocational Rehabilitation Specialists (VRS) at seven VA SCI Centers in the application of IPS model principles and standards in their day-to-day activities serving Veterans with SCI, including conducting weekly clinical supervision calls with each site and bi-weekly national calls to cultivate a sense of community among vocational staff and to collectively address challenges to implementation. Currently, Ms. Keleher provides consultation on job development and adherence to model principles and standards for programs seeking to strengthen IPS implementation.


Photo of Shaun Smith, MS, CRC, ATP

Shaun Smith, MS, CRC, ATP
Shaun Smith has a Master's Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling and is nationally licensed as a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and nationally certified as an Assistive Technology Professional. He has recently co-authored the revised Standards of Practice for Psychologists, Social Workers, and Counselors for the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals and has spoken on Vocational Rehabilitation at a number of national conferences. Mr. Smith has expertise in providing vocational rehabilitation services for individuals with physical, psychiatric, and cognitive disabilities. His work history includes counseling experience in community mental health, providing employment services to individuals various types of physical and cognitive disabilities in the private sector, working for the State of Texas as a vocational rehabilitation counselor specializing in Traumatic Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury, and serving as the vocational coordinator at The Institute of Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) for persons with Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury. Mr. Smith is currently the Vocational Counselor at the Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, TX, on the Spinal Cord Injury Unit.