Inside Rehabilitation Counseling

Working as a CRC at Disney World with Melannie Rodriguez, MHS, CRC

March 23, 2023 Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification
Inside Rehabilitation Counseling
Working as a CRC at Disney World with Melannie Rodriguez, MHS, CRC
Show Notes Transcript

One of the most well-known companies in the world, The Walt Disney Company, has long been a case study for exceptional return-to-work procedures thanks to their Transitional Duty Program. Melannie Rodriguez, Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist for the Walt Disney Company, is a CRC who just recently celebrated her 23rd anniversary in Orlando at Walt Disney World. 

On this episode of Inside Rehabilitation Counseling, Melannie shares her career pathway to becoming a Cast Member at Disney and how her knowledge as a CRC helps ensure every employee at Walt Disney World Resorts can continue working through their rehabilitation. 

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Hello and welcome to Inside Rehabilitation Counseling, presented by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification. I'm Pam Schleman, executive director of C R C, and we're so glad to have you here for another conversation on the art and science of rehabilitation counseling. One of the most well-known companies in the world. The Walt Disney Company has long been a case study for exceptional return to work procedures thanks to their transitional duty program. Melanie Rodriguez, senior vocational rehabilitation specialist for the Walt Disney Company is a CRC who just recently celebrated her 23rd anniversary in Orlando at Walt Disney World. Melanie took the time to speak with us about Disney's commitment to serving employees with all types of disabilities, whether acute or acquired through their transitional duty program. Finding alternative roles for employees around the Magic Kingdom requires knowledge of every role at Walt Disney World Resorts and Melanie's expertise as a crc as part of that magic that makes it happen. As you'll hear Melanie's passion for her fellow cast members radiates in her voice. Please enjoy our conversation with Melanie. Good afternoon, Melanie, and welcome to Inside Rehabilitation Counseling. We're so excited to have you join our podcast today. First, I wanna congratulate you on recently celebrating 23 years with Disney. As you know, today is rare to see longevity and commitment to one organization. Can you tell us what your feelings are and emotions hitting that milestone of 23 years? What that evoked for you?

Melannie Rodriguez:

Well, I can honestly say it. I, I can't believe it's been 23 years, but I do have a tremendous amount of pride that I have been with a company that long, cuz that is not common, but it shows how much I love what I do and that I enjoy coming to work every day. And that, I believe helps me help people find that joy and work because I think it's very important.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

So taking a step back, can you tell us, how did you start your career? How did you become interested in the field of rehabilitation counseling? Why'd you become a C R C?

Melannie Rodriguez:

