IPS Employment Specialist

Transformationunitgm; Oxford; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

Join Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust as an Employment Specialist to support individuals with mental health challenges in securing and retaining employment. This role offers a dynamic work environment within a supportive team, focusing on empowering clients through vocational profiling, goal setting, and community engagement. If you are passionate, resilient, and trained in the IPS Model, we welcome your application.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

NHS discount across various shops

Cycle to work scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Mental Health First Aiders available

Staff accommodation options

Qualifications

• Experience in supported employment service.
• Experience of working with people with mental health problems.
• Capable in IT tools including MS Office applications.

Responsibilities

• Manage a caseload supporting people with mental health issues.
• Build relationships with employers to negotiate job opportunities.
• Conduct vocational profiling and action planning with clients.

Skills

Empathy

Resilience

Motivation

Education

Educated to Degree level or equivalent

Trained in IPS Model

Mental Health First Aid

Tools

MS Word

PowerPoint

Excel

Job description

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people.

We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

We actively support anti-racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion so, if you’re excited about this job opportunity and you meet our Trust values, but feel unsure about applying, then please get in touch and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.

We are also committed to increasing diversity in the workforce, that is why we actively encourage applications from those groups of people who are currently under-represented, which include amongst others: people with disabilities; men from all socio-economic backgrounds; people from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

Good luck and we hope to hear from you.

Job overview

Do you have experience supporting people with mental health problems and working in supported employment services?

Are you seeking a varied new challenge in a supportive and dynamic team?

We are currently looking for an employment specialist to join the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) team in Oxfordshire. This is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic team who have been awarded a national Quality Kite Mark.

We welcome people from a range of backgrounds and with a variety of experience. If you’re resilient, empathic and determined to open doors, challenge prejudice, and champion the skills and talents of individuals, a career in IPS could be for you.

These roles are for those who are passionate and proactive about supporting people who have experienced mental health challenges to live well in the community.

The role of an Employment Specialist in Oxford Health is incredibly dynamic and diverse. One moment you’ll be working closely with IPS clients to set goals, refining their CVs, or practising interview techniques, the next, you’ll be out in the local community approaching potential employers and discussing roles and job flexibility.

Main duties of the job

You will be working to support people either to gain employment or retain their current employment within the Oxfordshire Complex Needs Service.
This service offers assessment and treatment for people diagnosable with Personality Disorder. It uses a biopsychosocial model that puts the patient at the centre of their treatment.

The responsibilities of the role include, but are not limited to:

• Manage a caseload of people who have experienced mental health problems and who are waiting to either gain new employment or retain their current employment.
• Work directly with all relevant stakeholders - you will support the service users on your caseload to gain and retain paid employment.
• Prepare individuals for a return to work by supporting service users to understand their skills, aspirations and goals through vocational profiling and action planning.
• Build relationships with clinical teams and to regularly attend weekly meetings in order to discuss/create new referrals and feedback progress of clients to the wider team.
• Spend time getting to know local employers, in order to negotiate job opportunities that meet each individual’s strengths, needs, abilities and preferences.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible

Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive:“Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are:“Caring, safe and excellent”

At Oxford Health we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists may apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We pride ourselves in being a supportive team within a great organisation If you are passionate, creative, solution focused, good at building hopeful relationships and growing trust, a career in IPS could be a varied and rewarding role for you.

You will work with the IPS team leader’s and other IPS Employment specialists to assist in the development of the wider service across the county.

Please see attached JD/PS for full duties.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Educated to Degree level or equivalent (vocational experience/training/ or other qualifications
• Trained in IPS Model
• Mental Health first Aid or similar

Qualifications

• Hold a Full Driving license and have access to a car

Experience

• Experience of working in supported employment service and/or equivalent experience.
• Experience of working with people with mental health problems or a similar service user group
• Experience of partnership working negotiation and liaison work with other agencies

Qualifications

• Able to use IT and tools such as MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel

Knowledge

• Knowledge of disability and special needs issues, policies, and legislation in relation to employment
• All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
• Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
• We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
• Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
• We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
• We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
• Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

Name Shelley Monaghan Job title Operational Service Manager Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 07500 785061 Additional information

At Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust we want to employ people not just with experience, but with the aptitude and motivation to succeed and whose values resonate with our own.

Therefore, if you don’t meet all the requirements of the role and are unsure about applying but are excited about the opportunity, please do get in touch. We will be happy to discuss the requirements in more detail ahead of making a written application.