Jayme >> Good afternoon and welcome to today's WISE webinar. My name is Jayme Pendergraft and I'm the Communications and Outreach Director for the Ticket
to Work program. We do have one quick note today for those of you who need captions. We have a new link if you would like to view captions in your web
browser, and you can find it by going to number five in the web links pod which is at the bottom right hand of your screen. And again you can view links
in the webinar itself, but you can also take a look at it in a browser if you would prefer that and we'll discuss that a little more later. Thank you 
for joining us today as we start this month's webinar. It's my pleasure to introduce today's moderator Pat Van Nelson. Pat is the Deputy Director of the
Ticket Program Manager and has over 30 years of related experience to bring to today's topic and discussion. Pat, over to you.

Pat >> Well, thanks Jayme. Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the Ticket to Work webinar. It's called Managing Stress During Your Job 
Search and Beyond. As Jayme said, my name is Pat Van Nelson and I'm a member of the Ticket to Work team and I'll be your moderator today. 
On behalf of Social Security and the entire Ticket team, thank you for joining us to learn about the program and the many types of service 
providers that you can call on to help you as you find your way to financial independence through work. Many of you probably know that the 
President designated last month, May, as Mental Health Awareness Month to recognize that our mental health affects every part of our lives. 
But it's not just one month a year. Our mental health determines how we think, how we feel, and how we act and that includes how we handle 
stress. Today we're going to talk about one potential source of stress, work and looking for work. I can tell you from my own experience 
that I get really anxious before a job interview, and for me the best way to relax is to do so much preparation that I'm ready for any 
questions that might come my way. But that's what works for me. Today we'll provide some other ideas that might work for you when you 
experience your own kind of stress. I think I probably say every month in these webinars, but it doesn't make it any less true, that I 
think one of the best things about the Ticket Program is that it recognizes that we're each unique and every one of us creates our own path.
So today our goal and our hope is that we can provide you with information that will help you create yours. 
So let's get started. We want you to get the most out of today's presentation, so we've got a few tips for using this webinar platform. 
First there's the audio. You can manage your audio using the audio option at the top of your screen. The audio option is an icon that looks
like a speaker. When you click on it there's a drop-down menu. Choose select speaker from the menu options as you can see on the screen now.
Just a reminder, everyone attending will be muted except for me and of course our speaker. When it asks you how you want to join the meeting
for the audio, pick device speaker if you want the sound to come through your computer. Be sure to turn on your speakers or plug in your 
headset. If you'd rather listen by phone, you can dial 1-800-832-0736 and enter an access code that's 4189148 and then the pound sign. You can
also join the meeting audio to receive a phone call as you'll see in the image on the screen and enter that same number and access code. 
All right, now let's move to cover some information about our webinar's accessibility. On the Adobe Connect platform you'll notice different 
boxes on your screen. Those boxes are called pods. We have a presentation pod, and this is where the slide deck appears. That's the largest 
portion of the screen. Below that's an open space for the placement of closed captioning. The top right corner is the Q&A pod and below that's
the web links pod. I think Jayme mentioned that earlier. We'll talk about these pods in more detail just a little bit, but first we want to
talk about accessibility. If you happen to need assistance navigating this Adobe Connect platform, an accessibility user guide that has a list
of controls is available on the website at http://bit.ly/Adobe-accessibility. A link to the Adobe accessibility user guide is also available in the
 web links pod at the bottom right of your screen. It's called Adobe Accessibility User Guide, so if you want to use that one you can go to the 
web links pod and access that now. Real-time captioning is available and active and is displayed in the captioning pod below the slides. You can 
show or hide the captioning display and you can also choose the text size and text color combinations to best meet your vision preferences. Open 
closed captioning by selecting the CC option from the top menu bar. The captioning link can also be accessed in the web links pod under the title 
Web Captioning. I believe it's number 5. You can also access captioning online in a separate viewing window. Choice is up to you and your viewing 
preference. 
If you're fluent in American Sign Language and you'd like support during today's webinar, just follow the link that provides instructions on 
how to connect with an interpreter through the Federal Communications Commission's Video Relay Service. The ASL user guide is available in the
web links pod under the title ASL User Guide. We're going to be pausing for questions at two different points throughout the webinar, so please
send your questions to us at any time during the webinar. Just type them into the Q&A pod. I'll direct questions to our speaker during the Q&A
portions of the webinar. I'm going to do my best to get to as many as possible. If you're listening by phone and you're not logged into the 
webinar platform, you can ask your questions by sending us an email to webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. Another useful item is this web links pod
that I've been mentioning. It has the links for the resources that we'll cover today. Just select the ones that interest you to learn more. 
If you're listening by phone, you can email webinars@choosework.ssa.gov for a list of these resources. You can also look at the confirmation
email that you got for today's webinar to access the resources. Just a reminder, Social Security cannot guarantee and isn't responsible for
the accessibility of external websites. 
We're recording today's webinar, so if you missed something and you want to go back and listen again, we'll be posting it within two weeks on
the Choose Work website at https://bit.ly/WISE_OnDemand. This link is also in the web links pod titled WISE Webinar Archives. We hope you have
a good experience during the webinar today and your technology will cooperate with you. However, if you do run into technical difficulties, you
can use the Q&A pod to send us a message or you can email us at webinars@choosework.ssa.gov and our team will help you. In a minute, you'll
hear from my colleague and today's speaker, Derek Shields. Derek's no stranger to the intersection of disability and work. He's spent the past
28 years in the areas of disability inclusion, employment, and accessibility. He has a master's degree in management and disability services 
from the University of San Francisco, and in addition to his contributions to the Ticket Program, he's also president of ForwardWorks 
Consulting and a co-founder and board advisor of the National Disability Mentoring Coalition. 
Importantly for today, Derek also spends a good portion of his training time focused on mental health and mental wellness. During today's 
webinar, Derek's going to cover the Ticket to Work Program, the many service providers that are available to you, and provide those strategies
I mentioned earlier about different ways to handle stress, whether it's on the job or on the job search. I hope what you take away from this 
session is a better understanding of the Ticket to Work Program, who's eligible and how to use your ticket. We'll introduce the different types
of service providers and provide you with tips you can use when you find yourself feeling stressed. I'll be back with you during the 
question-and-answer session, so remember to put your questions in that Q&A pod. It's now my pleasure to introduce and turn over to the 
microphone, Derek Shields. 