Um, I did not take a typical path to become a C R C. I actually went, um, to the University of Florida thinking I was gonna do pre-med and I studied some classes and thought, wow, I'm not mature enough to do this yet<laugh>. And I thought, let me, why don't I get my look and see what else I could study? But I knew I wanted to help people and so ironically, um, one of my friends was looking at rehab counseling and we were looking at the program and I was like, wow, I already have all the classes that I would need to study this and get it as my bachelor's. Um, always knowing I'm not, you know, the bachelor's isn't where I was gonna end. So I started taking some classes in that and I realized how much I liked it. Um, I couldn't quite figure out how I was gonna work it into what I wanted to do, but I just knew that I liked it. So I finished, I got my bachelor's in rehab counseling and then I tried to start looking for jobs and I realized, wow, I really need my master's in this as well if I want to honestly have any financial security or anything in this profession. So I decided to go back and get my master's and at that time UF also had a master's program and got accepted into the program. And honestly, my entire time there was constantly trying to figure out what am I gonna do with this? And thank goodness for practicums and internships and all of that because you get to kind of try it out before you actually have to do it. Um, I did get a little concerned maybe on my fourth one where I was like, wow, I don't wanna do that<laugh>. So I had worked in a psychiatrist's office doing counseling and I was like, yep, that's not how I see myself. Um, I worked with children, um, also doing counseling and I, that was also not the direction I wanted to go. And so as you, as I said before that, then I went and looked at what, what does state VR do? So I did an internship with them, um, as well still in the mental health side of it cuz I was, I kind of liked that, you know, helping people work through things on top of maybe physical disabilities but having other things going on as well. And um, while I was on that internship, I started realizing, I don't like this either<laugh>. So I started to get concerned<laugh>, but luckily I visited all the other units. There was all sorts of units, brain injury, all in the vr. So they let me kind of float around and I got to look at all the different, um, populations that they were helping. And I was fascinated when it got to like physical disabilities and I actually got to go down and help someone, um, that had a spinal cord injury when they needed to get their driver's license. It was fascinating to me everything that they, um, went through to get this person kind of like back to a place where work could even be an option cuz you know, you gotta be able to get to work and, you know, activities of daily life that then springboarded me. I had a very generous supervisor and she,<laugh> was like, Melanie, you make this internship, whatever you want it to be. And so I got the, um, at the time it was the National Association of Rehab Professionals directory out and I honestly just started calling people and I said, what do you do? You're close to me. Can I come and see what you do, um, with your crc? And I just started visiting different professions and that's how I, uh, came across who's now my coworker, Carrie Hash, um, her name was in the direct area and I reached out to her and I was like, tell me more what Disney does. So I went and spent some time with her. I was like so excited with everything that Disney did and she basically just showed me how they have people working while they're recovering from their injury. But I was just fascinated with that. I was like, wow, you're, you're helping people already get into that mindset of I'm, I'm gonna keep moving past this event that happened to me. Then I graduated, I ended up getting a job but outside of Florida, but I kept in touch with Carrie. Um, you know, was like, thanks for letting me, you know, of course I sent everyone and thank you<laugh>, thanks for letting me come see what you you did. And I I, I started doing private rehab in North Carolina for, uh, a southern rehabilitation. They had like a nurse and evoke person for each region and it was fabulous. I had a nurse that was one of the owners of the company. She was like a mentor to me and she just kind of showed me the ropes and then probably wasn't there more than six or seven months and Carrie reached out to me and said, Hey, we're gonna have an opening. Would you ever wanna come back and work for Disney? I was like, yes, please.<laugh>. Wow. So that's kind of how it all started<laugh>.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Wow. Some of the things that you said I think will be very useful for young professionals to hear about how your approach to finding a job that fit what you wanted to do and so you just didn't go the normal pathway. You really worked really hard to reach out to other companies to see what they did. And so that's fascinating and interesting. You said you worked a little bit in state vr. What was your experience like in state

Melannie Rodriguez:

Vr? Um, honestly I hated it. Um, it was very, at the time the state of Florida was going through some changes, they had some sort of reorg with the people that did unemployment and were absorbing them into state vr. They weren't CRCs or anything, but suddenly they had caseloads. I was like, I don't even know how you guys are doing this. I was like, I can't, I can't do this<laugh>. Like, it was so confusing to me. That was one of the many times that I realized every organization or company has politics<laugh>. Sure. I think that's what allowed my supervisor to let me explore other things because they had so much change going on in there. But when I did have a caseload, I had a caseload of like 200 people and I was overwhelmed. I was like, how on earth would I help 200 people at one time? And then realizing they're all in various steps. Some of those steps were so long. I was like, well I ever see this person succeed because, you know, there's a lot of movement in state vr. I mean counselors were moving all the time and that's kind of why I like what I do. Like it's my case from the moment to the end. Even when like adjusters may move desks, Carrie and I do not, we travel with the person, we have a counseling relationship with them. Like we're not gonna switch in the middle and be like, sorry, now someone else is handling your stuff. And that's one thing that I had just state VR was I don't, I don't know how they kept up with that. Like I, I wouldn't know who was who. I like knowing who my people are, but I'm helping Sure.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

And thank you for being transparent on that. And I, I that's not unusual this ha that has not changed in state vr. We hear that all the time and it's unfortunate. We also know how important state VR is.

