CDERP College

CDERP College is where we translate our research and evidence driven focus into practice. Where Person-Centred Practice is real and not just a buzzword. Customised Employment, Discovery and Individual Place and Support knowledge and skills to support meaningful employment outcomes. Evidence based, practice informed real world guidance and skills development.

Our Courses

Training and Professional Development Courses for Disability Employment Professionals, Advocates and Families focused on practical person-centred services in real-world settings. Developed locally and supported by our technical partners, Customised Employment pioneers, Griffin Hammis Associates, and practice leading service providers globally. Developed for Australia using local evidence, ideal for Open and Supported Employment Staff and Families who want to deliver employment support on their terms. The source for Customised Employment and Disability Employment Professionals who value experience and practice.

$2,000.00
customised employment professional leaning up against a window

Customised Employment – CDERP Certified Professional (CCEP) ©

This certificate provides 120 hours of comprehensive training in Customised Employment and Discovery designed to meet the needs of employment professionals delivering employment services with fidelity to practice evidence. The program is detailed and provides an understanding of Customised Employment practices using the contextualised version of Discovery developed specifically for the Australian setting. The program has been developed and extensively used in Australia to ensure that it meets our funding settings for disability employment practice.

$400

Customised Employment – Stage Four. Families, Benefit Planning and Self-Employment

This credential builds on the knowledge and skills acquired in Customised Employment stage 3. The focus is on understanding how to fund the employment journey, the various supports to consider, the role of benefits planning, along with how to engage families in the employment process. Families are crucial to employment success.

The course can be taken as a stand-alone program.

$400

Customised Employment – Stage Three. Job Development, Employers and Career Support

In this credential, you will build on the knowledge and skills acquired in Customised Employment stage 2. The focus is on unmet needs in the workplace, matching the participant’s skills and interests to the business culture and setting. By understanding the unmet needs and culture of the business you can create conditions of mutuality in the workplace that meets the participant's ideal conditions of employment while addressing an identified business need.

$30
Down syndrome woman at home using computer laptop exploring customised employment and discovery with a happy face standing and smiling with a confident smile showing teeth

Customised Employment and Discovery Overview

This short course provides a brief introduction to Customised Employment and Discovery. This includes fundamental principles, key characteristics, links with NDIS employment strategy and pricing guide and information about what our programs deliver.

$250
Two Person-Centred Employment professionals having a discussion while walking outside modern office building

Person-Centred Employment Practice

Develop an understanding of person-centred practice as it is applied in disability employment at an individual and service provider level.

$500

Individual Place and Support for Employment Professionals

Designed for employment consultants who wish to deliver IPS in non-clinical settings where mental health support isn't readily available.

$250

Engaging with Employers – Building an Alliance of Mutuality

Gain insight into the employer perspective about what they need from employment services.

$250
job developer hands across a table holding a piece of a job development jigsaw finding job openings

Job Development – Disability Employment

This course will take you through the six stages of job development and a basic understanding of systematic instruction.

$800
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Glide In (School to Work Transition)

Glide In is an innovative transition from school program focusing on building the capacity to self-determine and self-advocate.

$100

Job Analysis

Job Analysis is the systematic study of a job, a critical skillset essential for job development.

$100

Job Carving

Job Carving creates employment opportunities for people with barriers to employment.

$100
blocks with words step by step stacked on top of each other representing task analysis

Task Analysis

Task Analysis (TA) is the breaking down of complex or "chained" skills into smaller components to teach a skill.

$100

Individual Employment Practice Models

Explore two accepted approaches to individualised employment support; Individual Place and Support, and Customised Employment.

$500

Customised Employment Stage One – Discovery

Customised Employment: Stage One introduces the origins of Customised Employment and Discovery, along with starting Discovery Stage One. Completely revised for 2024.

$500

Customised Employment Stage Two – Discovery

Customised Employment Stage Two completes the basic training in Discovery and equips you with the skills and knowledge to undertake Discovery. You will develop the capacity to understand the client and create a vocational pathway to guide job development, while engaging with employers.

$250

Work Experience

Work experience is an opportunity to explore and confirm the job seekers' strengths, interests, and emerging abilities.

In Dev

Certified Disability Employment Specialist

The CDERP Certified Disability Employment Specialist has the knowledge and capacity to meet the demanding needs of a multi-focused disability employment system that demands an understanding of DES, ADE and NDIS disability employment systems.

TBA

The Job Coach

This course builds skills essential for the Job Coach to anyone with a disabilitiy find meaningful employment.

Late April

The Employment Counsellor

This course is designed to give employment specialists an understanding of counselling, the underpinning skills and knowledge to apply the skills in day-to-day employment practice. Employment Counselling skills are essential knowledge and tools to support clients with barriers to employment.

$100

Social Capital and Employment

Social capital is an essential resource critical for connecting people with job opportunities.

