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Supporting people with mental health conditions into paid employment: a briefing for work programme providers
- Author:
- CENTRE FOR MENTAL HEALTH
- Publisher:
- Centre for Mental Health
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 2p.
- Place of publication:
- London
A briefing paper providing advice for contractors of Work Programme services on helping people with long-term mental health conditions into employment. The paper explains the benefits of the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach to supported employment over the traditional 'train then place' model. It outlines the seven basic principles if IPS, presents some of the research evidence that supports its use over other methods, and explains how it can be used with other client groups. The briefing paper also includes ten questions to consider asking of specialist providers of employment support for people with mental health conditions.
Assisting those with mental health problems into employment
- Author:
- INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SERVICES
- Publisher:
- Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 6p.
- Place of publication:
- Glasgow
One of a series of briefings providing practice-oriented summaries of published evidence, this Insight focuses on helping those with mental health problems into employment. The briefing provides an overview of the current policy context in Scotland and barriers to employment, before summarising recent research evidence. Models and approaches discussed include vocational training, supported employment, and one specific form of supported employment, Individual Placement and Support (ISP). Recommendations for practice are then highlighted.
Client-centeredness in supported employment: specialist and supervisor perspectives
- Authors:
- KOSTICK Kristin M., WHITLEY Rob, BUSH Philip W.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 19(6), December 2010, pp.523-531.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
This article examines the notion of client-centredness from the perspective of supported employment specialists and supervisors, identifying barriers and facilitators to effective implementation. The article also addresses how, although client-centred practices give precedence to client’s wishes, in a realistic setting they are adapted to account for negotiations among clients, specialists, employers, and mental health service agencies. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 employment specialists and supervisors to elicit facilitators and barriers to successful supported employment outcomes. Data were analysed inductively using ATLAS.ti 5.0 software. The principal factors that emerged influencing implementation of client-centredness include: clients' anxieties about their interests and abilities; difficulties interpreting and negotiating clients' preferences in realistic contexts; quality of supervision and guidance in implementing client-centred practices and upholding morale when facing challenges in the field; and managing discrepancies across resource-sharing agencies in what it means to be ‘client-centred’. These factors suggest the need for focused training among employment specialists to better understand and negotiate clients' wishes, more integration and communication between members of the treatment team, hiring supervisors with first-hand supported employment experience, and spreading awareness of the individual placement and support (IPS) model of supported employment across resource-sharing agencies.
Sustaining employment in a social firm: use of the Work Environment Impact Scale v2.0 to explore views of employees with psychiatric disabilities
- Authors:
- WILLIAMS Anne, FOSSEY Ellie, HARVEY Carol
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 73(11), November 2010, pp.531-539.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Evidence suggests that people with psychiatric disabilities find it difficult to get and keep jobs, with workplace characteristics contributing to difficulties staying in employment. This qualitative study aimed to understand the views of employees with a psychiatric disability about working in an Australian social firm, and to identify factors within the workplace that contribute to these employees sustaining employment. Social firms are competitive businesses which are designed to provide an inclusive and supportive work environment. Seven participants who had sustained jobs for 6 months or longer in the social firm, a contract cleaning business, were interviewed using the Work Environment Impact Scale (Version 2.0). The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed inductively using thematic and narrative analysis. The participants' views of the work environment included that the regular structure and achievable tasks, the supportive and cooperative team and the benefits of the job made working in the social firm enjoyable and the right job for now. The findings suggest that participants' decisions to stay in their jobs were influenced by the social firm environment, which supported their wellbeing, and by their individual illness and occupational narratives. The study also demonstrated that the WEISv2.0 was effective in gaining participants' views on wide-ranging features of their workplaces. Further research is recommended to expand the evidence base concerning workplace features that support employees with psychiatric disabilities to sustain their jobs.
Tackling worklessness: mental health and worklessness
- Author:
- IMPROVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
- Publisher:
- Improvement and Development Agency
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 6p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This report provides guidance to local authorities on how to help people with a mental illness find a job and remain in work. It summarises the macro-economic costs of work-related mental illness and outlines the positive health impact of employment and the business benefits of promoting good mental health in the workplace. It introduces the UK Mental Health and Employment Strategy and sets out the employment barriers commonly experienced by people with mental health problems. It provides advice to councils on: individual placement and support; designing effective employability approaches; and promoting well-being in the workplace. It also includes short case studies highlighting good practice.