Melannie Rodriguez:

Yes, I've directed many people there, even in my own family. Like I have a nephew that has some challenges and I'm like, he is like the definition of who should go to state vr. And I've tried to help my brother work through that, which sometimes is frustrating to me cuz I'm like, I know what services he should be offered and um, it's such a slow process.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

And you mentioned caseloads and stuff like that and I, I certainly don't wanna spend the time talking about state vr, but I think you bring up a very important issue that's occurring right now and has been occurring in state VR and, and how that impacts the client because they are not hiring the qualified professionals. And I think one of the, what one of the things that we hear a lot is the caseload, just as you explained, they're not doing the work that they're trained to do and yeah, they're experts in all things disability and they're not counseling, they're not doing any of that work. What we hear, and I'm not saying anything out of context, is they're paper pushers. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> because you can't do the work and work with clients with the caseload of 200.

Melannie Rodriguez:

Yeah. And one of the examples that always stands out to me, I had a young guy come to me and he really wanted to do like graphic design that was like 20 some years ago. So that was like really hot<laugh>. So he wanted to go to a school here in Orlando and it like was so expensive. And I was like, well you know, we have like a vo-tech school that teaches the same thing. I'm like, maybe you should take a class there and then we'll figure out if that's really what you wanna do. Like I'd hate to enroll you in this at that time,$20,000 college and you don't even really know if that's what you wanna do, but this one class would help open your eyes. And he's like, Nope, I wanna go to that school. And I was like, no, no, but this state<laugh> and it was I, he got his way.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Uh, and that's your experience. And um, state vier is very important. We want them to, to succeed and we, most importantly, we want the clients to succeed. So hopefully, you know, with information like this and others, they start shifting their approach and hiring qualified professionals.

Melannie Rodriguez:

Yes. And I think that was one of like, that was the biggest thing was they were bringing in people that didn't even have a CRC and I was like, how are they helping them? Right.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

So bringing yourself back to present day, your current title is Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist for Walton's New World Resorts. So many CRCs believe that their pathway is limited to state vr, but we know that the C R C opens up a world of opportunities and doesn't limit your career pathway. Who interviewed you,<laugh>? I know that you talked about your colleague there, but who's responsible for bringing you and who's responsible for bringing your colleague into Disney?

Melannie Rodriguez:

So in Florida, thank goodness it's required by statute that a qualified rehab provider, it used to be called a qualified rehab provider, but it has to be someone that can be certified as an expert in workers' compensation. So we have our own legal team, um, at Disney that handles workers' compensation. So they, they recognize the importance of having experts should we have to testify, um, for anything that we're, you know, any cases that get that far, we have to be qualified to do that. So it kind of started off from the legal side of it. Our team is morphed over the years we used to be like a, a team of supervisor and three vo rehab specialists and now we're just a team of two voc rehab specialists. My peer interviewed me,

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Obviously HR is involved, but it's through the department of your legal department that recognized the need for

Melannie Rodriguez:

Expertise. Yeah, yeah. And the interesting thing is, is this goes back to another, you know, who's the first person that knows about the opening? It's the person that's getting ready to have it. And that's why when Carrie reached out to me, they hadn't really even advertised that they were gonna have an opening, but they had already knew like, hey, we met this fresh outta grad school kind of person. I obviously didn't have the years of experience they were looking for because our team carries heavy years of experience. But because I had gone up and worked in North Carolina and I worked outta my house up there, I was pretty much on my own. But I had found my passion, I had found my passion in helping people, like in the workers' comp arena. I feel like sometimes I'm there to be their advocate and help'em along the past of an event that happened to them that no fault of their own, but I'm also helping them get on with their lives instead of being stuck in a system that you could stay in for a very long time.<laugh>,

