A tool designed to help people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities build their capabilities and enter the workforce with confidence.
What is the WOPMAT?
The Work Opportunity Matching Tool, or WOPMAT, is a new and unique way for people with intellectual or cognitive disability across Australia to plan their journey into open employment.
The WOPMAT helps work out:
- what kinds of work might be right for someone now
- what skills they may want to build
- what support they may need at work
- what kinds of jobs, workplaces or work experience they may want to try next
The WOPMAT includes an online Assessment with structured multiple-choice questions and answers.
The online system uses these answers to generate a draft WOPMAT Report for the person to review.
What makes the WOPMAT different?
The WOPMAT questions help people think about work in a more structured way.
The WOPMAT gives more structure to the role of facilitators and supporters
Before the WOPMAT Report is finished, the draft Report is reviewed with the person.
A WOPMAT Report is a clear, concise vocational planning document.
It brings together the person’s key Strengths, Considerations for Support and Capacity Building Goals.
It also outlines a focused set of Suggested Sectors, Suggested Roles and Suggested Workplace Environment Types to help focus the search for work opportunities.
These suggestions help shape a proposed journey of three or four work opportunities, including the supports and workplace adjustments that may help each opportunity work well.
Together, the WOPMAT Assessment and Report process helps to:
- create a clearer starting point for employment pathway planning
- make Supported Decision Making and person-centred planning a more consistent part of employment planning for people with intellectual and cognitive disability
- provide a shared framework that people with disability, supporters, employers, training providers and coordinators can use across different systems to plan work opportunities, workplace adjustments and supports more clearly and consistently
By bringing this information together, the WOPMAT creates clearer links between employment goals, work experience, training, supports and capacity building.
Our online WOPMAT is launching soon
The WOPMAT was developed by Inclusion Melbourne over three years, with people with disability, disability employment experts and advocates working to improve employment planning across Australia.
Our online WOPMAT is launching soon. Contact us to learn more or to arrange a face-to-face WOPMAT assessment in the meantime.
