The Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) is inviting attendees to join this session where the Social Determinants of Health Equity Unit shares their story of applying and obtaining small seed money, to facilitate trauma-informed Workforce Specific Focus Groups with community members utilizing DBHIDS services across residential housing, subsidized housing, recovery housing, and clinical services. Our goal of facilitating the focus groups was to collect invaluable insights into potential employment trends, concerns, and necessary supports that are required for individuals to obtain/retain employment opportunities. This collaborative approach of amplifying the community member's voices has enhanced our ability as a system to effectively support our community and employment providers with not only focusing on obtaining jobs, but also foster the understanding to shift the culture as it relates to workforce needs with the individuals we served. We have learned themes of individuals searching for a sense of belonging, purpose and meaning when it comes to workforce opportunities.