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Well we know that Disney employees, all types of individuals we know for anybody and specifically individuals with disabilities, work is very therapeutic. Mm-hmm<affirmative>. So employment is important to those individuals as it is it's to to all of us as well. How would you describe the impact that working in alternative roles has on employees while they receive services to transition back into their original role? If somebody is injured on the job, how do you go about working with that individual? So

Melannie Rodriguez:

That's a great question. That kind of goes back to why I came to Disney because I had learned they had a whole program to allow their cast members to recover while working, which I found fascinating and I had actually learned about it in graduate school. So that was part of why I reached out to Carrie because I was like, I wanna know all about this program, the philosophy behind it. I'm like, I find pride in it now because I kind of spearhead it, is that if you're working while you're recovering, it never enters your head that you're not capable of working. So you also are part of the work family. So there's still that care that comes from your leadership, um, knowing that your employer still cares about you. That's a common thought out in outside of Disney that you get injured on the job and you know your employer's done with you. And that's not at all Disney values their employees and that's what makes me excited to help them. Rather it's an, an injury that they're gonna recover from quickly or an injury that's gonna take years to recover from. Um, that's how I gauge how much involvement I have with them. If it's helping make sure like you're working the right kind of job. We call it transitional duty while you're recovering, um, making sure you're worked within those restrictions, helping the area understand, you know, I always tell, um, cast members, you know, your, your leader's not an expert in this, so don't be afraid to reach out to us if you feel like maybe you're doing something that is outside of your restrictions. It goes both ways. Sometimes the cast member's like I am for sure this weighs 50 pounds and then I can go out with my scale and it's like, no, it doesn't<laugh>. So, so they just get to see that there's an extra level of care for them and also like, depending on that length of time that they're in that kind of job and it's looking like maybe they're not gonna get to go back to their original job. That gives me an opportunity to maybe target where they're working. Like, Hey, I wanna see if you can work on stage with guests. You've only been backstage for 20 years of your life. Let's see. You know, cuz they're, they, they're scared I've never worked, um, on stage. So maybe we can get'em a role where they're on stage and they can try it out and see if they like it. Sometimes they find out they love it, but it's because they've never been in that setting before. I

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Do have a quick question. I know you have spoken a lot about CAST members, but your services, c r CRC services, um, encompasses all employees, correct? Bus drivers, uh, plumber, everybody, right?

Melannie Rodriguez:

Yes. And everybody's a cast member because we're all part of the show,

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

<laugh>. Oh, I understand. Thank you for clarifying that.<laugh>. Thank

Melannie Rodriguez:

You. Yes, I probably should. Yes, we are all part of the show. Some of us are backstage<laugh> and some of us are onstage<laugh>.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Oh, I love how you described that. Thank you<laugh> and how that's approached.

Melannie Rodriguez:

So I really, that's the piece I like. Um, and even if the end goal is to go back to your job, um, and that's what you want, we can still tailor like baby stepping you back to that and it really is, you know, just some of the jobs are so physical that you, we need to pull back and have you do something lighter as we get you to that next phase. But that's what makes it fun because everyone's unique. Everyone's a person. It's not just, you know, here's this job, we've shove you there. We, we really put a lot of thought into it. I have had many stories, um, of people that I just truly have enjoyed helping. Sometimes, like I said, it's just helping them realize, you know what I'm done with my working career, I'm gonna move on. Um, you know, we go out and job shadow, I I I I go job shadow with them. I work the job with them when they say, Hey, this, I don't really like this, I, I'll go work it with you. Like I'm there through every step of the process. But I did recently have a case where I just, in the end I ended up wanting to like go see the person on their job, which I don't often do because it's kind of like, okay, you're, you're there. Um, but I actually got a picture with them like, and so now I have it hanging in my office to remind me why I do what I do. And I told him that again, the, my pixie dust, I was like, you're my pixie dust. I needed it. I'm gonna hang it in my office. If you wanna stay working at Disney World, I I'm gonna make sure you can Melanie,

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

We know that CRCs have a tremendous value and impact on employers in various different ways. And one of them is cost savings. Are you able to talk a little bit about, um, your department and how that impact your organization and just in general, any organization? Sure.

