Professional rehabilitation

Professional rehabilitation is

⮚ complex,

⮚ dynamic,

⮚ multicultural,

⮚ multidisciplinary and

⮚ a continuous process that includes many different services.

They are not the same for each individual, but are adapted and vary in relation to the needs and stages of development of each person involved in this process.

Although it primarily refers to the acquisition of work skills, professional rehabilitation also aims to integrate a person with a disability not only into the work ambience, but also into the wider social environment by strengthening and developing self-esteem and self-efficacy.

Novitas Consult provides and implements the following professional rehabilitation services are:

• Professional assessment and evaluation;
• Professional and work training, retraining, and additional training;
• Professional selection;
• Employment;
• Adaptation and/or adjustment of work/workplace / working conditions;
• Advancement at work;
• Preparations for retirement.

All services and stages of professional rehabilitation are followed by a professional evaluation that looks at the success of a person with disabilities in the personal, educational, and social domains.In its work, Novitas Consult adopts and applies the biopsychosocial model of professional rehabilitation, taking into account the health status, psychological factors, and social context that influence the functioning of the individual.
The individual professional rehabilitation plan of each person with disabilities is developed based on the expert evaluation of Novitas Consult’s highly educated professionals, employed and engaged in work:

• Advisor for professional assistance
• Advisor for workplace integration

Professional rehabilitation

Professional rehabilitation is

⮚ complex,

⮚ dynamic,

⮚ multicultural,

⮚ multidisciplinary and

⮚ a continuous process that includes many different services.

They are not the same for each individual, but are adapted and vary in relation to the needs and stages of development of each person involved in this process.

Although it primarily refers to the acquisition of work skills, professional rehabilitation also aims to integrate a person with a disability not only into the work ambience, but also into the wider social environment by strengthening and developing self-esteem and self-efficacy.

Novitas Consult provides and implements the following professional rehabilitation services are:

• Professional assessment and evaluation;
• Professional and work training, retraining, and additional training;
• Professional selection;
• Employment;
• Adaptation and/or adjustment of work/workplace / working conditions;
• Advancement at work;
• Preparations for retirement.

All services and stages of professional rehabilitation are followed by a professional evaluation that looks at the success of a person with disabilities in the personal, educational, and social domains.

In its work, Novitas Consult adopts and applies the biopsychosocial model of professional rehabilitation, taking into account the health status, psychological factors, and social context that influence the functioning of the individual.

The individual professional rehabilitation plan of each person with disabilities is developed based on the expert evaluation of Novitas Consult’s highly educated professionals, employed and engaged in work:

• Advisor for professional assistance
• Advisor for workplace integration

By analyzing factors such as:

Personal aspects (personality, interests, intelligence, cognitive capacities, educational achievements, personal and social adjustment, social skills)

Aspects related to work (work experience, professional skills, professional adjustment, and behavior in the working environment)

Situational aspects (medical, psychological, cultural, social, defectological, educational)

An individual professional rehabilitation plan is being built, which is the basis for providing personalized support and assistance in professional development and training.

As part of the process of professional rehabilitation, the expert team also performs a job analysis that indicates the requirements of the workplace, what the employee should do at their workplace, and how the person should perform the work. These assumptions are contained in the developed training programs that Novitas Consult implements both for its employees and for people with disabilities, and other individuals who come from socially marginalized groups and who want to retrain or retrain. All persons with disabilities, who obtain employment at Novitas Consult, can find detailed job descriptions in the systematization of jobs.

To date, there are three accredited training programs for people with disabilities:

Training program for sorting, packing, and repackaging food products

Program for collective and combined packaging of non-food products

Training program for persons with disabilities for the production and confection of consumables, advertising and packaging products.

These accredited programs were developed with clearly defined goals and outcomes of the training, with the content and methods of carrying out theoretical and practical material, a predetermined way of monitoring and checking the success of the participants, with technical, spatial, programmatic, and organizational standards, the duration of the program and the appropriate professional staff working on their realization.

The specificity of conducting work training in a company for professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities is reflected in the fact that from the first day, a person with a disability gains personal experience of working in a working environment, through constant correlation of learning and practice with a teacher of practical classes, who, in addition to lecturers and experts worker is a key person in the application of effective methods depending on the desired outcomes, such as learning by observation, imitation, listening, through conversation, teaching and mutual assistance, learning through feedback and most importantly – practicing procedures.

The process of professional rehabilitation applied by Novitas Consult also includes the development of social, so-called “soft” skills:

• Openness and motivation
• Creating a positive self-image
• Development of adaptation to changes
• Planning and limiting work
• Acceptance of authority
• Respect for diversity

• Asking for help when needed
• Care of materials and means of work
• Respect for working hours
• Acceptance of responsibility
• Compliance with safety rules at work
• Communication skills and much more, which are all learned and developed through individual and group work

The abilities and work skills of a person with disabilities, their attitudes, education, and motivation must be compatible with the expectations and requirements of the employer in the execution of work orders and instructions, while respecting the rules on internal organization and work discipline. The company Novitas Consult has managed to create a compact team that easily adapts to work tasks – with more than 80% of disabled people from the total number of employees.

Success Example:

In 2016, Nenad joined the Novitas Consult team. Already accomplished in the role of father and husband, at the age of 37, he also got his first job. He lacked only what we provided him – professional achievement and a secure income. This enabled him to feel capable of supporting his family, to stand side by side with other employed persons on an equal footing despite his disability, and to manage production, which is an important segment of Novitas Consult’s business, thanks to his skills, resourcefulness and persistence. More self-confidence, more self-respect, more recognition from his family and surroundings, he got all of that through the process of employment and professional rehabilitation, and that is exactly what this hard-working man has lacked to feel good in his own skin and accept his disability.

Nenad

Maria is quiet, unobtrusive, and very hardworking, persistent, detailed, responsible. She is a true example of the saying “still waters run deep”. From a shy girl who was afraid to greet her colleagues when she came to work, to a young woman who leads the shift, a warehouse accountant. With the support of the team and superiors who were patient, Maria’s maximum was manifested, and she has developed skills that she could not have imagined possible. This is her first employment, she has been with us for seven years. It very nicely promotes the company and the success of professional rehabilitation.

Maria

Ljiljana, a persistent and courageous person, with great energy and fighting spirit with muscular dystrophy, after graduating from the Secondary Agricultural School in Šabac, got a job at Novitas Consult, where, with the support of a work instructor and mentor, a psychologist and company director, as well as her family, completed the training and successfully adapted to the job and working environment. After three years of work, she now helps new employees. Ljiljana walks everywhere alone and does not want help, and she showed her independence and persistence by requesting that Novitas Consult support her in buying an apartment. Today, Ljiljana lives in her own apartment and confirms that she feels independent, precious, and self-confident, just her own person. At the meetings of the Association of People with Muscular Dystrophy and Cerebral Palsy, Ljiljana tries to empower others and share her positive experiences.

Ljiljana