Derek >> Pat, thank you so much for setting us up so nicely today and remembering May is Mental Health Awareness Month here in the United 
States. I appreciate the opportunity to be with everyone again this month to talk about a very important topic, and it's managing stress when
seeking work or transitioning into work and working. One of the ways that we start out our webinars is, if you've been with us before you know
this, is we cover the Ticket Program and we cover our service providers as part of your employment team. And you know, really today we're 
doing that with this idea in mind that having this information is another tool in your toolkit to help manage stress. With this in mind, I'm
going to cover those areas first. As Pat mentioned, we'll take a break to answer your questions there, so please submit those, and then we'll
come back for the real core of the content on managing stress. We have some good information and tips available for you today. So let's get 
started. 
It's really important to begin by covering the two Social Security Disability Benefit Programs. If you're not familiar with them, then we need
to become familiar with them in order to know if you qualify for the Ticket Program, and from there we can explore using the members of the 
employment team. So let's cover them. We have Social Security Disability Insurance, also known as SSDI, and note that that is a disability 
insurance program, and it's a program that people have paid into while working. So if you have worked in the past and you maybe have had FICA
taxes withheld from your paycheck, you're actually contributing to a fund for disability insurance benefits that if you require it later 
you're able to tap into. And it gets adjusted, matters on how long you've worked and how much you've earned, and there is a maximum amount, 
and that can be important to note that everybody's benefit is going to be different when we talk about the Social Security Disability Insurance. 
You do need a kind of a longer history too, sometimes up to 10 years to become insured, and you know that really varies, but recall that's 
insurance, and when you have worked in the past you've paid in the program, and with SSDI we don't really care about really your resources. 
We're not looking at unearned income that you may have. It's about the insurance program and what you've put into it. 
Now on the contrast, the second one listed here, Supplemental Security Income, we call that SSI, and notice this one doesn't say insurance. 
This is a needs-based program provided by Social Security to people who have not worked enough to be insured for SSDI or who don't have any 
work history at all, and perhaps that's because of a disability. So it's very, very different. It's also going to look to see if you have a 
low amount of resources and low income amounts, and remember the insurance program doesn't do that. So Social Security also administers the 
SSI program and pays monthly benefits to people with limited income and resources who are blind or have a qualifying disability. You should 
know it's also available for people who are 65 or older and children with disabilities or those children who are blind. They can also access 
SSI. So these are the two Social Security Disability Benefits programs, and it's really important to know, you know, if you're participating, 
you know, what do I have? And if you're not sure, here we have a way for you to find out. You could sign up for a My Social Security account 
or a My SSA account. These accounts have to be set up at the Social Security website, and they're going to ask you for some personal information.
Now this is something that I've done and many people have done. It's safe and secure, and when you sign up, this is where you're going to be able
to check out information about your work history. It's going to tell you if you're eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance. And how much
you would receive if you paid into it. And it's also going to be able to tell you if you have family members, how much those family members would
receive as dependents. 
So there's a lot of information in there. I look at mine now and then, and you know, when you log into it, you can read the Social Security 
statement. Some of you maybe used to get it in the mail. This is a place to look at it online. And you can check out your eligibility for benefit
status. For the SSI side, it will also clarify that you have benefits that are SSI and how much those benefits are. And all of that information 
is going to be very helpful to have with you when you start to talk to members of your employment team. So if you don't have a My SSA account, we
recommend that you get one because this is something, it's going to give you the information you need in those first conversations and it'll 
make your stress reduced a little bit by being informed. So you can go to ssa.gov/MyAccount. There's a lot of great information in there that you
can explore, and we recommend you check that out. 
Okay, next we want to begin with this idea if we have SSDI or SSI benefits and we want to talk about starting your journey. And we are all here. 
Your entire employment team is here to help guide the process by giving you the information and the projections that will help you with starting your
journey. But it's really important to know that this is your choice. While we want you to explore it, the choice is yours. And in doing that, we 
want you to consider the idea of choosing work. So why choose work? When we look at work and we think about it, you know, work can help. It can help
in recovery. It can help in actually a strategy for not just creating stress but for giving structure to handle stress as well. But work works and 
it's kind of straightforward in that regard. It gets people out of poverty, and it gives people the ability to make a choice. So make choices for
yourself about the things you want to do and perhaps earning some excess money that you could save up and experience things to support fulfilling 
your dreams. 
Now when we think about earning a living through employment, it's not something that everybody can do. We understand that, and it's why the benefits
exist, and the disability standard is very tough. But if work is the right choice for you and you want to try it for the first time or explore it, 
it's important that you understand the many free services and supports that are available to you. And you can find that the rewards for working will
outweigh the risks. And we're going to explore that today and talk specifically about how the process of getting work can help you actually come out
on the other side and potentially have less stress in life. 
One of the ways that we offer that is through the Ticket to Work program. This is a free and voluntary Social Security program that offers career 
development services and support for people that are ages 18 through 64 who receive Social Security disability benefits and, of course, want to work.
So notice that voluntary is bolded. This is that point about this choice is yours. You don't have to participate, and when you think about this, once
you decide that you want to explore this, the only commitment that we're looking for is a commitment to have employment goals and the destination is
full-time employment, and that this would increase your ability to have the things you want and would allow you to access new opportunities. So the 
Ticket to Work program is available to you and those free employment services that I was mentioning come specifically with certain areas that maybe 
match up with what you're looking for. 
So first, you know, deciding if work is right for you. You join this session today to explore managing stress during the job search process or 
perhaps starting work or at work and we want to talk a little bit about, well, if that's the right option, how could we also limit the amount of 
stress as you make that decision for work? How about preparing for work? You know, somebody might need some educational preparation, like perhaps 
you have a disability and you're going to try a new career, but you need some education or training in advance in order to qualify. Well, the Ticket
to Work program is designed to assist with that. And then once you do have the qualifications, of course, receiving help and finding a job which can
be challenging. Well, we have our Ticket to Work Employment Networks available and we'll talk about them in a little bit that have experts that are
really good at that. They have relationships with employers, they can help you connect with employers and prepare for those interviews which could 
be, as Pat mentioned, preparation could reduce stress but it's not going to eliminate it. But we have some of the employment team that's here to help
with that. And then that last one there about succeeding at work. This is a very important part. It's important that, you know, after we decide to 
work and we have the training and education and we go after the job we want, that we can experience success. And that could be in a task or in a day
with a project or it could be over a longer period of time where you're contributing to a mission at the organization you're with. But that success
will allow you to have fulfillment, and that fulfillment can reduce stress and, of course, it could increase your independence and your 
self-sufficiency through the earnings you have and the quality feelings you have from contributing to that mission. So these are great things, these
services that come as free employment services through the Ticket to Work program and we want you to be aware of those. 
When you think of the Ticket to Work program and you think of questions like, "Well, am I on SSDI or SSI? I don't have a MySSA account, or I'm not 
sure about where should I start with all this information," what we want you to do is to reach out to the Ticket to Work helpline. There's a lot of
different points of entry. We're going to mention this a few times, but it's important for you to know about this toll-free helpline that's there to
support you on your journey to financial independence and to know that the beneficiary support specialists are trained to help you and answer your 
questions and are indeed part of your team. So you can reach out to the helpline Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time and we have two
lines. The telephone line is 1-866-968-7842 or if you're a TTY user you can contact 1-866-833-2967. Again, we encourage you to reach out to the 
Ticket to Work help line for beneficiary support services. They can help answer your personal questions. So today when we take questions, you know,
we can only answer more of your general questions during the session, but if you have a very specific question about your benefits and about your 
situation and trying to obtain employment or transition to self-sufficiency, please know that the help line specialists are prepared to assist. 
Okay, that's the end of our first section on the benefit programs and on the Ticket program, and now I'm going to turn to your employment team and 
working with the Ticket to Work service providers. And these are the individuals that as you design your own team are going to be able to increase
your confidence in what steps to do in what order and putting that plan in place that will allow you to have the structure that maybe will be able to
help you organize a very complicated process and in doing so help reduce your stress by just partnering with these employment team members. So what 
we have here in this first part is just a quick overview of all the members of the employment team. So the Ticket program service providers include 
these organizations Employment Networks, we call them ENs, there's also Workforce Employment Networks, and then we have our state Vocational 
Rehabilitation agencies. You might hear those referred to as the VR agencies or VR programs. We also have the Work Incentives Planning and 
Assistance projects or the WIPAs, and then the last part of the provider team Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries Of Social Security 
organizations. We call those the PABSS. So now I'm going to review each one of these so you can become more familiar with what their mission is,
what their scope is, and potentially find ways where you would be able to access services. 
So first, what is an EN? What's this Employment Network that you've been hearing about? An Employment Network is a private or public organization
that has an agreement with Social Security to provide free employment support services to people who are eligible for the Ticket program. So this
does include those Workforce ENs and many of those are American Job centers. They could also be other workforce system entities. So we do have 
Employment Networks that serve every part of the country, and some of them can limit themselves to like a certain geography, maybe a city or a town.
