2016 Employment First Summit  Trailblazing:  Charting Our Employment Path

Ticket to Work - A Safe Way Forward Using Work Incentives
Madeleine Bowens Benefits Specialist, KDHE South Central District Office, Wichita

We will summarize the Ticket To Work Legislation in relation to how Work Incentives can be used to promote a return to work and maintain health insurance. Using Work Incentives can create the opportunity to 'plan a way forward', reducing the reliance on public supports but also Knowledge of the safety nets in place. The safety nets can ease the anxiety caused by the uncertainty of sustaining employment.

Madeleine Bowens Benefits Specialist, KDHE South Central District Office, Wichita Through the years in social services I’ve seen changes in attitudes policy and services. I spent 12 years in British Social Services, working in a day program with people with developmental and mental retardation, I developed county policies, curriculum and activities that respond to the changing needs of individuals as they developed their self-sufficiency skills. On the East Coast I worked as a Deputy Treatment Manager in a program to promote rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. I moved on to the mid –west where I worked in the private sector and non-profit Mental Health services as a Residential Care Manager, a Treatment Manager and Case Manager and Employment Consultant and obtained my Stepping Stones to Recovery certification while working with the homeless population. I became a Certified Benefits Specialist and currently employed by KDHE. While the challenges remain for our services and customers, I am particularly energized by the Ticket To Work Legislation that provides encouragement, empowerment , opportunities and options for our customers to develop their own life-styles and decisions. That’s why I love this work and to see how people realize they can use work incentives and social security legislation that provides a route to success that includes a safety net.