Services

Young man working at the supermarket checkout.

A handshake concludes a successful meeting.

Our services have become increasingly specialised since 2008 with a focus on employment support for people with mental health conditions. However, we are still working with partners in Harlow and with Next Step to offer more generic services. Whichever service you choose we will work with you as an individual, and will focus on empowering you to make your own decisions on your steps towards the world of work.

What services do we offer:

Mental health services cover 2 areas of activity:

Supported employment for people with a severe and enduring mental illness who are supported by their local Community Mental Health Team can be referred by their care coordinator.
Job retention and job search support for Primary Care, or GP, patients with more moderate mental health conditions. Referrals may come from GPs, or we accept self referrals from people in Harlow and Uttlesford (this will extend to Epping if the tender is successful).

Future Jobs Fund is a new government initiative to offer 6 months paid work to young people aged 18-24 who have been unemployed for over 6 months; people on other benefits in certain ‘hot spot’ areas in Harlow – with high unemployment figures – may also be eligible. Harlow District Council and the Local Strategic Partnership were successful with a bid to offer jobs throughout West Essex. We are working with Harlow District Council and other partners in to support this programme. You can check your eligibility and the range of jobs available with us, or contact your adviser at Jobcentre Plus.

Information, Advice and Guidance interviews are an opportunity to identify your interests, to examine career and training choices and to then put together an action plan. Anyone can apply for an initial interview, and there may be opportunities for further and more detailed sessions (see our contact details).

Service delivery:
Being in paid work is strongly linked with good mental health and Supported Employment, or Individual Placement and Support, is the evidenced based method of choice for enabling our clients to return to the workplace. The method involves:

Getting to know the individual, their background and work preferences.
Then 'profiling' leads to a shared decision on work preferences.
Job search and contacting employers starts early in the process; we are keen to start within a month even if the final outcome takes many weeks.
Identified jobs are analysed to ensure a good job match and that Health and Safety rules are met.
Once a job offer has been received we decide on what support is needed by employee and employer. We can also access funding for aids and adaptations that may be needed.
As required we will review the impact on welfare benefits and ensure better off calculations are completed.
Support is ongoing once in the job and we will decide together on the most appropriate way to maintain contact and for how long.

Our success with delivering this approach has been recognised by our inclusion in the Sainsbury Centre of Mental Health’s Centre of Excellence programme for IPS. Involvement in this national programme is encouraging further development of our provision to the benefit of clients and staff.

Job retention support is becoming an increasingly important aspect of our work. This involves helping to manage the impact of an emerging disability or illness in the workplace. We can support employee and employer to find ways forward in difficult situations, thereby hopefully avoiding unnecessary unemployment, distress and even litigation.

Related services include:

Careers guidance and action planning
C.V. preparation, which involves developing a high quality C.V. that accurately reflects your strengths, qualifications and experience.
Improving interview skills by running trial interviews, after suitable training has been given.
A group programme called PAThS designed to help with confidence and to offer strategies that encourage optimism and resilience. The focus is on balancing helpful thinking and helpful activity to encourage successful outcomes.

For more detail on the Information offered to job seekers, and for relevant information for Employers, please see the separate section on Information.