Notts service supporting people struggling with mental health to find employment rated as good
Nottinghamshire Healthcare's Future's Positive Individual Placement and Support (IPS) service teams offer encouragement and practical support to help people struggling with their mental health to find suitable paid work, apply for a job and stay employed.
Our County South Individual Placement and Support (IPS) team had a Fidelity Review, followed by a self-guided assessment in July this year which rated the team as good. Fidelity reviews measure how a service is doing and how effective their delivery of IPS is and support a culture of continuous improvement.
Nottingham County South IPS team achieved a score of 110 from a maximum of 125 putting them firmly in the Good category and bringing them closer to exemplary service that requires a score of 115.
Jan Sensier, Executive Director of Partnerships and Strategy at Nottinghamshire Healthcare said:
The team do fantastic work helping our patients to get their lives back on track and fulfil their potential. This is another wonderful affirmation of their incredible work.
I have seen at first hand the amazing work of the team, and spoken with their service users. The help and support they give to people to help them get and retain jobs is so crucial to people's recovery and long-term well-being. Huge congratulations to them all.
One of the people the team have helped to achieve their goals is a patient we are calling Simon (pseudonym).
Simon was referred to the IPS service over 18 months ago, to get some support in finding a job in cleaning. He struggles with depression and anxiety and was diagnosed with dyslexia and autism at an early age. He previously did agency work and lost his job for taking time off due to sickness. This was a major setback for Simon as he had always valued the structure, routine and financial independence that employment gave him.
On initial meeting with Simon it was apparent that he felt very lost, frustrated and angry and believed that his disability was not understood, and no attempt was made to give him the support that he needed.
Initially Simon also struggled to communicate his needs, and therefore with his consent, his mother, who was his main carer was included in the initial appointments and discussions. This helped in writing up a plan that clearly incorporated Simon's preferences and support needs.
Simon was keen to work within the healthcare settings as he has had previous experience of working within that environment but didn't feel confident to apply for those roles. Working closely with Simon and his mother, one of the teams employment specialists helped Simon to create an updated CV that highlighted his strengths and skills.
Simon was successful in getting shortlisted for several jobs but due to his communication difficulties, he found it challenging to attend interviews. To help boost Simon's confidence with the interview process, the employment Specialist conducted several mock interviews with Simon particularly focusing on communication skills and structuring answers that contained clear and relevant examples related to his experience. To support Simon with his communication difficulties, the employment specialist also worked closely with the speech and language therapy team to seek guidance and advice and used resources and tools provided by them to support Simon.
He worked hard on preparing for interviews and was finally successful in securing a part time cleaning job within a health care setting. He worked in this role for six months but due to some difficulties in seeking full time hours, he decided to resign and started looking for other suitable roles.
With continued support from his employment specialist, Simon secured more job interviews and finally succeed in getting a job that offered him better terms and conditions. Simon has settled well into his current role and feels very well supported by his team.
Simon was supported to submit 50 job applications, and he secured 12 job interviews. Simon's determination and perseverance in looking for the right job were major factors in helping him to overcome his challenges and barriers and will inspire others who may be facing similar challenges due to their disability.
If you think the service could help you or someone you know you can find out more here.
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