Melannie Rodriguez:

There's a couple ways that, um, we do impact our corporation financially. One is when we're able to bring someone back to work and they continue working, um, you're not losing those training dollars on bringing in someone new. So we've got someone there, we're keeping them working. Um, we're not losing an employee that you have to bring a whole new one back in. But the other piece is just having people return to gainful employment. I'm technically part of risk management at Walt Disney World and we are constantly looking at the savings that we bring Disney every time we're able to bring someone back to work because not only is it good for the employee, but it's good for Disney. We create a loyal employee. That's a lot of what happens at Disney. That's what makes Disney unique in the way that they do value each employee. And they realize that, um, keeping you working while you're recovering is a cost savings because now you're not out on sick leave, they're not paying for benefits while you're not working. You're able to collect your full pay actually while you're working. So then you're not caught up into the system of long-term disability, short-term disability and unemployment because we do keep you working while you're recovering. And then ultimately the end goal is they don't have to train someone new to do your job. If you're going back to your regular job, they don't have to post the job, hire someone new interview and then train the person cuz you're coming back to your job. There's not much lost when you co go back to your same job. And then the other benefit, as you're working while you're recovering, you may be getting the skills you need for a new job. So that's also gonna save the company money because we've, we've been training you to do something new already in anticipation that you can't return to that old job. So we're constantly trying to keep someone working so there's never that gap where then maybe they can start thinking that they can't work and they are gonna have to go on disability and um, go down that path because work adds such value and that it gives you something to wake up and you have some place to go, you know you're needed. And so ha you know, having that always in someone's mind that I have a job, they're expecting me to be there. My my work family misses me. I, I'm, you know, you you wanna be there. So it kind of helps the overall package. You're helping that saving money and you're helping the person just psychologically recover from that injury and just be better all around.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

We know that Walt Disney employees, thousands of employees. What, for your particular role, how would you describe, uh, a day your workday

Melannie Rodriguez:

<laugh>? Um, every day is different because I never know what kind of job is gonna come across my desk, what kind of, of, um, cast member needs my help. I could go from like today helping someone that's a steward, um, to tomorrow helping Indiana Jones. Like<laugh>. It ranges that dramatically. So you, you really just don't know it all. It all depends on what presents itself that day. I try to plan my day, but oftentimes, uh, different scenarios present themselves. We work very closely with the adjusters. We sit in the same area. So if they've got a case that they wanna discuss with us, like hey cuz we're constantly, one of my favorite things that I can't believe I haven't brought it up sooner is how fast we are involved. Sometimes as soon as the person gets injured. Like we're already thinking about how, what's the long-term impact? Is it, you know, what are their skills? Like what if they can't go back to their job? How can we help them transition? When do we think they're gonna go back to their job? And even working with the doctors to make sure like, hey, do you think, you know, we're kind of known for our transitional duty program so the doctors know we're, you know, if you say they can work, we're gonna find them something they can do. Um, and just really kind of part having that partnership so that the doctors know like we're gonna have something for them to recover. Our end result is to have them a, a job. We've brought the doctors out to see the job sometimes so that they understand um, what's involved. But that's probably my favorite part of my day is like, be you, you're just every day's different and we're on site earlier. Whereas my previous job, you know, the person's already been let go from their employer. I'm trying to find them something outside of what they may have ever done and you know, we're having discussions that wow would've been helpful as they were recovering. Like having talks about, have you thought about what else you'd like to do? If maybe you can't go back to your job, you know, let's talk about what kind of skills you have already planning that seed of your life is gonna continue. This event may change the path you're on, but your life is gonna continue and we're here to help you figure out how to do that.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Your job encompasses so many crucial tasks and services for hundreds of employees, but we must ask, what is it like working for Disney World? It's not like, uh, a lot of other workplaces.

