Evaluation of a Vocational Model for Persons with Severe Mental Illness in Somerset County, New Jersey

January 1, 2015

Evaluation of a model to assist people with mental illnesses to become employed.

The Heldrich Center contracted with Somerset County in central New Jersey to conduct an independent evaluation of the Mental Health Association in New Jersey's (MHANJ) model for assisting people with mental illnesses to become employed. MHANJ implemented supported employment supplemented by a support network of peer counselors who worked with people with serious and persistent mental illness to help them return to work. The evaluation provided feedback to MHANJ on what aspects of the program were and were not functioning effectively, and recommended ways that the program might be strengthened. The evaluation also calculated employment outcomes of the individuals that the program served to learn whether they experienced positive earnings gains.

Work Category
Funded By
Somerset County, NJ and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Status