Some of them are more regional, they cover a metropolitan area or perhaps a zone of the country. And then we have others that are national, and you
could reach out to them remotely and they can support you. So it's really your choice. You know, if you're living in Maryland and you are okay with
a provider in Denver providing the employment support services, that choice is yours. If you want somebody who's in your backyard, then you could 
reach out and meet with somebody in person. So it's really flexible in that regard. These services again are for disabled adults ages 18 through 64,
and you have to be participating in the Ticket program but the ENs are available, and we will now cover some of the other services that we have that
are available. 
On this slide I just mentioned the flexibility of geography and whether you can go in person or virtually. What I wanted to get into more was how ENs
can help you, because if the idea of going to work generates stress or the idea of finding work generates stress, then working with an EN could 
help give you that plan. So it's important to look at the services and supports they offer that are designed to help you on this pathway to financial 
independence. Specifically, they can help identify your employment and work goals and that could be a job, it could be a career, but what we're 
looking at is a pathway to full-time employment and them walking you through with some questions to help you kind of identify what those are and get
those written down. And then once you have those goals in place they can help create or perhaps update your resume. Resumes and online applications
are really important still, and being able to transfer your strengths and skills along with your experiences to best position you in a competitive
marketplace is something that the ENs are really good at. So if that's an area that you're a little nervous about, you could tap into them for that
service. 
Next, the preparation for interviews, you know that Pat mentioned it, but that makes us all nervous when we prepare to interview. If we want a job 
and we know that we're being compared to other candidates, then being able to practice with an Employment Network in order to prepare and perhaps do
a little role play in advance of that interview. These are the types of questions you may get asked, and if you do get asked this, you know, here 
are some extra tips for you to think about before that interview so you could be prepared and more confident. ENs can also assist with, if you're 
going to identify your disability and disclose that, with how to request a reasonable accommodation either as a candidate or after you do have the 
position and you onboard. And you can receive benefits counseling. Some Employment Networks do have qualified benefits counselors and you could 
receive kind of two types of services from that Employment Network. So lots of good services and supports coming from the Employment Networks as 
part of your employment team. 
Next, let's turn to the state Vocational Rehabilitation agency. The state VR agencies, as I mentioned, they provide a lot of services and as a Ticket
to Work service provider can help you return to work, and they can help you think about perhaps a new career track. Let's say you started out down
one path earlier in life and now you're thinking about new employment goals. They're able to, through Vocational Rehabilitation and training and 
education, kind of help reposition you to be competitive and be qualified for that new track. In some states it's important to note that there are
separate Vocational Rehabilitation agencies. So you could have a VR agency that serves individuals who are blind and visually impaired and another
agency that serves all other people with disabilities that qualify for state VR agencies. So a lot of good services coming out of state VR as one of
your team members. The other thing I'll note is they can also offer benefits counseling. So you know, if you're working with your state VR agency 
and you have questions, it's good to inquire if they have that available to you as well for planning on the transition, you know, how will work 
impact my benefits. 
Speaking of benefits counseling, our next member of the employment team is up here, the WIPAs, the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance Projects.
The WIPA projects are across the country, and they're staffed by individuals that we call Community Work Incentives Coordinators. And these 
individuals, the CWICs, or these coordinators provide free benefits counseling to eligible Social Security disability beneficiaries about how work 
and earnings will affect your SSDI, SSI, Medicare or Medicaid, and all other public benefits. So we often hear the question, how will work impact my
healthcare benefits? This free benefits counseling will be able to walk you through, you know, the details of that for your specific situation and 
also understanding out of the Social Security work incentives, you know, which ones might be available to you and then how you might apply for those.
Now there's a lot of them, there's over 20 of them, so having a benefits counselor look at the ones that are appropriate for SSDI or SSI 
beneficiaries will help reduce the stress that's involved for you there. They can also explain the, you know, benefits of employment and importantly
help dispel these myths that we hear that, you know, trying work or going to work is going to have a detrimental impact for you. It's not going to
be a benefit. They'll walk you through about how long you could keep your healthcare and in some cases this is over nine years, and then you have 
this opportunity to, you know, increase your income over that nine-year period of time, gain benefits from an employer and then, you know, find that
financial self-sufficiency that's part of your life plan. So in this regard, you can reach out to the WIPAs and access services around the Work 
Incentives.
And on this slide we talk about how the Work Incentives can make it possible for you to work while still keeping those benefits, and that includes
Medicare and Medicaid, also having access to those individualized services and supports which are so important, and keeping some or all of those
benefit payments as you transition to work. So all three very important areas that benefits planners can assist you with as you're navigating your
transition to looking for work, applying and then potentially starting work. On this slide we do talk about who the WIPA projects serve, and this 
is important. You can reach out to the Ticket to Work Help line to refer you to a WIPA project. So if you're receiving SSDI, you have SSDI related 
Medicare or you have SSI or SSI related Medicaid, then you could reach out to the Ticket to Work Help line. They'll refer you to the appropriate Work
Incentives agency and if you're eligible, they'll be able to provide services. Right now, we're looking at people that are eligible for WIPA services
who are currently working or self-employed, have a job offer pending or are actively interviewing for jobs. 
And of course, today we're going to talk about the stress during kind of the search process and the interviewing process. So if you are interviewing
for a job, technically that means that you had an interview in the past 30 days or you have one scheduled in the next two weeks. So that's your 
eligibility. If you are a younger person or if you're a family member or an ally for a younger person aged 14 to 25 who's even in the earliest stages
of considering work, those individuals are also eligible for WIPA services as more of a youth transition focus as well. So please keep those 
eligibility rules in mind. Once you start interviewing for jobs, you can tap those services to get the guidance you need on how to transition and keep
your benefits and participate with the Work Incentives. 
Okay, the last member of the team that we talked about, this employment team, we call this the legal wing, the PABSS, the Protection and Advocacy 
for Beneficiaries of Social Security. And these are organizations that provide free legal assistance to people who receive Social Security disability
benefits and who have disability related employment issues. So the PABSS focus on really these three areas, legal support, advocacy, and information
to help beneficiaries resolve employment related concerns with employers, with Social Security, and with other members of this employment team, like
an employment related concern with an EN or a VR or a WIPA or other entities. So PABSS as the legal wing are really positioned to help you in these
three areas, navigating organizations and services to support your effort to work and protect your rights. An example of that could be something 
like appealing a decision of a Vocational Rehabilitation agency or an Employment Network. If you feel that your rights from the VR agency or the EN
have been impacted inappropriately, then you can talk to a PABSS and they would be able to work through an appeal of the decision. Next, if a PABSS
can help with requesting reasonable accommodations, and these can happen in a lot of places, if you're requesting an accommodation in a college 
class or a training course, you know, a licensing program, trying to improve your skills and your assets inventory, you know, your strengths that 
would help qualify you for a position and it's denied, you can reach out to the PABSS and they're going to be able to assist with that request 
process. Again, it's, you know, maybe they could help reword it and make sure that it shows how the reasonable accommodation would allow you to more
effectively participate in a full and equal access compared to a non-disabled peer. And the last part there, if you do go into the workplace as a 
candidate or a new employee and you're having a challenge with the request of the reasonable accommodation, the PABSS can help. The third example is
addressing other disability-based legal issues that are barriers to employment, and this can include transportation. So when we think of barriers to
employment, sometimes folks have a more narrow view of what that means, but the PABSS can help out with a lot of things, including, you know, if you
need to access transportation, they're going to be there to help you. They are the legal service providers. They're helping people who receive SSI 
and SSDI and have a disability-related employment issue. They're available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, in five territories, and on a
few reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, and they're free to everyone receiving Social Security disability benefits. So the PABSS wrap up 
the employment team. 
Now that we've covered the benefit programs and the Ticket to Work program and the service providers and your Ticket to Work employment team, you 
know, we'll shift gears and start thinking about the path to success, and, you know, as Pat mentioned in her opening remarks, everyone's path is 
different. You know, we find financial independence through work in different ways. Just as there's many jobs and careers, there's different ways of
finding them, and once you decide to pursue employment, these service providers will help you with three significant offerings. Creating a plan that
will define your goals with you, capture them, and then set up a timeline. What are we going to do first? What's going to happen in the middle? And
then when we get to success, what will we do then at the end? They're going to help you understand your responsibility for reporting work and 
earnings. So as we get to success, how do we maintain that so we're reporting and using the process successfully. And in the end, following your 
plan, which will lead you to achieve your employment goals. Having that plan is really important to managing stress, and having the right service 
provider is an important step in the process. And if you're ready to find a service provider to either begin or restart your employment journey, 
we recommend visiting the Find Help page on our website, and at that page you can go to Find Help, and you can search by your zip code or by the 
services that are offered. If you're interested in somebody with experience with your specific disability, you can check that out. You can also look
at languages spoken, or if you know that you really want to work with a specific provider, like an Employment Network or a state VR agency, you 
could select that too. The Find Help page is a good option. You can find how to access please contact the Ticket to Work helpline. You can ask for a
list of service providers, and the beneficiary support specialist will generate that list. Based on what you're seeking, call them at 1-866-968-7842,
or through TTY at 1-866-833-2967. Those specialists are available again Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time. 
Okay, Pat, we made it through the first couple of sections. It's time for our first question break. 