Melannie Rodriguez:

Um, it's definitely different. Yes,<laugh>, but I think different in a good way because like I said, I I, every day is different. I could be called to one of the park, one of the resorts. They've all got their own personalities.<laugh>, I really enjoy it or else I wouldn't have stayed as long as I did. Um sure. And it's just unique because it's like a small city. So it's not like I work for one type of industry even though it's the entertainment industry. We have plumbers, we have bus drivers, you know, we have it all. And what's really nice is we also partner a lot with our safety department. So if some an event happens, we wanna see is this something that we need to change for all all of our cast members. Um, so we're constantly trying to improve things, look at things differently with them, and we want it to be a safe place and that, you know, our slogan, I think safety begins with me. So that's kind of how we approach it all. Like that partnership is what helps everything kind of mold together because we partner with all the, you know, hr, our employee relations, our labor relations with all the unions. Like there's so many different people who could touch a case because of each cast member's different.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

It's truly a multidisciplinary team.

Melannie Rodriguez:

It is, it is. And I actually, um, have like a little core team that I oversee that involves our doctors, our HR team, um, and our transitional duty team, like our, our labor managers. And we kind, we meet every other week to discuss, you know, what's a, what's going on, what kind of problems. Like cuz our ultimate goal is to, we see the cast member is our guest, so how can we help their experience be smooth? So that's really kind of our focus.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Well thank you for sharing that. Tell me, how does Disney recognize the value and ex expertise of A C R C?

Melannie Rodriguez:

We definitely get asked our opinions a lot and get pulled into different projects where they realize that we are expertise is needed. We always wanna be an excellent partner and we realize like what we bring to the table does get us invited to things that um, you know, that could help all cast members. And that's really what we're trying to do is how can we help all cast members? Cuz ultimately if we're helping someone, it's gonna benefit everyone. Sometimes they joke because of our counseling background that we talk too much<laugh>. So we drag meetings on

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

<laugh>. I've

Melannie Rodriguez:

Heard that before. You know, hey, this needs to be a quick one,<laugh>, here's what we're thinking.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Well obviously it does demonstrate something, uh, uh, of the commitment that Disney has. Uh, you've been there for 23 years and your colleague Yes. Has been here longer than that. She's

Melannie Rodriguez:

Been here 26 years.<laugh>

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

26 years. Wow.

Melannie Rodriguez:

Yeah. Um, we're actually known in the area because we do, we, we get people back to work attorneys and everyone knows like there's a voc rehab team at Disney that, that's what their whole focus is, is bringing people back to work.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Well, Melanie, thank you so much for your time today. As a proven and experienced crc, what brings you joy in your career?

Melannie Rodriguez:

For me, it really is about helping the cast members. That's what brings me the most joy in my job. Um, if I can get someone back to their job, back to a new job, help them realize that this one event, this injury hasn't changed their entire life, it's just made'em go down a different path. That's really what makes me feel happy. And especially when I get a thank you note or a cast member reaches out to me, I save those because that's what keeps me going. Um, just helping other people that had something happen to them, no fault of their own, helping them figure out how the new their new life is gonna look.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Well, I can't thank you enough. It's been a pure joy to talk to you today. You exude so much light. Um, and thank you for the service that you do at Disney and we appreciate your time and thank you so much.

Melannie Rodriguez:

Thank you.

Pam Shlemon, CRCC:

Thanks again to Melanie Rod Rodriguez for the Engaging Conversation. If you have any takeaways or insights on topics covered in this episode, let us know by emailing us at contact us@crccertification.com. Be sure to subscribe to this show on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you're listening to us today. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn at CRC sir and our website@crccertification.com. Until next time, I'm Pam Schleman, CRC, executive Director. Thank you for listening to Inside Rehabilitation Counseling.