Individual Placement Support (IPS) Team Leader

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust seeks a Team Leader for the Employment Retention and Job Seeking Service. You will oversee Employment Specialists, supervise practice, and promote IPS-based pathways to help people with mental health challenges retain or gain paid work.

The role involves leading service development, partnership work and direct client support to deliver high-quality, person-centred employment interventions and improved outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience leading teams delivering employment support for people with mental health challenges.
• Ability to supervise, train and role-model IPS-based practice.
• Strong networking with local employers and community partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of Employment Specialists to promote client employment outcomes.
• Provide supervision, training and role modelling of IPS approach.
• Collaborate with mental health teams and external stakeholders to raise expectations and improve access to work.

Skills

Leadership

Team supervision

IPS model

Job description

Are you looking for a career where you can make a positive difference to the lives of people with mental health difficulties?

Do you believe you have the leadership skills to support a team of Employment Specialists, to support people to retain, find and sustain employment?

If so, this role may be just what you're looking for!

We are seeking a motivated and experienced individual to lead our Employment Retention and Job Seeking Service. The post holder will support people experiencing severe mental health challenges and other barriers to employment, to retain existing employment, return to work, or secure competitive paid employment.

The role combines leadership, service development, partnership working and direct client support, ensuring high-quality, person-centred interventions that improve employment outcomes.

90% of people with Severe mental illness want to work, but currently only 8% are in work. Getting into employment can be a critical part of a recovery journey, so as a Team Leader, you will be supporting a team of Employment Specialists, providing supervision, training and role modelling of the IPS approach. This is a dynamic and diverse role, where you will also work as part of mental health teams to promote employment and raise expectations around the ability of service users to retain and access paid employment. The ability to network in the local community and build strong relationships is essential.

You will be required to:

Provide employment support for our client group, who are furthest away from the job market, in the hope that retaining or securing employment will aid an individual's recovery and promote social inclusion.

Work within the principles of the IPS model; to monitor the team's performance and collated and submitted data monthly (this will be shared with NHS England, IPS Grow and other stake holders).

Lead a team of Employment Specialist to promote referrals from various referral routes, to ensure that the service achieves referral/access targets set by NHS England.

Lead a team of Employment Specialist through external monitoring (Guided Self Assessment and Fidelity reviews) and help build adherence to the IPS model.

Promote and nurture a positive team environment with open communication, collaboration and a shared goal.

To work directly with employers to secure employment opportunities and support your team to develop good links with local employers. You will need to be confident to make approaches of this nature on behalf of jobseekers.

Liaise closely with DWP providers and other stakeholders

You will have experience both in the field of employment support and with clients experiencing mental ill health

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

We are offering a valuable opportunity for a Team Leader to come on board and help us expand and shape this service. You will need a good understanding of the barriers faced by people with disabilities and/or mental health challenges, and a passion to work collaboratively, to make a real impact in transforming someone's life.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.