Pat>> And we have some. So Derek, one person wants to know if they need to use the Ticket program to find work, what if they find job by themselves?
Can they just apply for it?

Derek >> So it's a good question. If you find a job posting that you think is a good fit, you can apply for it without using the Ticket program. The
key here is really before you begin working or as you begin working, it's important to update Social Security about your employment status. And 
remember, you become eligible once you start interviewing or once you start working. You become eligible to talk to the WIPAs, the benefits 
counselors, about how earnings will impact your work and -- sorry, impact your benefits. So you don't have to use the Ticket program, but we really
recommend talking to the benefits counselors and then updating Social Security about your employment status and potentially any earnings. So that 
would be the recommendation that we have. If you're not sure how to do that, best point of entry is calling the help line, the Beneficiary Support 
Help line. We've given that number out a couple times and we'll do it again before we wrap up. 

Pat >> Thanks, Derek. How about someone who's never had a job? Can the Ticket program help them? 

Derek >> Absolutely. I think sometimes people feel like, you know, "I haven't worked, and I don't know if this is for me because these people are, 
you know, helping folks return to work who've acquired disabilities." That's not the case. The program is designed for folks who haven't worked 
before and remember there's a lot of training and education services. You may find that, you know, Vocational Rehabilitation comes first, and you 
access the Ticket program through the VR agency, get the training, invoke rehab services, and then you're going to have the qualifications to perhaps
go into the field of your choice. Other folks who haven't worked could work with an Employment Network, find out that, well, maybe an apprenticeship
is one of the ways for you to begin your career. We call it earn while you learn or maybe it's learn while you earn. It's one of them, but 
apprenticeships are all across the country right now and it's a great way for somebody who hasn't accumulated work experience to, in effect, have, 
you know, a mentor who trains them in a skill and then at the end of that you not only have full-time employment, but you've gone from not working 
into a career. 

Pat >> Well, Derek, that brings me to the next question. It was a nice tie-in. It says, I'm working with a VR now. Can I work with an EN too? 
Derek >> Yeah, you know, Pat, that's one we hear, it's called different things in different places, but I get that question a fair amount and the 
answer is yes, but not at the same time. So your employment team, it's really designed to support you at different experiences. So if you're working 
with your VR agency and let's say you want to go after an associate's degree to get new skills and a degree that allows you to qualify for really the
job that you're looking for, well, you could do that through the VR agency. Once you achieve that and you apply and you get the job, then the VR 
agency would do what they call, you know, close the case. Then you could transfer your ticket over to an Employment Network for the ongoing job 
supports. Things like, you know, I don't know, the game of work is new to you. They can help you understand how to communicate with a supervisor. 
They can make sure that you're doing the things like, you know, the timesheets and reporting your earnings to Social Security correctly. All the 
supports that you need. So we call that Partnership Plus. So it's working with VR and then kind of the consecutive following services through the EN.
But for those of you that are out there that are working with VR now, you know, think about when you're done working with them, finding an 
Employment Network for those ongoing supports. These are the things, if we have them around us, that are scaffolding, and they help us in transitions.
And importantly for our theme today, maybe reduce some of the stress that's involved in those transitions.

