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 run the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) service
which 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
IPS is an evidenced based approach to supported employment.
People who participate in supported employment services are almost
three times more likely to find employment than those who engage in
other types of vocational programmes. We focus on finding you
competitive and sustainable employment. We do this through
adopting a "jobs first" approach which is incredibly successful,
rather than people being in the never ending cycle of work
preparation.
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.
Who is the service for?
The service is available to you if you are feeling job ready and
are interested in moving into employment. To be eligible for
referral, you must be on the Care Programme Approach.
Our Employment Specialists are based within Community Mental
Health Teams across the Manchester area to ensure that employment
support is an essential part of your package of care.
To make an enquiry or referral to the service please contact the
relevant Employment Specialist for your area or your Care
Co-ordinator.
Please note that the purpose of this service is to
support service users into employment. Do not contact the service
if you are a trainee health professional seeking a work placement.
If you are a trainee health professional seeking a placement click
here for the
online contact form.
For more information or to discuss the service, please
contact:
Senior Employment Specialist Caron Lydon
Email: caron.lydon@mhsc.nhs.uk
Phone: 07436 560 999/0161 277 1240
Employment Specialist North Rita Moloney
Email: rita.moloney@mhsc.nhs.uk
Phone: 07587 137 453
Central Manchester Employment Specialist Liz Hulme
Email: liz.hulme@mhsc.nhs.uk
Phone: 07587 137 458
South Manchester Employment Specialist Zena Evans
Email: zena.evans@mhsc.nhs.uk
Phone: 07815 842 926
Contact details
Telephone: 0161 277 1240
Fax: 0161 277 1242
Address:
Senior Employment Specialist
Caron Lydon
Chorlton and Whalley Range CMHT
50 Manchester Rd
M21 9PH