Employment Specialist

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

About
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region (Halton, Warrington, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton and St Helens) and is also commissioned for services that cover North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to perfect care care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

We call this continuous improvement in quality and cost, striving for perfect care. Our aim is to play a full part in the health and social care economies we serve, by promoting and driving greater integration between mental and physical health and social care.

Our clinical services are provided across over 170 sites spanning a large part of the North West. Our services are supported by corporate teams based at our offices in Kings Business Park, Prescot, and Hollins Park, Warrington.

We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from BAME, disabled and LGBT people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore, we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Key details

Location
Site: The Life Rooms
Address: Evered Avenue
Town: Walton
Postcode: L9 2AF
Major / Minor Region: Merseyside

Contract type & working pattern
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 37.5 hours per week (3 x Full Time, 1x 0.6 WTE, 1x 0.5 WTE)

Salary
Salary: £29,970 - £36,483 per annum pro rata
Salary period: Yearly
Grade: (Band 5)

Job Overview
IPS Employment Specialists B5 Permanent Posts
An exciting opportunity has arisen for 2 full time band 5 Employment specialists for the Individual Placement Support Services in Merseycare.

The IPS service supports Mersey Care service users with severe and enduring mental health conditions who are under Community Mental Health and/or Early Intervention Teams and are looking for paid employment as part of their recovery journey. The post holders will be expected to adhere rigorously to the national and international IPS model. The IPS Teams are situated under the portfolio of The Life Rooms.

The Employment Specialists will be expected to travel across an identified geographical patch for meetings with clinical teams and the staff who will be co-located there, with service users, and with local employers.

The post holders will benefit from being a part of The Life Rooms services and will have the support of peers within The Life Rooms Teams.

We would expect applicants to have demonstrable experience of supporting individuals into paid employment and to be confident in liaising with employers to gain access to work opportunities in the local area. Some prior knowledge of the IPS model would be advantageous.

The Employment Specialists Will Be Responsible For

1. Working directly with the clinical teams in which they are co-located to generate referrals into the service.
2. Additionally, the post holder will work directly with all relevant stakeholders: the service user, Employment Specialist colleagues, community staff, Consultant Psychiatrists and employers.
3. Working for our organisation.
4. To adhere to mandatory administrative and data capture protocols when recording the progress of individuals.
5. To act independently, using own judgement, knowledge and initiative to develop and understanding of the needs and potential career aspirations of job seekers.
6. To commence rapid job search within 30 days of receiving a referral for a service user, whilst utilising local support networks to help them overcome their barriers to employment.
7. To research the labour market and spend time getting to know local employers in order to negotiate job opportunities that meet everyone's strengths, needs, abilities and preferences.
8. To provide individualised support to service users once they have returned to work to assist them in sustaining employment.
9. To ensure that all relevant policies are implemented such as information governance, safeguarding etc.

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.

Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria

• Educated to degree level or equivalent or demonstrable experience

Desirable criteria

• Level 3 Diploma in Employability Services Sector
• Trained in IPS Delivery Model
• Mental Health First Aid qualification
• NVQ level 3 in Care or Learning Disability related
• Knowledge and understanding of teaching principles.

Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria

• Experience of working with people with complex mental health needs or a similar service user group
• Knowledge and experience of recovery and social inclusion principals
• Experience of utilising IT systems
• Experience of working within diverse communities
• Ability to engage with employers across all industries using a variety of methods

Values
Essential criteria

• Continuous Improvement
• Accountability
• Respectfulness
• Enthusiasm
• Support
• High professional standards
• Responsive to service users
• Engaging leadership style
• Strong customer service belief
• Transparency and honesty
• Discreet
• Change oriented

Skills
Essential criteria

• Naturally interested in and energised by working with and talking to people
• Non-judgemental and trustworthy
• Passion and drive to make a positive difference to people's lives
• Belief that people with mental illness can gain and sustain meaningful work
• Ability to keep effective records both verbal and written in a timely and accurate fashion

Further details / informal visits contact
Name: Laura Moore
Job title: IPS Operational Delivery Manager
Email address: [email protected]
Telephone number: 077742 23335