Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment in Germany: Principles, Practice and Evaluation

This paper was presented to the 6th European Congress on Research in Rehabilitation, 31 May‐4 June 1998 in Berlin. It reflects the fact that, in Germany, there is a more structured and research‐based approach to moving people into employment than we are used to in the UK ‐ one of the many cultural differences which we can learn from in our partnerships with European colleagues. It should also be remembered that the Germans regard Douglas Bennett as the source of many of their ideas and that there are nearly 2000 people with mental health problems working in German social firms as a result of their systematic approach.