Wednesday
28
August 2024

Mental health and work: Building a specialist workforce

Over the last year, we have been working to support the recruitment of Employment Specialists who work in dedicated services to help people with severe mental health problems to find employment.

We’ve been working in partnership with not for profit Social Finance to support these services – called Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services – across the country. In November 2023 plans were announced to further grow this workforce to reach at least another 100,000 more people by 2028/29.

Rachel Slade, our Programme Director, explains what IPS is and why we think this approach can be really beneficial.

Work can be really beneficial for people who have mental health needs

Having a job can have a huge positive impact on someone’s mental health – it can have a positive financial impact, can provide routine and structure and a sense of purpose. Having a meaningful job can help someone feel part of their community and can build their confidence.

But there’s no doubt that there are still barriers and challenges that make employment more difficult for some people with mental health needs. For example – it can be difficult to share personal information about mental health needs to employers and to ask for support. Some people trying to find work will still face stigma if they do share this. And the illnesses themselves can create challenges – for example some people may have low confidence or anxiety, and in some cases, medication can make it difficult to work at certain times of day.

In the UK, between 70%-90% of people with mental health issues would like to work, but only 37% are in paid employment. For people with severe mental illness, this falls to 7%.

Getting into work is not right for everyone who is experiencing severe mental health problems, but for those people who want to work, and who are able to get the right support, finding meaningful employment can be hugely beneficial. And that’s where Individual Placement and Support services come in.

Practitioners working in Individual Placement and Support are able to make a meaningful difference

IPS (Individual Placement and Support) is an approach that enables people who want to work and who are living with mental health needs to find a job that’s right for them.

The services are voluntary – they’re for people who have made the choice themselves that they want to work. It is never compulsory as part of someone’s mental health care that they access IPS services.

The service involves personalised support to help the person to find paid employment, and the support continues once the person has started the role. This in-work support is not something you’d often see as part of employment support, but it’s a key part of IPS to help people keep their jobs.

IPS services also provide support for employers – for example, helping employers to support the person, ensure the work is safe and suitable, and to make any reasonable adjustments.

A study has shown that people receiving support from an IPS service were twice as likely to gain employment (55% v. 28%), and worked significantly longer, than people receiving other support for getting into work.

The Employment Specialists working in IPS are absolutely at the heart of these services – and can make such a difference to the people they are supporting. The relationship between wanting to work and mental health is not clear cut, and people’s situations can be complex, but an Employment Specialist can help to navigate this. Working with integrity and working collaboratively with the person, an Employment Specialist can help to build the person’s confidence, advocate for their needs, and ultimately support them to find work that suits their skills and will benefit their mental health.

Services are expanding, and we’re working to get more people into Employment Specialist roles

We want to ensure that everyone with mental health needs who wants to work has access to specialist support to get them into meaningful employment. So we’re really pleased that plans are already underway to reach more people through IPS services.

Finding great people to be Employment Specialists is crucial to this, and we’ve been working with IPS Grow at Social Finance (commissioned by NHS England) to strengthen recruitment processes for IPS roles, using experience built up from almost 10 years of running our mental health social work programme, including input from our Lived Experience Partnership.

We are also working to raise awareness of the role and to show what a meaningful job it is. People become Employment Specialists from a range of professional backgrounds – having mental health experience is not essential. Instead people are able to bring transferable skills from different backgrounds, along with empathy, patience and a determination to make a difference to people’s lives. They work as part of the mental health teams, receiving support and training from other mental health professionals. It’s an excellent way to join the mental health workforce and increase understanding and knowledge of mental health.

Ultimately, we hope this work will lead to better outcomes for people with mental health needs – using a person-centred approach to help them find meaningful employment, gain more skills, confidence and independence, and feel empowered.

Find out more