Vocational Rehab: free help toward a real job

What VR actually does

Vocational Rehabilitation (run by the TN Department of Human Services) pairs your teen or adult with a VR counselor who builds an individualized plan for employment. Depending on the plan, VR can fund or provide job-skills training, career counseling, assistive technology, workplace supports, job coaching, and help actually landing the position. The goal is real, paid work in the community — not busywork.

How to apply

1. Call and schedule an intake appointment

   Call 833-751-0597 to schedule intake (the statewide main line is 833-772-8347). Middle Tennessee is served by Region 5, with community rehabilitation centers in Murfreesboro, Franklin, Gallatin, and Clarksville.

2. Bring documentation of the disability

   Diagnosis paperwork, IEP or 504 plan, evaluations — the same folder you’ve been keeping since step one does the job.

3. Complete the application and get an eligibility decision

   Then work with the counselor on the employment plan. Be specific about interests and support needs — the plan is only as good as what it knows.

4. If the process stalls, you have a free advocate

   Disability Rights Tennessee runs the Client Assistance Program — independent, free help for families navigating VR disagreements or delays: 800-342-1660.

Parent-to-parent tips

• VR is an adult-world system: it moves at the speed of follow-up calls. Put a recurring reminder on your phone and be politely persistent.
• Pair it with ECF CHOICES. VR handles getting the job; TennCare’s ECF CHOICES can fund ongoing supports to keep it. The Teens & Independent Living guide covers how they fit together.
• Let your teen do the talking where possible — VR counselors respond to the applicant’s own voice, and self-advocacy is itself a Pre-ETS goal.

The official links

Beyond VR: more roads to work

VR is the front door, not the whole building. Four other paths are worth knowing — and most families here have never heard of the first one, even though it runs in our own county.

Project SEARCH is a school-to-work partnership that happens inside a real business rather than a classroom, run statewide by VR with the Department of Education and the TN Council on Developmental Disabilities at 17 sites. One is here at home: Embassy Suites with Rutherford County Schools, in Murfreesboro. Other Middle Tennessee sites include Embassy Suites with Metro Nashville Public Schools, Vanderbilt’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital with Progress Inc., Tennova Hospital with Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools, and Welch College with Sumner County Schools. Ask your transition teacher a full year before you think you need to — seats are limited. Project SEARCH in Tennessee (opens in a new tab)

• Ticket to Work is free and voluntary for people ages 18–64 on SSI or SSDI, connecting them to an approved Employment Network or to VR for career counseling, job placement, and benefits counseling. And it answers the fear every family has: while the Ticket is assigned and your young adult is making timely progress, SSA generally won’t run a scheduled medical disability review. choosework.ssa.gov (opens in a new tab) · Help line 1-866-968-7842
• A PASS plan (Plan to Achieve Self-Support) lets an SSI recipient set aside income or savings toward a specific work goal — tuition, a car to get to the job, tools, startup costs — without it counting against SSI’s $2,000 resource limit. Apply on Form SSA-545-BK with a written goal, timeline, and itemized costs; call 1-800-772-1213 and ask for a PASS specialist. PASS fact sheet (opens in a new tab)
• ECF CHOICES funds the ongoing supports that keep a job after VR’s work is done — job coaching, transportation, community living. Employment-first by design and capped by funding, so apply early: our ECF CHOICES guide.

And college is on the table more often than families are told. Beyond Next Steps at Vanderbilt, there are inclusive higher-education programs for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities at Lipscomb (IDEAL), Union University in Jackson (EDGE), Chattanooga State (Tiger Access), and UT Knoxville (FUTURE) — nine statewide, all listed by the Tennessee Inclusive Higher Education Alliance (opens in a new tab). Most have age ranges and application windows, so look a year or two ahead.