The Illinois Division of Mental Health (DMH), Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS), and other stakeholders across the state recognize that people with severe mental illness are woefully underserved with respect to employment services. Although Illinois has a strong commitment to evidence-based practices, high-fidelity supported employment (SE) is not widely available across the state. Illinois has substantial expertise from which to draw upon for supported employment: DRS and DMH leaders who have united to prioritize employment outcomes for this population, consumer, family, and community organizations demanding greater attention to vocational goals, early adopters of supported employment among provider organizations, and strong ties with national experts on evidence-based practice. This application capitalizes on existing resources and consensus-building and provides a cohesive plan of action to finance, implement, and sustain evidence-based supported employment as a permanent component of the state service structure. The majority of project activities will revolve around state-level preparations at the systems level, with some regional and local activities to build consensus for supported employment at the ground level. The project will mobilize a broad range of important stakeholders, including state- and regional -level DMH and DRS personnel, consumers, family members, provider executives and direct care staff, clinicians, researchers, and community organizations. Proposed activities to plan SE implementation include the following: establish a financing plan using high level DMH and DRS leaders and national experts, adapt SE fidelity criteria as state standards, establish an active state-wide steering committee, build the state's technical assistance capacity using early adopters, provide regional trainings for a variety of stakeholders, build consensus in four sites to implement SE, submit an implementation application to carry out the next phase of implementation, and evaluate continuously the goals accomplished and state level preparations for implementation. ? ?
