By Guest Blogger Paula Reuben Vieillet, President and Founder, Employment Options, Inc.

There are many seasons of life, and for those receiving Social Security disability benefits, these seasons can be seen through the lenses of working and not working.

Working means so much more than just a paycheck. It is how a day is structured, how a week is scheduled, how months and vacations are planned. It is a place to go and something to do that contributes to a company and society.

The season of not working is about healing. It is about acceptance of a disability and the time and space to sort out this newly configured life. It is a time of learning about one’s abilities and recognizing that each person is so much more than his or her job. It is about finding inner strength to overcome obstacles and move toward better health and stability.

Unlike the four seasons of nature, of which no one has any control, a person who is receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or non-retirement Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits has the potential to change their own career seasons.

The Ticket to Work program is a free federally-sponsored program designed to help beneficiaries receiving SSDI or SSI attempt to work again.

Take Anna from Virginia — life threw Anna into a blizzard of depression and social anxiety issues, which caused her to have difficulty working around other people and forced her to quit looking for employment in her community.

As her health deteriorated, Anna was very grateful to have her Social Security disability benefits. She took the time she needed to heal and worked hard each day to get stronger.

When Anna felt healthier, she wanted to try to work again, but didn’t know where to begin. She researched the Ticket to Work program online and found out that she could “try” to return to work without fear of losing her benefits and health insurance immediately. The Social Security Administration would even give her free job counseling by assigning her personal ticket to work to an Employment Network (EN).

ENs help beneficiaries find suitable work. While each one has different specialties, all of them are listed on the Ticket to Work website. There are both state-based and national ENs.  Anna chose Employment Options because of its specialty in national work-at-home positions. She had previous experience in medical coding and billing, and with her health, it was better suited for her to work from her home.

Anna was assigned to Sarah Lind, an Employment Options job counselor, who worked with her one-on-one to assess her skills, target suitable jobs, prepare a resume and practice interviewing. She is now working as an outpatient coder from her home and is thriving! She overcame the blizzard and entered the season of springing into a new beginning.

Anna was thrilled and could feel her self-esteem rising again. She changed the seasons of her life by creating a new vision of herself that included making the best of her abilities, rather than focusing on her disability. She created a new routine, a new sense of purpose and became a stronger role model for her daughter.

To everything, there is a season. If you are on SSDI or non-retirement SSI, you, too, can change your season from not working to working and find a new sense of satisfaction and a new source of income. The Ticket to Work program is a free and voluntary option to help you get there.

Paula Reuben Vieillet is President and Founder of Employment Options Inc., a certified Social Security Administration Employment Network in the Ticket to Work Program. She is a frequent consultant to the SSA on the Ticket to Work Program. Her company, which also has a Facebook, page, assists ticket-holders in 48 states and has a loyal following of employers who consistently put aside job openings for her clients because they have been so well screened for each job description. This article contains excerpts from Employment Options: The Ultimate Resource for Job Seekers with Disabilities and Other Challenges, which is a culmination of her 20 years of experience as a Licensed Rehabilitation Counselor.  

The company website iswww.MyEmploymentOptions.com. Any questions about the company, jobs or their resources, you can email Lori Adler at ladler@myemploymentoptions.comor call 800-441-3114.