Job overview

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We provide a full range of local mental health services to the Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth London boroughs, as well as specialist forensic mental health services, including specialised services such as national deaf adults and CAMHS inpatients and OCD.

We are committed to providing high quality integrated health and social care for local people with mental health problems in South West London and more specialist mental health services for people throughout the UK. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ however we aim to be ‘outstanding’.

Our Values
We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values; being consistent, compassionate, collaborative, respectful and open is at the heart of everything we do. Our mission is “making life better together”.

When you join us, you’ll be part of something special – an innovative and rapidly growing organisation that is helping to redefine the Mental Health, education and social care landscape in the UK.

We are currently seeking to recruit 3 Full Time Employment Specialists to join our Individual Placement and Support (IPS) team. The following locations are available: Wandsworth, Richmond, Sutton.

South West London & St Georges NHS Trust has a proud history as one of the first IPS providers in the UK and we have IPS Employment Specialists working across our service to provide support to service users with severe mental illness and helping them to find suitable employment or to retain work if their job is at risk.

IPS services are expanding nationally as part of the Government’s agenda to provide greater support for people with Mental Health problems in gaining sustainable Employment and we are committed to continuously improving our own service and our integration into community mental health teams

Role

As an IPS Employment Specialist, you will work with a caseload of 20-25 individuals in line with the IPS Fidelity scale. The core foundations of the role are routed in clinical team integration, vocational profiling and employer engagement and we work with every person as an individual, supporting them in line with their work preferences and aspirations.

We are looking for individuals who are passionate and motivated to make a difference to people’s lives and work collaboratively as part of our clinical service to be an advocate for the value of Employment in someone’s recovery when diagnosed with severe mental illness.

You will be proactive and able to work collaboratively within a team and have a good understanding of the challenges that people with severe mental illness face in employment. Experience in a similar role is helpful, but more important is the attitude and motivation to make a difference in people’s lives and recovery.

Responsibilities

  • To manage a caseload of a maximum of 25 service users at any one time who are currently off work / unemployed and who wish to return to work
  • To be gain referrals from primary care services, being responsible for those service users who want to return to employment.
  • To meet regularly with primary care staff to co-ordinate and integrate employment support into health treatment.
  • To prepare individuals for a return to work through assessing each person’s individual employment needs through vocational profiling/assessment.
  • To provide individualised, support to individuals once they have returned to work to assist them in sustaining employment.
  • To proactively engage and work with employers to retain employment opportunities for people who have experienced mental health problems.
  • To provide education and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments, return to work strategy and on-going contact with the employer to ensure job retention.
  • To provide outreach services as necessary to individuals when they appear to disengage from the service. Maintain some contact with individuals even without a vocational focus if necessary to sustain engagement.

The person

Essential criteria

  • Educated to degree level or equivalent in industry (Related work skills or experiences)
  • Experience of working with people who have experienced mental health problems within health, social services, the voluntary sector or mainstream educational services
  • Experience of successfully helping people to obtain or keep education/work
  • Knowledge of welfare benefits and disability/employment related benefit
  • Knowledge of disability and special needs issues in relation to employment/ education
  • An understanding of the issues of user involvement in mental health services
  • Good written and verbal communication skills
  • A good understanding of the principles and practice of supported employment

    • Desirable criteria

  • Experience and interpretation of welfare benefits; specifically disability, health and employment related benefits
  • Report writing skills
  • An understanding of the principles and practice of supported employment
  • Knowledge of government and local funding opportunities regarding learning and employment opportunities

    • At South West London St Georges Mental Health Trust we are committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Committed Employer, and welcome applications from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We are Members of Stonewall Diversity Champions and Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion.

    As part of the Trust’s commitment to Equalities and Diversity, the Trust supports the establishment of Staff Networks groups to promote diversity in the workplace:

  • BME (Evolve) Staff Network
  • Christian Staff Network
  • DiverseAbility
  • Deaf Staff Network
  • Mental Health Staff Forum
  • Women’s Staff Network
  • LGBTQIA+

We are committed to supporting the Armed Forces Community and has signed the Armed Forces Covenant.
We provide reasonable adjustments to the interview process for any candidates with a disability.