Employment Specialist – Dartford

At Shaw Trust we believe everyone has the right to live a decent and dignified life and an opportunity for rewarding work. We are a social purpose organisation challenging inequality and breaking down barriers to enable social mobility.

Working with clients, health professionals, service providers and employers, IPS Employment Specialists are focused on making sure a person’s journey into employment, with associated improved social inclusion and wellbeing is as easy as possible. You will work with clients (managing a caseload) who have mental health support needs, to assist them in securing sustainable paid employment in line with their preferences.

Your role will be to deliver the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach (for which training will be given); providing person centric advice and guidance to clients, whilst building positive relationships with local employers to enable clients to move into suitable employment. You will work as part of a community mental health team and/or early intervention psychosis team or Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) team, maintaining positive and integrated relationships, fostering a holistic approach to recovery through employment.

As an IPS Employment Specialist, you will need to be an able communicator, passionate about getting it right and focused on transforming individual lives through sustainable solutions. This role is a peripatetic and will work the majority of time in the community or at clinical hubs. There is no/minimal home working as part of this role. You will work with people on their individual employment journey from vocational profiling to the point where they no longer require face to face in work support.

The six key stages on a typical journey are:

• outreach/referral;
• vocational profiling;
• action planning;
• job search activities (including working on a one to one basis with employers to match people with appropriate employment);
• job placement and coordinating support whilst in employment;
• managing withdrawal of support as the in work support is no longer required.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manage a caseload of around 20 clients who have mental health support needs and are motivated to start/return to work.
• Deliver the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach, for which training will be given.
• Meet and support clients to understand key skills, aspirations and goals through completing a Vocational Profile and produce an Action Plan to help them obtain and sustain competitive employment. This includes support with job search, CV production, application forms, interview techniques, career development and job coaching.
• Assess client support needs related to work which may include benefits/welfare advice, disclosure of mental health symptoms, etc., and provide support and guidance.
• Attend weekly clinical team meetings as an embedded IPS practitioner.
• Source job opportunities for clients through tailored job search and regular contact with local employers to explore hidden as well as advertised employment opportunities.
• Provide education and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments, return to work strategy and ongoing contact with the employer to ensure job retention.
• Build relationships with colleagues in clinical teams to engage and generate referrals and create collaborative working partnerships with clinical staff (promoting employment as a positive intervention in the recovery journey).
• Once employment has been secured, continue to provide quality service through conducting regular visits, effective monitoring and in‑work support to clients and employers to help sustain employment.
• Update the Shaw Trust client database regularly with meeting notes and relevant documents.
• If required, update NHS systems within the service level agreement (systems include RIO, Care Notes, IAPTUS and various others).
• Establish positive and integrated relationships with clinical teams, employers and other service providers.
• Build and maintain employer relationships and maintain an employer engagement database, including 6 meaningful employer contacts per week.
• Spend time getting to know local employers, in order to negotiate job opportunities that meet each individual’s strengths, needs, abilities and preferences.
• Challenge inequalities experienced by clients and address existing discrimination, whilst ensuring a process of learning for the organisation.
• Work with employers to promote the service, identify job opportunities and ensure appropriate strategies are in place to reduce barriers in the workplace – this can include exploring 'job carving', i.e. carving small slices of work from the duties other staff do not have time to do.
• Develop effective working relationships with a range of external agencies who can help individuals to achieve their employment goals. This may include local colleges and training providers.