CIUSSS Workplaces help integrate those with intellectual or autism spectrum disorders

CIUSSS de l’estrie Workplace Integration helps some 160 people with intellectual disabilities or Autism Spectrum Disorder to acquire different skills as they gradually adapt to the workplace.

Integration Workplaces are environments set up in businesses, institutions, or community organizations where the clientele perform valuable tasks that are useful to society, while working alongside regular workers.

Workplace integration can help teach concentration, dexterity, punctuality, compliance with guidelines, decision making, and any number of social skills.

"They prepare users for possible internships in the workplace and for some they have even been a stepping stone to paid employment,” says Work Integration Services Chief, Paul Marier. The responsibilities entrusted to them have a very positive impact on their self-confidence and socialization."

East Angus

Since last November, the East Angus Multiservice Health and Social Services Center has housed an integration workplace where participants perform a number of tasks under the supervision of a specialized educator.

Here, they carry out the disinfection of switches and handrails, fill disinfectant foam and soap dispensers, clean toys used in services for the physically impaired, prepare work trolleys for volunteer attendants, and assist in preparing snacks for CHSLD residents.

"We receive them on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,” Marier says. ”The schedule is usually from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The workplace can handle eight users per day, and five people are currently registered."

The CIUSSS de l’estrie - CHUS has 18 workplaces in Estrie in places like Canadian Tire, Home Depot, the Cégep de Sherbrooke, Cooper Standard, Gîte du Bel Age, Défi Polytech, Estrie Aide and others. All welcome users with intellectual disabilities or autism spectrum disorder. Other integration services are available to people with intellectual disabilities or autism spectrum disorder as well, such as workshops where contracts are made with various companies. Unlike the Workplaces, which are located outside the institution, the workshops are located in the intervention milieu. This allows a clientele with greater management needs to be served.

Users who have a physical disability also benefit from workplaces, through community organizations. The same goes for mental health users. The Hôteldieu in Sherbrooke offers a paper recycling workshop for its mental health clientele.