Description
This presentation, delivered by experienced placement experts, explores practical, inclusive employment strategies to help individuals on the autism spectrum secure and maintain meaningful employment. Drawing on evidence-based practices and real-world placement experience, this session highlights how employers can create supportive environments through tailored job matching, structured onboarding, clear communication practices, and reasonable workplace accommodations. Attendees will gain actionable insights into fostering neurodiversity, improving retention, and building workplace cultures that recognize and leverage the unique strengths of individuals on the autism spectrum.
 
Objectives

• Identify evidence-based strategies for supporting individuals on the autism spectrum in securing and maintaining meaningful employment, including tailored job matching and structured onboarding practices.
• Explain how clear communication, workplace accommodations, and inclusive practices can improve employee retention and overall workplace success.
• Apply practical approaches to fostering neurodiversity in the workplace by recognizing and leveraging the unique strengths of individuals on the autism spectrum.

This program is valid for 1.5 PDCs for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification.
This program has been approved for 1.5 HR (General) recertification credit hour toward aPHR®, aPHRi™, PHR®, PHRca®, SPHR®, GPHR®, PHRi™, and SPHRi™ recertification through the HR Certification Institute.
 
Presenter
Laura Gardner
Clinical Administrator, Skills of Central PA
 
Laura Gardner is the Clinical Administrator at Skills of Central PA, where she provides strategic clinical leadership across a wide range of behavioral health programs, including Psychiatric Rehabilitation (site-based and mobile), Clubhouse, Peer Support Services, and Behavioral Support Services. With more than 20 years of experience as a Mental Health Therapist and over 27 years in the mental health and human services field, Laura brings a deep understanding and unwavering commitment to person-centered care.
 
Her diverse career includes roles in behavioral health, higher education, mobile therapy, and wraparound services, showcasing her versatility and dedication to supporting individuals with mental health challenges and intellectual disabilities.
 
Laura is especially passionate about working with adolescents and adults facing a variety of mental health diagnoses, substance abuse issues, and intellectual disabilities. She advocates for a person-first approach, firmly believing in the power of recovery and the human potential for growth, change, and becoming one's best self.
 
To stay at the forefront of the field, Laura continually engages in professional development through training, conferences, and workshops, integrating evidence-based practices into her work and leadership.

Overview:
 
Employee engagement is often treated as a culture initiative, but engagement cannot be sustained when individual capacity is steadily declining. Burnout develops gradually, beginning with subtle shifts in energy, focus, and resilience that are easy to overlook until they begin affecting performance and team dynamics.
 
In this interactive and energizing session, leadership and organizational development practitioner Samm Smeltzer helps participants understand how burnout unfolds along a continuum and how personal capacity shapes engagement at work. Using Samm’s Burnout Stages Assessment —completed during registration—attendees will explore anonymized group insights and gain a clearer picture of how capacity levels influence communication, motivation, and workplace effectiveness.
 
Blending organizational development insight with practical approaches to rebuilding energy, this session leaves participants with a deeper awareness of their own capacity and a renewed perspective on how sustainable engagement begins with self-aware leadership.
 
Learning Objectives: 

1. Explain how burnout develops along a continuum and how individual capacity influences employee engagement and performance.
2. Interpret group burnout assessment data to identify patterns affecting engagement within their teams or organizations.
3. Recognize foundational principles of energy capacity and how they support sustained engagement and workplace well-being.

This program is valid for 1.75 PDCs for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification.
This program has been approved for 1.75 HR (General) recertification credit hour toward aPHR®, aPHRi™, PHR®, PHRca®, SPHR®, GPHR®, PHRi™, and SPHRi™ recertification through the HR Certification Institute.
 
Presenter:
 
Samm Smeltzer, Energetic Health Advocate, Author of Five Books, and Founder of The HRart Center
 
Samm Smeltzer knows that when leaders care for their own energy, everyone benefits. With more than a decade of experience as an award-winning HR leader, Samm now leads The HRart (pronounced “heart”) Center, where she helps individuals and organizations create workplaces where people feel valued, balanced, and energized. Blending her background in HR and Classical Oriental Medicine, Samm bridges the gap between well-being and performance through her work as a Medical Qigong Therapist. She is the author of five books, including Workplace Healers and the children’s book The Little Healer, which introduces young readers to the magic of energy and self-care. Through her writing, speaking, and practice, Samm helps leaders and teams cultivate energetic awareness, recover from burnout, and reconnect with the vitality that drives sustainable growth and genuine human connection.

• Discuss what time off policies and practices are working to engage your workforce. How do they support/interact with other requirements such as ADA, FMLA, and State or Regional laws?

Leadership Roundtable Discussions (LRTs)

Leadership Roundtable Discussions (LRTs) are designed to bring experienced HR leaders together in a confidential, peer-driven environment to engage in meaningful conversations about today’s most pressing workplace challenges. These interactive sessions focus on sharing real-world experiences, exchanging ideas, and learning from one another in a way that is practical, strategic, and immediately applicable.

Each LRT is a two-hour, in-depth discussion experience. The first hour is a facilitated conversation centered on a specific topic. The second hour is intentionally flexible, allowing participants to raise additional questions, explore challenges they are currently facing, and benefit from the collective insight of the group.

LRTs are a members-only benefit and are currently free to attend. Participation is intentionally limited to support meaningful dialogue and ensure a high-value experience for everyone involved.

Who Can Participate in Leadership Roundtable Discussions?

The LRTs are an opportunity for Sr. leaders of an organization’s HR responsibilities to openly discuss current HR issues, needs they have, and to learn from other local employers the practices they are using to have outstanding HR functions. To that end we are asking participants in the LRTs to:

• Limit 2 participants per organization. For multi-division or enterprise organizations where HR responsibilities are decentralized, participation may include 1 representative per independently functioning HR unit.
• Participants should be in Strategic HR decision making roles within the HR department of their organization, a rising-leader designated by the organization’s HR leader or have top level responsibility for HR in their organization (i.e. business owner with HR responsibility, Office Manager leading the HR function).
• Participants must be members in good standing of the CK SHRM Chapter (Name change pending to Happy Valley HR Association) – this is a membership value-added benefit.
• Participants must agree to confidentiality and refrain from sharing identifiable information of participants and their organizations outside of the LRT meetings.

Want to attend but not sure if you meet the criteria? Contact Tina Welch (tina.welch@wpchr.com.) for assistance. The intention is not to exclude HR professionals, but to limit the participation to a manageable size and where conversation can be strategic and impactful.

Not a Member of the Local SHRM Chapter Yet?

If you are not currently a member but would like to participate in Leadership Roundtable Discussions, we invite you to join our local SHRM chapter. Annual dues are $50 and include a wide range of benefits, such as:

• Monthly educational programming, with discounted member pricing, and SHRM and HRCI recertification credits

• Quarterly roundtable events like the Leadership Roundtable Discussions

• A locally hosted Law Conference in October in State College, with discounted member pricing

• Networking with a community of HR professionals navigating similar challenges and opportunities

• Opportunities to stay current, connected, and engaged in the local HR community

To learn more about membership and how to join, click HERE.