Pat >> Thanks, Derek. I think we probably need to move on to the next part of your presentation. But I do want to remind folks that we'll have another
Q&A session in a little bit. So please keep those questions coming. 

Derek >> Excellent. Thanks, Pat. I appreciate everyone listening to the Ticket program overview and the service providers. It's important that we
cover that. Now we're really going to enter the core of our content and focus on managing stress during a job search and while on the job too. And,
you know, this is, you know, many of you probably came to explore this with us today and I appreciate your interest. Let's start out by talking a 
little bit about kind of what is mental health and what is stress. And then we'll get into some tips and exploring some other resources. 
Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing. And it affects how we think, feel, and act. This is quite broad, but it's 
really our fundamental baseline for thinking about stress today. Mental health also helps us determine how we're going to handle the stress, how 
we're going to relate to others, and how we're going to make choices. These choices can include, of course, our choice to seek work and our choice 
to apply and to work. Mental health, we all have it. And when we think about physical health, you know, there's a notion in our country that all of
us, you know, have to work out with our physical health. And what we like to do is also think about, well, what do we do to support our mental 
health, to include our emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing? Because in doing so, it's going to help us in how we handle stress. So in 
thinking about what stress is and how we handle it, you know, we recognize that stress affects us all. And it can affect our moods and increase our
symptoms, especially if we have some mental health conditions or mental illness. So as we explore this, we keep in mind mental illnesses such as 
anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. I just want to take a minute and talk about these because they're really important. 
You know, we all have levels of anxiety. So when we think of anxiety, we could all identify at some level with that. It's fairly natural, in fact, 
to have anxiety. There are people, though, that are living with anxiety disorders, and that differs from normal stress or normal anxiety. Anxiety 
disorders are really characterized by this notion of an excessive fear or worry, and this could create some disturbance in behavior. And these 
symptoms become so severe that they, you know, drive a significant distress or some interruption in our functioning. And that can interrupt things 
like relationships and work. So anxiety disorder and stress will impact job search and will impact, of course, work itself. 
Next, we have depression. Depression is different than normal mood fluctuations. So you know, some of us can have mood changes or short-lived kind 
of emotional responses. Well, those are challenges that arrive in everyday life. Just like regular anxiety, it's not a disorder. And just like 
regular emotional responses, that's not depression. During a depressive episode, the person experiences a depressed mood. This is sadness, 
irritability, loneliness, or emptiness. And there's just a disconnection from pleasure or an interest in activities. And depression can rise, if it 
stays there for a significant period of time, to impact many things. Again, work and relationships being two of those. And our last example here is 
post-traumatic stress. And this is a mental health condition that's triggered by an event that is received as terrifying. This could be either 
terrifying in direct experience or in witnessing. And the symptoms can include things like flashbacks or nightmares and severe anxiety. So some of 
these start to become interconnected in this regard. Really, the importance of knowing these definitions is, you know, if you're living with one of 
these, we're going to talk about some resources for you. But it's about the stress and knowing the potential signs of stress. So with these, we see 
things like sleeplessness and lack of the ability to focus. And that managing stress can definitely impact and reduce the negative effects. And 
remember how I said earlier, how our mental health also helps determine how we handle stress, how we relate to others through relationship, and how 
we make our choices. One of those choices we can make is about work. 
So let's talk about work and specifically managing stress. I think it's important to think of work as being more than a job. And that's hard because,
you know, you hear, "Well, what do you do?" And that's all about, well, my job is. And you hear that a lot when you meet people. But work is more 
than a job and it can give you a real sense of purpose. And there's a couple different ways we can explore that. The first one is setting and 
accomplishing a goal. So with work, we can have the purpose and we can feel the sense of accomplishment. So in setting and accomplishing a goal, you
can think about it. Let's make a list. And on that, that's, you know, what this is all about. You know, I did this this morning when I got up. I 
took a pad out because I'm old school and still use paper, and I wrote a list of the things I had to accomplish today. I wanted to think about this 
training session and talking to you all. So I had to make sure my talking points were together and I was prepared. I had other things I needed to do. 
And, you know, so I did that. I start out each week making a plan for the week and then I start out each day really zeroing in on that day. What are 
the tasks? What are the activities? And then, you know what feels great? When I accomplish it. Maybe some of you feel this way. When you can cross 
something off that you've done. Well, I committed to do that. I wanted to make two applications this week. I went and I wrote it on the piece of paper.
Once I made those two applications, I crossed it off. Well, now I'm through that goal for this week and I sense, you know, accomplishment. And then 
you could think about that, you know, whether it's earning a promotion or developing new skills. Set those goals. Create the lists. And then you could
feel that sense of accomplishment. So there's a sense of purpose in that. Whether it's, you know, in work or in the job search itself. Or it could be
another task like preparing for work and getting those training or educations in place. 
The other one here is investing in yourself and your future. Now, working is a way to do that, of course. And that's going to be while earning more 
income and gaining your independence or on your path to financial self-sufficiency. And that sense of accomplishment you can gain from work is helpful
for individuals, I believe, that benefit from structure. If you're in recovery and structure helps, then work can be part of recovery. And if you're
also somebody that does well in a team, then having the commitment to others will give you structure that I don't want to let my team down. I'm going
to show up and deliver my activities. Well, that could help me with a sense of accomplishment as well. So work can give us all purpose. And we can set
and achieve goals and invest in ourselves through jobs or through careers. Definitely more than the idea of just a job. But it becomes a connection 
between what my career interest is, the organizations I want to work with, and the impact I can have through that organizational mission. With this in
mind, now we actually get to the core tips for managing stress. And we hope that you can take something away from these tips today and the strategies
that we'll cover along with these four. 
So when we start out, if you're working or looking for work, we have some specific strategies. And the first one is to make your plan. I mentioned 
to-do lists. And really, when we think about our personal strategic plan, if that's an employment plan, it's breaking up tasks and creating those 
lists. And that process will help you become less overwhelmed. You write it down and then you do the activities, and you break them down into 
priorities with timelines. So we talked about that one. 
The next one is really important. And sometimes we don't do this so well. But taking care of ourselves. This is around nutrition. Are we eating as 
well as possible? Are we taking any of the medication that perhaps our doctors have prescribed? And are we getting the sleep that we need to really 
help us feel the best? There's other things that we know can help too. Are we getting sufficient exercise? And that can mean different things for 
different people. Are we going for a walk? Are we doing some chair stretching? And when possible, it's important to, if you can, be in the sun to get