$100

Understanding Self-Employment and Business Planning

Supports employment specialists gain the essential knowledge, skills, and mindset necessary to help job seekers explore the challenges of self-employment.

$100

Self Determination and Career Planning

The capacity to self-determine underpins good job and career design. This course supports you to acquire valuable skills to support client outcomes.

$100

Introduction to Self-Advocacy: Empowering Voices in Australia

Self-Advocacy Basics provides an overview of self-advocacy, starting with its history and going through practice elements that you can use to support a client in developing the capacity to self-advocate.

$100

Customised Employment and Models of Disability

This short course provides an understanding of Customised Employment and the various models of disability, along with their impact on practice.

$900

Customised Employment – Discovery Professional

The CDERP Customised Employment – Discovery Professional program is the next evolution in person-centred employment practice. We’ve taken what we’ve learned from practice and research and evolved Discovery to meet your needs and those of the people we work with, as well as the disability employment systems that support what we do.

Actionable Training

Evidence-based - Practice Informed training that works everyday. We don't simply write and teach, we deliver it everyday through our Work First Employment program.

Learning that Builds Skills

Our training isn't about just passing a course to get some letters after your name. It's about building your knowledge and skills for the real world.

Mentoring

It's not just about theory, on demand mentoring and our Community of Practice ensure that you get real life support and timely mentoring from experts and peers alike.

Professional Development and Training For Disability Employment Advocates, Families and Consultants

Our training is evidence-based, practice informed and developed to meet the needs of the evolving disability employment paradigm. It continues to evolve in response to our changing employment setting and funding arrangements to ensure that it meets your needs. DES, NDIS, Social Entreprise / Firm or ADE, our training responds to your setting and needs. Modern, effective disability employment systems demand up to date knowledge and skills to ensure that you meet the needs of clients who are undertaking a journey of discovery to personally meaningful employment and careers. Our focus for decades has been on evolving the evidence for Customised Employment and improving practice methods. With the NDIS supporting Discovery, now more than ever there is an urgent need for real training with fidelity to the evidence and practice model. CDERP College is dedicated to achieving just that. Congratulations on chosing CDERP College, an acknowledgement that you value experience and substance over style and quick fixes!

Our programs allow you to build the skills necessary to deliver meaningful employment services, particularly for people interested in delivering person-centred services with an emphasis on Customised Employment and Discovery. Based on the best available evidence for practice.

We offer you the opportunity to engage with up to date material and resources to make your learning journey easy and accessible. Our LMS is intuitive and well supported. Courses are complete with downable resources and video materials.

Our staff don’t just teach you new skills, they use them daily with clients, service providers, business and government.    Learn from people locally and internationally who have global experience and support  to nuance the training to our culture and context.

What Our Students Have to Say

I just finished the latest CDERP podcast and wanted to check in to let you know how much I’ve enjoyed the recent training sessions with Jon and Lauren. It’s reinvigorated my interest in employment outcomes for people living with disability and reminded me why I started working in this field in the first place. Redefining purpose seems to benefit from these accidental moments, and while my current role only briefly scratches the surface, it has me thinking about the future again through a changed lens.
Chris
From Tasmania
I really enjoyed the CDERP course because of its person-centred approach to employment, which really aligns with my values. It looks at the person as a whole and aims to create a role with longevity and career development based on their particular skills and attributes. The course gives you a great understanding of the structure and steps involved in the customised employment process, but also allows for the flexibility and fluidity needed when dealing with individuals with complex needs. It was helpful to use real examples and being able to access the course facilitators for mentoring throughout the course has been really valuable.
Ally
From Perth
I am really enjoying the Customised Employment Course. It is easy to study, interesting and practical. If we go by the responses of the people I told about the Customised Employment, there is a demand for it in Kenya. I have so many questions about how this can be contextualised for a low income country with high unemployment rate, no disability benefits, difficulty finding jobs even for people with minor disabilities.
Jane
From Kenya
I just think that the impact of this first part of Discovery on you is quite significant and I would be right in saying that the outcomes that you would assume for clients would be so different to what you might have considered in the past.
Provider Staff Participant
From Canberra
I guess I never really appreciated how much a job means to guys like Billy. I just took it for granted and looked at it from a perspective of paying the bills and making an impact in small ways when I am allowed to. With this training I feel inspired and motivated to work on a different level and have a bigger impact at empowering people with a disability. Before Covid one night at soccer Billy comes up to me and tells me that he might have a job in a recycling yard. He seemed so proud and happy. I gave it some thought and felt a little flattered that he would share this good news with me and then well you know the story. On my informational interview with him I asked him how many friends he had apart from Tom at the soccer and he said "no one really" and that felt so sad. So to have the experience and training to be able to help him it almost brings a tear to me eye and I feel very blessed.
Gerry
From Perth

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