IPS Employment Specialist

Job overview

We are looking for motivated, passionate self-starters who want to kickstart a career in the mental health sector. These position, with on-the-job training, is a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference and support those with mental health needs.

As an IPS Employment Specialist you will play a vital role in helping people with mental health needs find meaningful and fulfilling employment. You’ll receive all the training and support you need to take on the role, develop your skills, and have access to a broad range of opportunities. Joining a passionate and driven team, you’ll be working towards creating a fairer and more inclusive society for people with mental health needs.

We welcome applications from all experience levels and backgrounds. What you will need is the ability to motivate and build relationships with service users, strong organisational skills, the confidence to communicate and engage with a range of employers, and a fundamental belief that anyone with a mental health condition can work.

Main duties of the job

What is an IPS Employment Specialist?

This is a rewarding and dynamic role where no day is the same and you’ll be making a genuine difference to people’s lives. Using the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model you’ll be:

• Supporting and motivating individuals with mental health conditions to access and sustain paid employment.
• Regularly meeting with clients to listen, offer support and help them identify their best job match, reflecting their skills and aspirations.
• Supporting the clients through CV production, interview techniques and managing their health at work.
• Advocating for your clients by educating and engaging with employers regarding the IPS service.
• Sourcing job opportunities for your clients through regular contact with local employers within the community.
• Promoting employment and raising expectations around the ability of service users to access paid employment, breaking down the barriers for them.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Who are we looking for?

Firstly, you will need strong and persuasive communication skills, excellent time management and exceptional organisational skills. Also, the ability to initiate and develop relationships with a variety of individuals and be able to engage employers using a variety of methods such as via the telephone or face-to-face in the community.

It would also be helpful, but NOT essential, if you have experience of working with people with mental health support needs (or similar groups) OR have experience working in employment support services (or equivalent), this can include working with people on a one-to-one basis, offering motivation and support, or engaging with a range of stakeholders. We are actively interested in individuals who have experience using a persuasive communication style or promoting a service to a variety of audiences, this can include marketing, recruitment, or sales roles.

Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification on this advert for further info.

Outline of your main responsibilities within these two areas:

Client support:

• Manage a caseload of between 20-25 people who have experienced mental health or substance misuse problems who wish to return to work, and challenge inequalities and discrimination experienced by the service users.
• Prepare individuals for a return to work by supporting people to understand their skills, aspirations, and goals by offering employment profiling, job matching, action planning and employment case management support.
• Focus on rapid job search with service users, whilst utilising local support networks to help individuals overcome their barriers to employment.
• Assess individual support needs related to work which might typically include help with in- work benefits, travel to work, managing health at work etc. and continue providing this once in employment to ensure they retain work.
• Deliver and promote employment workshops, employment surgeries and job clubs to service users who are not able to access the caseload.

Employer engagement and Service Promotion:

• Source job opportunities for service users through tailored job search and proactive engagement with employers to open-up and secure paid employment.
• Engage employers to access the hidden labour market or ‘carving out’ jobs where specific tasks can be assigned by using a variety of methods such as face to face contact, social media platforms (e.g. LinkedIn), phone and email.
• Build effective working relationships with local training providers, local colleges and external employers to secure education opportunities and paid employment.
• Provide advice and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments and on-going contact with supervisors to ensure job retention.
• Build the profile of the employment service and promote co-production within the clinical team, alongside raising expectations around the ability of service users to access paid work.

Throughout your role you will be implementing the evidence-based employment practice Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model and its fidelity approach. The model focuses on delivering a person-centred, high-quality service and results, meeting and exceeding sustained job outcome targets for people accessing the service.

Another key part of this role is the administrative aspect, through keeping accurate and appropriate records of casework, providing information for monitoring and evaluation, and recording the progress of individuals. Thus, it is essential that the postholder is efficient, responsible, can maintain a high level of personal organisation and has strong IT skills of using word processor and data systems.

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.