Predictors of competitive employment among consumers with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders
- Authors:
- BIEGEL David E., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 20(2), March 2010, pp.191-201.
- Publisher:
- Sage
The aim of this study was to examine the effects of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, mental health and substance use status, functioning and life status, work history and work interest, and agency organisational and community characteristics on competitive employment of people with co-occurring mental and substance disorders, using a longitudinal study with a sample of 191 consumers from mental health agencies receiving Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment services, including a subgroup which was referred for Supported Employment services. The results showed that consumers with schizoaffective disorder, greater psychiatric distress, and those not referred for Supported Employment services were less likely to enter competitive employment, and that lack of previous employment and perceived disability negatively affected employment. The article discusses the implications for mental health practice, service delivery and future research.
Mental health and employment: key opportunities to put policy into practice
- Authors:
- BACON Jenni, GROVE Bob, LOCKETT Helen
- Publisher:
- Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Following the publication of much new policy in December 2009, this paper aims to make sense of what all the policy means in practice and picks out the key commitments and opportunities. It describes how healthy workplaces are key to the Government’s public health approach which runs through both Working our Way to Better Health and New Horizons. The report outlines the importance of keeping people in work, and noted that preventing people from falling out of work because of mental health problems depends on intervening quickly when things go wrong, for example when people don’t return to work after sickness absence as expected. Ensuring that relationships between employer and employee don’t break down is crucial. A section on overcoming individual barriers to employment states that running through all the new policy is a focus on coordinated, individualised support for people wishing to gain employment or get back to work. This reports emphasises that employment should be at the heart of the ‘recovery vision’ for mental health services generally. The paper concludes that there have been more developments in mental health and employment policy in recent months than at any time in the last decade. There may be more to come.
WORKSTEP customer survey
- Authors:
- PURVIS Ann, LAW Rebecca, LOWREY James
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 127p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This report presents the findings from a two stage piece of research into customer experience and a baseline of the existing WORKSTEP customers. WORKSTEP is supported employment programme aimed to help disabled people find and retain work either in jobs in the open labour market, via supported placements with mainstream employers, or within supported businesses established to employ disabled people. The first stage was a quantitative survey of 1,009 WORKSTEP customers. Stage two consisted of a smaller qualitative survey of 98 customer interviews. The survey was carried out between October 2008 and July 2009. The baseline data collected will feed into an evaluation of the Work Choice Programme, which is set to replace WORKSTEP in October 2010.
What price work?
- Author:
- SAMUEL Mithran
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 26.8.10, 2010, pp.22-23.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
Employment rates for adults with learning disabilities or mental health problems remain law. The coalition government has said it will improve support for these groups through Work Choice, the Department for Work and Pensions' new disability employment programme. However, there are worries that spending cuts may mean this will not happen. This article discusses three possible sources of job support for disabled people and the possible risk to their futures. Work Choice; discretionary employment support services, such as that provided by the organisation Pure; and the individual placement and support model which has been found to improve job and health outcomes.
Harnessing the expertise of experience: increasing access to employment within mental health services for people who have themselves experienced mental health problems
- Authors:
- PERKINS Rachel, RINALDI Miles, HARDISTY Joss
- Journal article citation:
- Diversity in Health and Care, 7(1), 2010, pp.13-21.
- Publisher:
- Radcliffe Publishing
The User Employment Programme at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust was established in 1995 with the intention of increasing access to employment within mental health services for people who have themselves experienced mental health problems. The programme has two elements, a supported employment programme, and a Charter for the Employment of People who have Experienced Mental Health Problems which is designed to decrease employment discrimination. This article describes the employment outcomes that were achieved during the 12 year period between January 1995 and 2007. During that time 142 people with mental health problems were supported in 163 posts within the trust, 86% of whom continued to work or were engaged in professional training. At the time of appointment people with schizophrenia had been unemployed for significantly longer periods than subjects with other mental health problems. There was no significant association between length of time for which support was provided, job type, job grade or success in sustaining employment. In 2007, 23% of all recruits to the trust had experienced mental health problems. Recruits with mental health problems were more numerous among those recruited to higher-grade positions in the organisation. The authors comment that the findings strongly suggest that people who have experienced mental health problems can work effectively in ordinary positions within mental health services under the same terms and conditions as any other employees. They conclude that mental health services have an important role to play as exemplar employers of people with mental health problems.