Hilary
Employment Support in Cambridge - one of 16 services set up by Richmond Fellowship to develop employment and training - has been helping people with mental health problems into employment for over eight years.
As an Area Manager for RF I really enjoy working for a service that treats people as individuals and offers them a flexible service according to their needs. I am in charge of a number of services who work on a one-to-one basis to offer careers guidance, employment preparation and employment support. They help clients to identify goals and offer the encouragement they need to reach them.
Of the many issues facing people with mental health problems who want to return to work, there are three that cause the most setbacks. First is lack of confidence. People who use the RF service may have become ill whilst at work or they may never have worked, and the prospect of work itself is extremely daunting under these circumstances. One of the ways we address this is with in-house courses which help to build self-esteem.
Secondly, service users may be on a high rate of benefits and they may not be able to earn enough to replace these. RF works carefully with this group, ensuring they can move at their own pace into work, whilst keeping a cautious eye on their benefit situation.
Thirdly, many people - 47% according to the Department of Health - have experienced discrimination in the workplace because of mental health problems. Service users need to decide if they want or need to disclose information about their mental health to a future employer and if they opt to do so what they will say. RF gives individual advice so people can address this issue positively.
Listening and learning from people who have benefited from these approaches is crucial as we should all be constantly learning from each other and shaping our services according to the views of service users. I am glad to be working for an organisation that encourages that flow of information and champions the rights of our service users.