some sunlight. These are the things that we know help us feel better. So we need to be making time for that. And the third strategy is to ask for 
help. So make a plan, take care of yourself, and ask for help. We know that things aren't always going to go the way that the plan was written up. 
For most of us, we never intended to be where we are right now. But we kept on planning, and we kept on talking to other people, asking for their 
feedback and assistance. And this is where you can adapt. I think sometimes it's a family member, sometimes it's a close friend or colleague. And in 
this case, you also, if you're eligible to participate with the Ticket Program Service Providers, can look at your employment team for help as well. 
So we have these three strategies, make a plan, take care of yourself, and ask for help. I'd ask you to think about, well, how am I doing with those
three? If I rate myself, is there one that I could do a little bit better on? For me, I know that taking care of myself is an area that I struggle in.
I need more sleep and my nutrition could improve. So you know, I need to evaluate myself and then go back and improve there. Because by doing that, 
I will help manage my stress. When we think about managing stress more specifically on the job, here we have a list of 10 steps that will help you 
stay on track while on the job search or potentially working as well. First, it's a good idea when you're doing a job search, you know, we have the 
plan, we're taking care of ourselves, and we're asking for help. Now we're, maybe we're at our house and we're trying to figure out, how are we going
to start? We really recommend first creating a space. This space is dedicated. It has your most important materials. Maybe there's some folders and 
papers that you've collected that have your tasks and activities written down. Maybe you have your computer there so you could do your research. But
this is a place that you go to during your job search that's dedicated. And in this regard, you know, you might not need a large space, but when 
you're there, you're doing your job search work. And when you're done, you're able to leave that. Job searching can become like a full-time job. So 
when you want to take care of yourself, you need to give yourself a break. And so being able to leave that dedicated space will allow you to, say, yes,
I worked in a space free of clutter, but I can also, you know, leave that to refresh my mind. So that's number one. 
Number two, it's really important to identify your career goals. If we begin with the end in mind, like I have work ahead to do in my job search, but 
I know that I have these skills and I know that I want to work in this field. I have good organizational skills. I'm pretty good at analyzing numbers.
I would like to be an analyst on a project team because I like working with others. Well, that's the end goal. I want to have the title has this word
analysis in it because I like doing that and coming up with recommendations based on analysis work. So that's my end goal. And knowing that will help
you organize things as you move forward. And if you think about it, it's your draft. If you're going to work with an employment team, they're going 
to ask you at that Employment Network, "Well, what are your employment goals?" You've had a good draft of those that will help you in talking to them.
And it will make that experience a little bit less stressful because you've worked through this. So you could use that dedicated workspace and write 
down some draft goals that would help you feel like, "Okay, I'm helping manage my stress." I know some people that post those goals up next to that 
workstation and they're looking at them. Some people put it on the mirror, maybe in the bathroom, so they see it each day and it makes them think 
about, "Well, I'm working towards that and everything I do will help me get there." That will help manage some stress. With that goal, we have the 
schedule. 
Number three. It's really important. I've mentioned it several times. If organizational skills aren't your thing, we really need to make sure that you
have a schedule in place. So I have my goal. What am I going to break down in each week, in each month that I'm going to try to achieve so I will be 
moving forward? Do I have to update my resume? Am I going to be spending time researching job openings? Are you doing some research on keywords to 
include in applications? There's a lot of things that you could be doing, but we can't do them all at once. So we recommend chunking that out, writing
it down in a schedule. On this day, at this time, I'm going to do these activities. This will help you achieve short-term successes, and those 
short-term successes will lead into longer-term ones on your way to that ultimate goal and that's that job or career of your choosing. 
Number four, setting daily goals. I've talked about activities at the hourly level or daily. I really think about the importance of something like 
today, I'm going to spend three hours doing job search tasks, but I also got to do some personal things. I have laundry to do. I'm going to return 
some books to the library. I promised my sister I'd take her to her appointment. Well, that's a pretty good day right there. You're committed three 
hours to job search activities and you're also doing these three other important tasks. You know, if we each get up each day and we accomplish four 
significant things and we could check them off at night, then we're going to feel like I set up for myself up with a good plan. I delivered and now I
can feel like, well, tomorrow I'm going to build upon that. So having daily goals is a really important strategy as well and you'll feel that sense 
of accomplishment. 
Number five gets a little bit more into alignment with goals, like the research I spoke of before. So if I'm interested, let's say in a non-office job
and I'm not exactly sure, but I'm looking for something in trade. Maybe down a path for construction, but I like to work with my hands. It could be a
mechanic, but I don't really have the background there. Well, I need to develop a list of companies that I need to know if they're hiring. So I need 
to spend some time researching these organizations that align with my non-office job interests. When I discover that I don't know much about this, but
well, for non-office jobs I could go to apprenticeship.gov and since if I'm going to be a mechanic, I don't have that background, I would need to be 
taught and learn under the supervision of a more experienced person. Then I could use the zip code tool there and find mechanic apprenticeship 
opportunities that are in the region that I can get to, perhaps through public transportation or through my own vehicle. The key here is aligning the
listing in your research time with your broader goal. 
What I've experienced is a lot of people do a lot of research, but it's not aligned with the employment goal. With so many job openings, you can go in
so many different directions, then I hear people almost create their own stress because they're applying in many disjointed directions. So aligning 
with your goals and getting advice from your employment team like the ENs or the VR agencies, now that's going to be an important thing for you to do
to get feedback. Remember we said there's three overarching things to do. Make a plan, take care of yourself, and ask for help. If you're not sure 
how to research companies and make a list of companies that align with your goals and you qualify for the Ticket program, I urge you to consider a 
relationship with a VR or an EN and they could help you with that activity and that would of course reduce stress by having them as your teammates 
there. 
Okay, we've covered the first five. We're going to check out the second five, managing stress steps two. Remember these are going to help you stay on
track during the job search and if we think if you practice this, these are best practices in reducing and managing stress. So we covered the idea of,
you know, dedicated workspace and research and these other areas, but here I want you to make a list of potential contacts. So that can be hard for 
some folks when we think about potential contacts. If you're not familiar with a certain industry and when you're researching it, if you don't know 
anyone that's in that sector, then you may stumble across some organizations. So if I find that there's a mechanic shop that's in my area and that 
they have a website, I could create a spreadsheet of all the organizations for my non-office jobs that are in my area by company name, then by the 
title of somebody I find online, and their name and their email address. So I create my own spreadsheet and I could also work with that employment team,
and they could help me develop a list of companies and potential contacts. But by having those potential contacts, you're going to be thinking about,
