Library & Tools

SOAR (SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery) case workers assist eligible individuals who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have a serious mental illness, medical impairment, and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder to apply for Social Security Disability benefits. Due to the unique nature of the position, the following are helpful suggestions and reminders when supervising SOAR case workers.

This webinar, held on June 22, 2016, is designed for SOAR practitioners to continue building their "ALJ Hearing Toolbox."

This webinar, held on June 25, 2015, provided the tips and tools necessary to understand SSA’s Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearing process. 

On this webinar, held on June 6, 2019, we reviewed the many ways OAT can be utilized, beyond outcome tracking.

On this webinar, held on June 18, 2020, we introduced our updated SOAR Appeals Toolkit and guest speakers offered practice tips on effectively representing SOAR applicants with appeals.

This toolkit combines articles from the SOARWorks website as well as other materials into one comprehensive resource about the Social Security Administration (SSA) appeals process.

If Social Security denied your application for disability benefits, you may request an appeal. Social Security has four appeal levels. This article discusses the Reconsideration and Hearing by Administrative Law Judge levels.

Tracking SOAR outcomes is a critical way to document successes and to target technical assistance needs. Using the SOAR Online Application Tracking (OAT) program, case workers can easily enter application outcome data and generate reports to use for local sustainability efforts.