Recovery & inclusion from NHS North West

Mental Health & Social Care Trust helps service users back into employment

Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust are committed to a recovery approach to mental health care. One element of this is to support service users who want to move into employment. They are currently piloting an Individual Placement and Support (IPS) service, funded by NHS North West.

The project consists of three Employment Specialists, based with Community Mental Health Teams, who help service users to find and remain in employment. The service offers help in preparing for work and engages with both employer and employee to provide ongoing support.

Joanne, one of the service users, is just one of the people to benefit from the pilot so far. After discussing her wish to get back into work with her Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) she was referred to the team's Employment Specialist who used the Mental Health Recovery star to talk through Joanne's situation and where she wanted to be in terms of finding a job. They then developed an action plan and the Employment Specialist helped Joanne to find jobs that were suited to her work history and aspirations. Joanne decided that working part time would be the best way to ease back into work life and through regular meetings, the Employment Specialist helped her to explore job vacancies. Eventually they identified one position that suited Joanne in terms of job description, location and number of hours.

The Employment Specialist arranged a meeting with the Disability Employment Adviser at the local Job Centre for support with in-work benefit calculations, and completing a permitted work form with a supporting letter from the Employment Specialist. 10 weeks after engaging with the IPS service, Joanne was successful at securing a Receptionist post for 12 hours a week and stays in touch with her Employment Specialist who provides in work support.

For more information please contact Zeph Curwen, Service Manager Occupational Activity & Employment, zeph.curwen@mhsc.nhs.uk or 0161 720 4809.

For more information on the IPS project contact Lucy Rowe in the Health and Work Programme, Workforce Directorate: lucy.rowe@northwest.nhs.uk or 0161 625 7350.