"Okay, well at some point I'm going to approach them once I'm ready." And while you're doing all this research, you won't then say one day, "Well, 
you know, I saw that mechanic shop online. I wish I had written it down." So staying organized and keeping a list of those contacts when the time is
right, then you're going to be able to get in touch with those folks. 
Next, we have ways to read -- I'm sorry next we have number seven, applying for positions. Well, after all this research, we're going to get ready and
apply, and if we're in the job search and we're not applying then we don't really have the opportunity for success. So done all the preparation and 
now it's time to apply, recommending setting aside a certain amount of time of each day. So you can apply through different online platforms, like 
LinkedIn or Indeed, and you can also do this directly on companies' websites, and of course some employers you can still apply in person with retail
spaces and restaurants. The key is using your plan and your schedule to allocate time to apply. So I'm going to be dedicated today from 2 to 4 p.m.
to go back to the potential contacts I had and send emails and tell them I've applied or I'd like to apply, and then take notes about those. And then
you could circle back to them later. 
Next, track the jobs you apply for. As I mentioned, we're tracking these in a spreadsheet. We're able to follow up with them in order to ask, did you
receive this? Send a follow-up message. Many people receive many emails, so you have to compete for their time. So staying organized and tracking 
those jobs that you're applying for and working with your employment team, giving them feedback will help you stay organized and find more success out
of those applications for interviews. This could include weekly and monthly goals. We've talked about daily and hourly, but when we think about job
search, we could think about having weekly and monthly goals for the number of new contacts, the number of new companies, and the number of times 
that we're spending networking, asking people for advice and asking people for leads to employers that are hiring. And when we do this, we're 
practicing things like our elevator pitch. We're improving our resume because we're asking for help. And in some cases, you might get new experiences
through things like community service. It's a great way to improve your skills, your asset inventory, and to give back to the community. So that can 
maybe create new relationships for you that give opportunities for other places to apply. And number 10, of course, we recommend consulting with a 
member of the employment team. I've mentioned it throughout, but additional supports available. If you're a beneficiary, you can reach out to an 
Employment Network and receive additional support. It's important to remember, as we mentioned before, if you're working with the VR, that you work 
with the VR, and then 90 days after case closure, you can have your ticket over with an EN. So you have to wait until the VR services are done. But 
the option is here for you to work with an EN for additional support, and we really encourage you to bring them on. 
Okay, we've had 10 great tips here, and I hope you took a few ideas away. Maybe not all 10 of them are for you, but in some cases, we hope you can 
find one or two that you would add in that will help manage some stress and put you in a better position for success in your journey to try and enjoy
a little bit of the process as you search for this job, because when you find it, it's gonna be really rewarding. 
So we have, once we acquire work, we've gone through the job search process, and now we've acquired work, there's some tips for reducing stress at 
work. Things like using a white noise machine, listening to soothing music, looking at work as something that's gonna get interrupted. So like trying
to be a little bit more flexible or trying to create uninterrupted work time. You can use natural lighting to assist or dividing larger assignments
into smaller tasks and goals is a good strategy as well. And we've been talking about that throughout with the job search process. I mentioned that,
you know, reducing stress at work, you can actually look up modifications like the ones I just mentioned as reasonable accommodations. And you could
find these at askjan.org or the Job Accommodation Network. And in particular, I looked at it this morning, you could go to their disabilities A to Z
database. And I put in mental health conditions and there were some great tips on managing stress at work. And it included some technology apps and 
some other ideas. And there's some articles too by their human factors consultants. So askjan.org is a great organization to gain some recommendations
for. If you like, go in the web links pod, you'll find that at item number 10. 
Okay, to wrap up today, we have two success stories we wanted to share with you. First, Hazel. Hazel, here we have two slides, but after experiencing
sudden mood swings and difficulty in controlling her emotions, Hazel was diagnosed with multiple conditions, including borderline personality disorder,
depression, generalized anxiety, substance use disorder and alcohol use disorder. Hazel entered a drug and alcohol treatment program and started 
receiving SSDI while focusing on her health. And then Hazel began volunteer work, but she had concerns about her disabilities and how they may 
interfere with work after her earnings and would put a stop to her SSDI and Medicare. She was worried that earnings would impact her kind of bigger
picture. Well, here's Hazel part two. And there's a picture of Hazel smiling. And it's important to think about Hazel's story. It's been eight years
now since Hazel took those first tentative steps. She went into a kitchen as a volunteer, and she's since traded her SSDI benefit for a larger 
paycheck. She has overcome addiction and she's learned how to manage her mental health. And she now helps others find their way as a mentor in this 
field. So she used her own lessons and Hazel said, "There are few things more gratifying than helping someone else avoid the same traps that almost 
killed me. This job saved my life. Employment brought about a real turning point for me. It has been such a critical part of recovery. Make no mistake,
recovery is something you give away every day. The work I do here allows me to share my recovery with those who need it most." So I'm really pleased
for sharing Hazel's story. If you want to view it, there's a link in the web links pod and she is a great success story. 
We also have Jason, and let me bring up Jason as our second success story. Here's a picture of Jason. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teen
and Jason looked for structure and productivity by working with a VR agency where he was then introduced to the Ticket program. And Jason received 
through the VR program and then with the follow-on services from an EN, career counseling, education and training, help with resume writing, interviews
and job leads. And he had through VR an Individualized Plan for Employment. So one of the keys to Jason's success -- you know, Jason lives in 
Nebraska and he contacted Nebraska VR and they set up that plan. He went and acquired his associate degree in human services. And so, you know, he 
went back to school, got that and then after he came out, he liked the human services area so much, you know, next Jason decided to go after that for
a field, and he worked a job at Region Five Services helping adults with developmental disabilities integrate into the community. Jason was part of 
Partnership Plus working with the VR and then the EN. Jason said, "I feel like I'm paying things forward. I had a support system that helped me, and I
like providing support for others. I guess you never know what your dream job is until you find it and I really found mine. Ticket to Work worked for
me." So that's Jason's success story. We appreciate him sharing that so we could share it with you today. 
Now, how to get mental health help. It's important if you want to get emotional support at any time of the day, you can call, text or chat with trained
counselors at the 988 lifeline. You can call 988 to reach the suicide and crisis lifeline. This is sponsored by SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration. There is a link to SAMHSA information in the web links pod as well. I will also note that you can reach -- for deaf
and hard of hearing individuals, you can use the online chat feature or for TTY users, you can dial 711 first, then 988 and you'll be directly
connected with somebody. They also have great tips around finding a therapist and building a support network and much more. Visit 988lifeline.org for
more information. And at this point, I'd love to bring Pat back in for our second question set. Pat. 

