New service helping Buckinghamshire mental health patients find jobs

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) has now been fully launched in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire offering a unique service for people over 18 who are not in work and are under the care of our adult mental health teams or early intervention service.

Our two existing IPS specialists who have already helped more than 40 people find their ideal jobs are to be joined by five more specialists and a team leader, meaning even more service users can be helped.

The IPS service allows patients who want a paid job the chance to work with one of Oxford Health’s employment specialists to reach their employment goals and find a working environment focused on individual preferences.

Work routines can hugely boost an individual’s recovery through providing purpose, interaction with others, a sense of achievement and empowerment.

Outcomes from randomised control trials have revealed this model can help up to 60% of service users into long-term work.

The service relies on a robust relationship between employment specialists and mental health clinicians who work together to help service user reach the best results for them, whilst considering their wellbeing and recovery.

Oxfordshire’s three IPS specialists are from the mental health charity Restore – one of the key organisations in the award-winning Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership.

IPS has received £600,000 in funding from NHS England to run the service until April 2021.

Since its inception in April this model has already achieved success in the early intervention teams across both counties.

Steve Bell, Oxford Health’s Occupational Therapist in Early Intervention who assisted the development of the successful NHS England bid, commented:

“This exciting opportunity will assist in developing the services we offer to those who use our services.

“We know it works as our two existing IPS specialists have helped more 40 people find paid employment in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the past year. We all look forward to rolling this service out into the other teams.”

Our IPS team are supportive and friendly with experience to place our patients in employment that is suitable for them. If you are a patient in one of our adult mental health services please contact the IPS team for further information.

For more information, please email: [email protected]