(Woburn, MA) Christina Doore, a Career Resource Specialist on our Boston, Massachusetts Team, was presented our Company’s special Frank Loughran Award during our year-end webcast celebration. Christina was selected from a very strong pool of nominees for her work with a number of clients like Max.
“Max is a young man that was looking to obtain an additional job to reach his hour goals. Christina worked with Max to identify the perfect environment that would foster independence and allow for Max to be successful…that was Off Broadway Shoes. Christina identified the need that Max could fill within the store and helped carve a special position. Max had a great attitude and excelled in tagging and organizing the clearance section.
“Max then took on the next challenge of gaining independence on the job. Christina again went to work identifying the natural supports in the store and supported them on working with Max. Using a great visual prompting strategy, everyone supports Max to maintain appropriate conversations at an acceptable volume in the same manner. Max is a great worker but thrives on stability and consistency. This was a challenge as Max needs to adapt to various tasks each shift. Christina implemented a white board that the manager completes every shift prior to Max coming in with the expectations for that day. This allows Max to plan for his day with no surprises. The last piece of independence that Christina was able to obtain for Max was with a specialized box cutter. Due to Max’s dexterity, he was unable to safely cut the boxes he needed to break down and relied on his co-workers. Christina knew Max was capable of tackling this and found a specialized box cutter that Max proudly showed off at our last site visit.”
History of the Award
This award was established in memory of our late Vice President, Frank Loughran, to recognize excellence in Supported Employment. It is given annually to an employee who has exhibited creativity in job development strategies for individuals with disabilities and a commitment to natural supports in the workplace. Frank was a wonderful person who balanced his work as head of the finance department with the work we did with the individual clients we served. Frank cared deeply about the quality of services we provided and was a leading voice in the company to ensure individual clients were gaining vocational skills and independence. Upon Frank’s untimely death Work Opportunities Unlimited decided to honor Frank with this recognition in memory of his commitment to helping individuals improve their lives through the world of work. This award has been given annually since the early 1990’s.
Congratulations, Christina!
