Rehabilitation Services Major Sean Siebert Helps Navigate the Way Back to Work
If UMF graduate Sean Siebert has a guiding belief about his work, it's this: "Unemployment is bad for your mental health," he says.
Siebert, who majored in rehabilitation services at UMF, is one of five community work incentives coordinators in Maine, serving some 300 of the approximately 20,000 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries living in Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, and Oxford counties. Working through Maine Medical Center's Department of Vocational Services' Work Incentives Planning & Assistance Program, he helps his clients answer a critical question: What happens to my benefits if I go back to work?
"They worry that they'll lose all their benefits or be in a worse position if they return to work," Siebert says of his clients, all of whom have, according to the Social Security Administration, a disabling condition and receive SSI and/or SSDI.
On the contrary, he explains, if an SSI or SSDI beneficiary returns to work, his or her benefits may decrease, but the income generated from employment usually far exceeds the gap. The outcome is a win-win situation: His clients maintain a necessary level of support, while realizing an increased measure of self-reliance in their lives. And the resulting decreased demands on the Social Security system may help to ensure its sustainability.
"I'm there for the beneficiaries and their best interests," he says. "For some, going back to work is the best scenario because they're seeking the purpose and structure in their lives that work can offer."
The challenge, says Siebert, is how to provide explanations about complex SSI and SSDI rules and regulations in clear terms, and help a broad range of beneficiaries "navigate the system." While many of his clients are coping with mental health issues, some have physical disabilities and some have limited cognitive ability due to developmental disabilities or traumatic brain injuries.
"Every person's situation is unique and complex," says Siebert, who recently earned a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling. "You have to be present, hear what they have to say in meetings, and communicate in a way that they'll understand."
The most rewarding part of his job, he says, is hearing from beneficiaries who have found a job. "I enjoy helping people be more independent," Siebert says. "That's what this job allows me to do."
-- By Marc Glass, managing editor of the UMF alumni magazine
