About the Project

The Employ Me Project supports people with brain injury or other disability in their employment journey

Who can participate in Employ Me?

The Employ My Project supports people living with brain injury in South Australia, wider Hobart and rural and remote Tasmania, people with cognitive impairment in the Tasmanian criminal justice system and young people with disability in Tasmania.

Production of an "About Me" video feature is a key component of the Employ Me methodology. Here, Dane presents his About Me feature, illustrating the video production participants add to their employment toolkit through completing the Employ Me program.

How does Employ Me work?

Participants work through the ten steps of the Employ Me program. Each step along the program supports participants to develop their confidence and capacity to gain employment, volunteering and/or further educational opportunities.

infographic showing pathway of employ me journey

The Employ Me journey will often take around ten hours to complete, however this may be more (up to twenty hours or more) depending on each participant's needs and the time required to engage in and complete each step.

Where did Employ Me come from?

The ten steps of the Employ Me methodology were developed through the Disclosure Project in 2019-2020. We worked with people with brain injury to develop the resources and methodology through a codesign and testing process.

The brilliant program arising from the Disclosure Project is the basis for Employ Me, however we have improved this package even further; with our project partners, we have continued to refined the resources and adapt them to suit the needs of individuals in each context.

What comes from participating?

Like its predecessor, the Employ Me Project is centred around capacity building. It builds the skills, knowledge, confidence and motivation of participants towards finding employment.

You will work with tailored resources and create a personal About Me video along the journey. This video provides an opportunity for participants to: 

  • discuss their employment interests, skills, and experience;
  • choose how they wish to disclose their brain injury and/or disability and how it impacts them;
  • communicate their needs and expectations of any employment-related supports they may require; and
  • some participants go even further, creating a Personal Story document as well.

What happens with the video?

You can choose to share your video with employers, with a disability employment service (DES) provider, training providers like TAFE, with family and friends, or even just store it aside for your own reference. It's up to you, however for employers, these videos and your personal story provide an insight into how you can fit into a work environment and the strengths you can bring. This can help them understand what supports and workplace adjustments willhelp you succeed.

The "plus" in Employ Me Plus

You may have noticed that this site is called Employ Me Plus. The Plus is about recognising all the other outcomes from participating. You may work out that further training, volunteering or work experience is your goal. We know that participants will choose take many different directions and that Employ Me supports you in setting goals, building confidence and motivation along your employment journey.  

Participants have reported many benefits beyond employment, training or volunteering outcomes, such as:

  • increased confidence
  • willingness to meet new people
  • greater motivation, such as a reason to get up in the mornings or to leave the house.

The Employ Me Project recognises and supports all of these additional outcomes as well.