Employment Specialist in London

• Brent | Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
• Permanent contract

Could you help people experiencing mental health challenges achieve their employment goals and build a brighter future through work?

Join Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust as an Employment Specialist in Brent and support people to secure and sustain meaningful employment through the evidence-based IPS approach.

• London
• Full-time
• Job overview

Partnerships are central to what we do here – with patients and their families, with staff and with other organisations, especially commissioners and providers but also with local authorities, GPs, universities and the voluntary sector.

We envisage more in the years to come.

CNWL provides NHS services throughout a person’s life, in physical and mental health and everything in between, at GPs and hospitals to the community and in their own home.

Where community care is not possible, we offer a number of facilities to treat people in hospital or residential environments.

We also provide healthcare in prisons in London and the surrounding areas.

We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference.

Role

Make a Difference. Transform Lives. Build Hope.

Are you passionate about helping others find purpose and reach their potential?

As an Employment Specialist, you’ll play a key role in supporting people who are navigating mental health challenges to achieve their employment goals and move forward on their recovery journey.

You’ll work alongside individuals to uncover their strengths, explore their aspirations, and connect them with real job opportunities that match their goals.

And the support doesn’t stop there — you’ll also provide ongoing encouragement and guidance to both the employee and their employer to ensure a positive, sustainable working relationship.

This is a role where your values and personality matter.

If you’re compassionate, motivated, and driven to make a lasting difference in people’s lives, you’ll thrive here.

You’ll also be part of a supportive multidisciplinary team and use the highly effective Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach — helping to bridge the gap between mental health services and meaningful employment.

Responsibilities

• To manage a caseload of between 20–25 people who have experienced mental health or substance misuse problems who wish to return to work.
• To challenge inequalities experienced by mental health service users and to address existing discrimination, whilst ensuring a process of learning for the organisation.
• To provide individualised support to service users once they have returned to work to assist them in sustaining employment.
• To market the service to clinical staff and service users to ensure the service is well utilised.
• To have an understanding of evidenced based IPS employment practice, with a focus on delivering a person-centred, high quality service.
• To meet and exceed sustained job outcome targets for people accessing the service.
• Building relationships with clinical teams to generate referrals and create collaborative working partnerships with clinical staff, ensuring a Multi-Disciplinary Team approach to supporting individuals to get back to work.
• To support the team in promoting a recovery orientated environment by identifying recovery-focused activities and imparting information and education as required.

This would involve promoting courses being delivered by Recovery and Wellbeing College as well as supporting the development of information sessions.

• To 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.
• To focus on rapid job search with service users, whilst utilising local support networks to help individuals overcome their barriers to employment.
• Source job opportunities for service users through tailored job search and regular contact with employers.
• To provide advice and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments and ongoing contact with supervisors to ensure job retention.
• To proactively engage and build relationships with external employers to open up and secure paid employment opportunities for people who have experienced mental health difficulties.

This may involve accessing the hidden labour market or creating ‘carved’ jobs where specific tasks can be assigned.

• To assess individual support needs related to work which might typically include help with benefits, travel to work, managing health at work etc.
• To develop effective working relationships with a range of external agencies who are able to help individuals to achieve their employment goals, for example, local colleges and training providers.
• To provide effective in work support to individuals once they secure paid employment to ensure they retain it.
• To deliver employment workshops, employment surgeries and job clubs with other members of staff as required.
• To offer employment surgeries for service users not able to access the caseload.
• To maintain a professional relationship with the clients of the programme and with other staff, with particular attention to confidentiality, trust policies and maintenance of professional boundaries.
• To contribute to the on-going improvement and development of Trust-wide employment services.
• To work independently, reliably and deliver consistently to deliver effective IPS practice.
• To work flexibly as required by the individual and employer which may require some working out of normal office hours.
• To adhere to administrative and data capture protocols which record the progress of individuals, and to keep accurate and complete records of casework.
• Ensure that effective monitoring and evaluation systems are adhered to and keep abreast of changing practice within vocational rehabilitation.
• To adhere to CNWL Employment Services policies and service standards.
• To undertake mandatory training as required including training in the IPS approach.
• To actively participate in own continuous professional development.
• Training
• To actively participate in own supervision and appraisal.
• To participate in Trust mandatory training and development opportunities considered appropriate to the Employment Specialist’s role and as identified in the Personal Development Plan (PDP).
• To undertake IPS training or equivalent as identified by management.
• To contribute and commit to undertaking an annual Development Review/Appraisal.
• To receive regular line management supervision as arranged by the service manager.
• To work effectively as part of your local employment team, sharing resources, contacts and working together to increase access to paid employment opportunities.

This may require covering for other team members as required.

• To work with Trust-wide employment service colleagues to ensure that employment services offered continue to develop effectively.
• To ensure that effective referral and information structures related to this scheme are in place.
• To co-produce service developments with service users wherever possible.
• To collect employment recovery stories from people accessing the service.
• Management of Resources
• To work with external agencies to maximise use of both internal and external resources in the delivery of employment services.
• Research and Development
• To keep abreast of changing practice within evidenced based IPS practice and employment law.

Rider Clause
This is an outline of the postholder’s duties and responsibilities.

It is not intended as an exhaustive list and may change from time to time in order to meet the changing needs of the Trust and Department.

• The person
• Educated to degree level or equivalent workplace experience.
• Significant experience of working with people with mental health difficulties or a similar client group within health, social services or the voluntary sector.
• Experience of supporting people to obtain or keep work.
• An understanding of the principles and practices of supported employment.
• An understanding of the employment needs and difficulties of people who experience mental health challenges.
• A commitment to learning about and working within the Individual Placement and Support Employment (IPS) model.
• Good verbal and written communication skills
• Good negotiation skills and a persuasive style.
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