Mental Health Employment Specialist

NHS; Sleaford; On-site; GBP 31,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization in Lincolnshire seeks a Mental Health Employment Specialist to assist service users in finding and retaining paid employment. The role emphasizes the importance of supporting individuals with mental health conditions and requires a solid educational background along with relevant experience in employment facilitation. This full-time permanent position offers flexibility in working patterns and opportunities for career development.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Training and promotion opportunities

Supportive work environment

Qualifications

• Degree-level education or equivalent experience required.
• Experience of working with mental health service users in various settings.
• Ability to liaise with employers and organizations to promote employment opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Provide IPS services to help service users find employment.
• Collaborate with a range of employers and partners.
• Work autonomously and within a team to support service users.

Skills

Enthusiasm for supporting mental health

Excellent communication skills

Organizational skills

Marketing and promotional skills

Time management skills

Education

Educated to degree level

NVQ Level 3 or equivalent

Job description

Job summary

We have an opportunity to work within LPFT's Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Team as a Mental Health Employment Specialist, working with service users in the Adult Community Division to help them to find and retain paid employment as part of their recovery journey.

The post holders will provide Individual Placement and Support to a caseload of service users mainly in defined localities within Lincolnshire but cover for other geographical areas covered by the Trust may be required if the need arises.

This post requires both enthusiasm and a commitment towards supporting people with mental health conditions to retain and access employment

LPFT holds a "Good Fidelity" status with IPS Grow; you must be willing to undertake training in the model of IPS, the evidence-based intervention used by the service.

If you require further information on this post please contact:

Sarah Jones - IPS Manager - [e-mail]

Main duties of the job

The postholder will provide IPS services to a caseload of service users and assist the other Mental Health Employment Specialists with complex case management. As this is a developing service, the postholder will also work closely with the Service Lead to further develop / expand the service.

This post requires both enthusiasm and a commitment towards supporting people with mental health conditions to access and retain paid employment. This includes working collaboratively with a wide range of employers and relevant agencies and partners from the statutory, voluntary and business sectors, internal and external to the Trust.

An understanding of the benefits of employment as part of the recovery process and a positive attitude to enabling service users to overcome barriers within employment, are essential. The post will involve working in the community and requires the ability to work autonomously, working closely with teams across the Trust's Adult Community Division in Lincolnshire

About us

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health services and a number of learning disability, autism and social care services in the county of Lincolnshire. Employing around 2,800 staff, and serving a population of over 766,000, our people lie at the heart of everything we do.

You could be part of a Trust rated by staff as one of the best mental health and learning disability trusts in England, in an area heralded as a fantastic place to live and work. We firmly believe the key to high quality care is a contented workforce. This is reflected in our Care Quality Commission rating of 'outstanding' for well-led and 'good' overall. In the most recent National NHS Staff Survey, our staff rated us as the number one trust nationally for staff morale and one of the top scoring NHS Trusts in the Midlands for being compassionate and inclusive. We're really proud of this!

We are also leading the way in transforming care, with multi-million-pound transformation of patient environments and radical redesign of community services.

This is the time to join and help redesign our services of the future. We offer options for flexible working and provide a wide range of training and promotion opportunities in all professions. We support and celebrate diversity, have active staff networks groups and are always looking at what more we can do to support our staff.

Details

Date posted: 07 October 2025

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 5

Salary: £31,049 to £37,796 a year per annum

Contract: Permanent

Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number: 274-11637-AC

Job locations: Individual Placement and Support (IPS), East Lincolnshire, LN11 0LF

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential:

• Educated to degree level
• Or equivalent experience in the field of supported employment
• Or NVQ Level 3/equivalent relevant training to diploma level and/or experience relevant to the duties of the post)

Desirable:

• Occupational Therapy, Social Work , Psychology or Employment qualifications
• IPS training
• Motivational interviewing training

Experience

Essential:

• Experience of initiating, liaising and collaborating with a wide range of individuals and organisations promoting and developing employment, education and training opportunities on behalf of service users
• Experience of working with a range of mental health service users (in health, social care and/or voluntary sectors) implementing individual programmes and interventions
• Experience of actively and regularly engaging with employers and employment providers to seek out employment opportunities on behalf of service users
• Knowledge of good practice in employment legislation protecting disability equality
• Ability to identify and find solutions to improve the wider service over and above those improvements related to the role
• Experience of constructing and reviewing individually tailored programmes using a person centred approach.
• Knowledge of vocational assessment & profiling of service users' vocational needs

Desirable:

• Recent experience of working with service users to help them meet their employment-related goals
• Experience & knowledge of the benefits agency and all disability employment related benefits
• Knowledge of the IPS model
• Personal experience of using Mental Health services
• Experience of collecting caseload and outcome data
• Experience of managing and supervising support staff

Skills

Essential:

• Enthusiasm and commitment towards supporting people with mental health conditions to find paid employment
• Working knowledge of appropriate therapeutic models to engage and retain service users in treatment and to support them achieve their vocational goals
• An understanding of the benefits of work as part of the recovery process and a positive attitude to enabling service users overcome barriers to finding employment
• Excellent marketing and promotional skills with good negotiation skills & persuasive style
• Able to analyse situations / information to identify and support service users to address their individual needs in relation to employment, education and training
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to work independently and collectively as part of a team
• Ability to work autonomously and use own initiative
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Thorough understanding of mental health issues
• Ability to embrace and adapt to new challenges
• Ability to support an individual's recovery
• Knowledge of local employment issues, relevant Government policy and Trust priorities
• Excellent IT skills

Desirable:

• Experience of delivering training and presentations to a wide variety of colleagues and agencies internal and external to the Trust
• Knowledge of relevant welfare benefits and benefits rules

Special Requirements

Essential:

• Ability to travel independently to other bases and Service User homes
• Flexible and able to support extended hours opening, if required
• Cover for team members working in other areas

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.