Article published: Mon 30th January 2012
SAMH is launching a groundbreaking pilot project to help people
with mental health problems get jobs.
SAMH is working with three NHS Boards and their local authority
partners to pilot Individual Placement and Support (IPS) employment
services. And we are also putting employability advisors
into acute psychiatric wards in North and South Lanarkshire.
As part of our "
Dismissed?" campaign
for fairness in mental health and employability, SAMH recently
published
research
which revealed that people with mental health problems had the
lowest employment rate of any group of disabled people, despite
frequently reporting that they wanted to work.
The report also showed
that the best way to
address this is through models like IPS, which quickly get people
into competitive employment, providing training and support once
they are in a job rather than providing a lengthy pre-work training
period.
Billy Watson, SAMH Chief Executive, said
"Our research has shown that people with mental health problems
face disadvantages in applying for, getting and keeping a job. SAMH
and our partners want to change that. That's why we're piloting
these innovative services".
Jan Hutchinson of the Centre for Mental
Health, which has researched and championed the IPS model, will
be speaking at Tuesday's launch. She commented,
"IPS is the best evidenced approach for supporting people with a
mental illness into employment. Its strength comes from the
shared understanding, between client, clinicians and employment
workers, of the contribution that having a job makes to recovery
and quality of life. Centre for Mental Health is delighted to
support new IPS services starting up around the UK: they prove that
employment is a very realistic and achievable goal for anyone
living with a mental health condition."
The launch will take place
on Tuesday 31st January from 12.00-2.00pm at SAMH's Glasgow
Resource Centre, which provides information on mental health to the
public.
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