Pat >> Well, thanks, Derek. Now I know I have to up my exercise and my nutrition.

Derek >> Yes. 

Pat >> Yeah, that really rang true for me. Thanks. One of the questions we have, it's a little different from what you've gone over. It says, do I 
need to disclose my mental illness to my employer or my coworkers? 

Derek >> Thanks, Pat. This is Derek. It's a really important question. The answer is no. That choice is completely yours. Disclosure is a personal 
choice and never a requirement. There are some other factors that could come into play. If you're gonna ask your employer for a reasonable 
accommodation that maybe you want a flexible work schedule, well, then you would have to disclose. If you're applying for a position, let's say with 
the federal government and you wanted to use what they call the Schedule A employment process, you would disclose. That way that you could be hired 
non-competitively. So there are some examples where you would disclose in order to access the benefits that follow. But please know it's a personal 
choice and disclosure is not a requirement. The choice is completely yours. If you want to keep it private, certainly do so. 

Pat >> Thanks. I think that's something everybody needs to know no matter what their disability. Next question is, when I used to work, if I made a 
mistake, my anxiety would get really bad, and I'd stress out about the mistake. Do you have any advice to help so that I'd stop focusing on negative 
things so that I can do better at work? 

Derek >> Pat, this is Derek, thanks. Yeah, you know, a lot of us understand the person that asked this question. I think a lot of people can relate to
it. I think the recommendation that I would make is to first off to recognize that we all make mistakes. Everyone makes them. And for the most part, 
everyone gets stressed out about it. The key is, what tools do we have to handle that? And are we learning from each one so the next time we experience
the mistake, we can reduce the amount of energy that we spend with the stress, and we could get back to doing all the other things that we've done 
correctly. So I would recommend thinking about that, think about some of the factors that led to the mistake as well. Pat was mentioning nutrition and
we talked about sleep. Well, the day that you made the mistake, were there a lot of other things that contributed? Did I get the sleep that I need 
the night before? Did I put myself in uninterrupted workspace? Or did I not get the right amount of sleep, and did I have interrupted time, or was I 
multitasking? I personally find when I make most of my mistakes, it's because I'm multitasking. And even though that can be considered a strength, for
me, it's probably a weakness and I need to reduce that. I also think that we want to surround ourselves with employers and colleagues that understand
that mistakes can happen. And so, trying to have the confidence to ask for help would be another strategy. "Supervisor, I recognize I made a mistake.
These are the things I think contributed to it. Can we have a conversation so I could try to improve?" If we can go through that tough conversation, 
then we have a better ability to communicate about stressful things and that itself will reduce the amount of stress you carry. So that's a great
question. But remember, we all make mistakes. It's how we handle those situations. If we can learn from them, we're gonna reduce the impact and get 
back to doing the good things that we want to be doing. 

Pat >> Thank you, Derek. This question has got a practical aspect to it. It says, I've been feeling pretty good lately, but I've been here before and 
then my mental illness gets worse. So it's kind of hypothetical. What happens if? If I no longer receive benefits because I'm earning money from my 
work, but if I can't work anymore. It took me a long time to start receiving benefits and I can't wait that long. 

Derek >> This is Derek, okay. Pat, are you there? 

Pat >> I am. 

Derek >> Okay, sorry, I just lost the screen. So I was just checking in with the team. I'm back. Okay, so let me just summarize that. I'm feeling good,
but I've been here before and my mental health gets worse. What happens if I no longer get benefits? It took me a long time to get here, and I can't 
wait that long again type scenario with the benefits. I think with this, Expedited Reinstatement is what I want everyone to be aware of. Social 
Security has a Work Incentive. It's called Expedited Reinstatement and it's designed as the safety net. So many of you go through the job search and 
you start the job and if you try it, you're worried about what happens if I lose the job, then I can't go through that long process again. Expedited 
Reinstatement is just that. It happens quickly. So you don't have to go through a long wait process that you went through when you applied the first 
time. So this is a work incentive. Remember, there's over 20 of them, and we talked about how the benefits counselors can assist once you're 
interviewing or once you start work. They can talk to you about that. But there is also in the web links pod A link to about the Work Incentives, and 
the Expedited Reinstatement would be in there. I'd encourage you to, when you think of all the risks, one of the risks is, looking at the 
return-to-work process is so hard and I can't risk waiting in line again. Expedited Reinstatement removes that risk. So you could put that aside and 
go ahead and get to try and work without the stress that the person asked.

Pat >> Thanks, Derek. Unfortunately, it looks like we're out of time for questions. So I do want to thank you for providing this information about the
Ticket Program and the team of service providers and for the suggestions about ways to handle stress. I know we've given you a lot of information. 
However, if y'all take away anything from this webinar, I hope it will be that there are people that are ready and willing to help you whether you're 
thinking about working, looking for work or already working. Now, before we end the call, I do want to take a couple minutes just to share a little 
more information. If you want to start on your path or continue to expand your search, we have some ways to get in touch or to learn more. First, you 
can contact the Ticket to Work Help line. I believe Derek talked about that earlier. The help line has highly trained specialists who can give you the
kind of personalized information that we can't provide on a national webinar. Please call them at 1-866-968-7842 or you can call via TTY at 
1-866-833-2967. And those lines are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Second, you can visit the Ticket to Work website 
anytime. That's choosework.ssa.gov. You'll find more details on the website about the topics that we covered today. And you can also find us on social
media or subscribe to our blog or email updates by visiting https://choosework.ssa.gov /contact. This link's also in the web links pod that we 
talked about under Ticket to Work contact information. You can choose how to connect with us. It's your choice. We encourage you to reach out in any of
these ways to explore a little bit more about the program and how it can help you on your path to employment. 
In addition to social media and email, another way to get information about the Ticket program is to opt in to receive our text messages. Just text 
TICKET, T-I-C-K-E-T, to 474747. Standard messaging rates may apply. You can opt out at any time. I'm guessing that many of you are using or would like
to use the Internet to look for jobs. We want to make sure you're aware of a program that can help you access the Internet if you need financial help
to do it. The program is called the Affordable Connectivity Program and it's sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC. That program
helps ensure that households can afford the broadband that they need for work or for school or for healthcare. It provides eligible households with a
discount on broadband service and connected devices. It provides a discount of up to $30 per month towards the Internet for eligible households and 
up to $75 per month for homes on qualifying tribal lands. To find out if you're eligible for the program and discover how to apply, go to FCC.gov/ACP.
Also, it's important to note that individuals who receive SSI are pre-qualified for eligibility. 
It's important to note that if you need to contact Social Security's Office of Employment Support, that's the office that manages the Ticket to Work 
program, please do it electronically instead of by postal mail. You can email us at support@choosework.ssa.gov. Just a reminder, please don't include 
any personally identifiable information. We'd like to have you join us for our next webinar, “Reasonable Accommodations and the Path to Employment.” 
That webinar will add to some of the information that Derek shared today. It will be on July 26th from 3:00 to 4:30 Eastern Time. Registration is now
open at choosework.ssa.gov/wise, or you can call the Ticket to Work Help line to register. Finally, help us plan future webinar topics and provide 
your feedback by taking our survey. A link will pop up after the webinar where you can find the survey in the web links pod or by visiting the Ticket
Program website at choosework.ssa.gov/surveys/wise. I want to thank you for taking the time today to learn more about the program and the services 
and supports that are available to you. I hope we've given you information that you can use in your own situations. This concludes today's webinar. 
Thank you.