Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust

At Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust we are committed to a recovery approach to mental health care and actively seek to support those service users who want to move into employment.

We are currently piloting the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) service, funded by NHS North West.

The service consists of three Employment Specialists who are based with Community Mental Health Teams and help service users to find and remain in employment. They offer help in preparing for work and engage with both the employer and employee to provide ongoing support.

The approach of vocational support we have adopted when supporting individuals with mental health issues back to work is based upon the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model. This supported employment model has been extensively researched and found to be effective at achieving integrated community employment for people with mental health problems.

The IPS service involves:

* Rapid job search
* Integration of supported employment and mental health treatment
* Attention to an individual's preferences
* Competitive employment as the goal (with or without support)
* Time unlimited support

We believe that the most effective way to enable people with mental health needs back into employment is by supporting and developing people in the workplace. We work with employers and individuals to put equal opportunities into action and offer a confidential one-to-one service to match people to jobs and provide ongoing support.

Three Employment Specialists based within Community Mental Health Teams work across the City to provide the service to any service users who are currently supported by CMHTs , have had an inpatient admission or been supported by the Crisis Resolution Team within the previous six months. The Employment Specialists provide a flexible and sensitive service that fits around the individual and their strengths and needs.

Joanne, one of our service users, is just one of the people to benefit from the service so far. After discussing her wish to get back into work with her Community Psychiatric Nurse she was referred to the team's Employment Specialist who used the Mental Health Outcome 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 so through regular meetings the Employment Specialist helped her to explore job vacancies through Job Centre Plus and other employment websites. 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 or to discuss the service, please contact;

Employment Specialist North, Tel: 0161 205 7321 / 07587 137453
rita [dot] moloney [at] mhsc [dot] nhs [dot] uk

Employment Specialist Central, Tel: 0161 276 6577 / 07587 137458
Philip [dot] rouzel [at] mhsc [dot] nhs [dot] uk

Employment Specialist South, Tel: 0161 882 1005 / 07815 842926
Zena [dot] evans [at] mhsc [dot] nhs [dot] uk