About SMART Options Supported Employment Services
We’d love to know: How did you hear about Smart Options?
The best thing about SMART Options is that we are making workplaces and lives better by connecting employers and employees with innovative, supportive, and inclusive hiring opportunities in Kamloops.
The name SMART comes from an acronym:
Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Realistic. Timely.
For us, the meaning behind our name is based on setting smart employment goals. And that’s exactly what we love about SMART Options—the goals we help our clients achieve with our supported employment services.
SMART Options is a government-funded program in Kamloops that offers supported employment services. We work closely with Kamloops employers—assisting them with hiring people with developmental disabilities, and helping them experience, firsthand, why inclusive hiring is good for business.
Another thing we love about SMART Options is that we help job seekers reach their employment goals through innovative and inclusive opportunities, empowering them to experience the benefits of paid employment. We pride ourselves in providing personalized and quality services to both the employer and job seeker, and we value building relationships and creating connections in the Kamloops community.
One of the main reasons for our success over the years is the ongoing services that we offer to those pursuing employment opportunities—for both employees and employers. We spend a great deal of time getting to know the business and the employer prior to the employee beginning work. As a result, we build trust with both the employer and employee and provide continuous job facilitation in building support systems within the workplace.
Both the employer and the employee can feel confident in their decision knowing we are available to them if they require any type of assistance to ensure a successful placement.
All About SMART Options
Guided by our Passion to Help Others in Kamloops
SMART Options incorporated in October 1997 through a contract with the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). From the very start, we were proud to work with adults to help them find innovative, inclusive employment opportunities in the greater Kamloops area.
In 2006, MCFD Adult Services became the crown corporation known as Community Living British Columbia (CLBC). SMART Options continued providing the same employment services under this new umbrella. Now, we are successfully working with over one hundred Kamloops residents in a variety of different jobs through our contract with Community Living British Columbia.
We focus on the individual’s skills and abilities and then translate them into customized employment opportunities. Some workers have maintained continuous employment since we started over twenty years ago.
All jobs are real work for real pay.
In 2006, when Youth Services remained with the Ministry for Children and Family Development, we added an additional contract to find youth (aged 15 to 18) their first part-time jobs. We’ve been running the program ever since and it involves a 12-week job-readiness phase followed by a 12-week job-development phase. We are proud to help Kamloops youth find employment prior to leaving school—making their journey to adulthood a much easier and more seamless transition.
About SMART Options Values
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We have a passion for inclusion and advocacy.
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We are people-centred.
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We encourage self-determination and help each job seeker reach personally meaningful employment goals and improve their quality of life.
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We demonstrate respect for diversity and uphold the dignity and inherent worth of all people.
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We value, and engage in, continuous learning and professional development.
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We work collaboratively with employers, businesses, other agencies, professional disciplines, and individuals in order to reasonably serve the best interests of individuals, employers, our community partners, and society.
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We demonstrate integrity in our relationships and commitments.
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We aim to be honest and straightforward in our communications and actively seek feedback on our performance.
If you’d like to learn more about SMART Options, our employment services, or how we can help you—as a person with developmental disabilities or as an employer—please get in touch!