EMPLOYMENT ADVISOR - London, United Kingdom - Hillside Clubhouse

Description

RECRUITING NOW FOR EMPLOYMENT ADVISOR (EA) IN TALKING THERAPIES

Salary: £32,460 plus pension and benefits (rising to £34,385 after successful completion of probation)

Location: Although employed by Hillside Clubhouse, EA in iCope staff will be co-located and embedded within the iCope team. This post will be mainly located at the North iCope Centre - 10 Manor Gardens London N7 6ER. You will also spend time working in community-based settings as required across Islington.

Working format: Based onsite within the clinical teams as well as the option of some home working (a maximum of 2 days per week as agreed with your manager)

Contract: Full-time and permanent

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity to join an established, dedicated and enthusiastic team supporting people with mental health conditions such as stress, anxiety and depression to gain and retain employment.

Hillside Clubhouse is a leading mental health charity offering a friendly and supportive working environment, flexible working, career development opportunities, a comprehensive training and induction programme, a generous holiday entitlement and competitive financial rewards. We also provide a positive working environment to support our own employee's wellbeing.

Hillside Clubhouse operates an established Employment Advice (EA) service integrated into NHS Talking Therapies (iCope). The programme aims to support Islington residents who are assessed within iCope and who require employment advice.

The EAs in iCope initiative was designed as an integrated employment and mental health service to improve both mental health and employment outcomes. EAs are part of the iCope team and work alongside therapists to provide employment support to help iCope clients remain in work, return to work, or find employment. This takes the form of personalised support for the client backed up by an action plan detailing the client's employment goals and the actions that the client, the therapist, and the EA agree to take to meet these goals.

Overall aim

iCope (Talking Therapies) is an NHS Programme that provides evidence based psychological therapies to treat people with mild to moderate and moderate to severe depression and anxiety disorders.

The new Employment Advisor (EA) will work within the Islington NHS Talking Therapies provision. They will work one-to-one with a caseload of between 25-35 clients referred by NHS Talking Therapies therapists to find employment, remain in existing work if they are struggling, improve their working environment, return to work following sickness or positively leave or retire from work.

You will primarily fulfil these duties by providing information, advice and guidance to clients who choose to receive employment support. The support aims to empower clients to make better decisions about their working lives, as well as communicate better with colleagues and managers in existing roles. You will also signpost clients to other relevant support agencies, as appropriate.

This role would suit someone with a background in employment support, psychology, counselling, human resources, recruitment, or a desire to transfer their skills into the mental health support sector.

Method of working

EMPLOYMENT ADVISOR RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

1. Engage a mixed caseload of clients at any given time serving per year, with common mental health problems, to establish trusting, collaborative relationships to support them to find new employment or support them in, or to leave, existing employment. Support will be provided face-to-face in Talking Therapies settings, via secure online meeting platforms or over the telephone.

2. Along with their NHS clinician, assess clients' support needs with a view to creating, implementing, and adjusting a personalised action plan to help improve clients' mental health and achieve their stated employment goals.

3. Develop and deliver a range of practical services to support clients to find work, including career guidance, job searching skills, CV preparation, application form completion, interview skills, advice on local labour market opportunities and advice on education and training to further their career.

4. Provide guidance to support clients to stay in existing work, including advice on mental health disclosure, negotiating reasonable adjustments to existing workplaces, creating wellness action plans, and improving productivity, support to return to work after sickness absence or to leave an existing role with dignity, and signpost clients to organisations that can represent them (EAs should only look to represent clients in exceptional circumstances).

5. Facilitate access to other advice in areas such as financial benefits, debt management, food banks and community food outlets and social housing providers, as necessary.

6. Work directly with partners like Jobcentre Plus, other employment providers, employers, trade unions and employment agencies to support clients to stay in employment and secure employment opportunities.

7. Build a constant flow of referrals from the clinical team to ensure a dynamic and mixed caseload.

8. Meet referral and performance targets in line with the specific KPI / SLA requirements of the service.

9. Regularly attend team and other meetings as reasonably expected.

10. Maintain accurate and up to date records of activity and outcomes in line with service requirements, ensuring both the NHS and Hillside Clubhouse databases are kept up to date and paperwork compliant.

11. Receive regular supervision and training to meet individual, team and organisation's needs.

12. Contribute to the development of a service that is locally responsive and supports minority/disadvantaged communities.

13. Comply with and actively promote all Hillside policies and procedures including Equality and Diversity, safeguarding and data protection.

14. Perform other tasks as required by your manager.

The role holder must also:

1. Pass a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check at an Enhanced level.

2. Possess excellent IT skills, including familiarity with Microsoft Office software, as well as experience updating and maintaining databases.

3. Maintain accurate and up to date records of activity and outcomes in line with service performance requirements, ensuring the IT database is up to date and paperwork compliant.

4. Receive regular supervision and training to meet individual, team and organisation's needs.

5. Comply with and actively promote all Hillside Clubhouse policies and procedures including Equality and Diversity, Safeguarding, Data Protection and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

This job description is intended to provide a broad outline of the main duties and responsibilities only. The post holder will need to be flexible in developing the role in conjunction with their line manager.

The role will receive comprehensive training at induction, and ongoing career development and support as part of a structured performance programme thereafter.

Application Instructions

Please submit your CV and a covering letter detailing how you meet the responsibilities and duties of the role.

We are a disability aware employer and actively encourage applications from people with lived experience of mental health conditions.

Hillside Clubhouse is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and strongly encourage applications from those who experience discrimination and / or prejudice based on their race, ethnicity or immigration status, women, new parents, people with disabilities and LGBTQI+ people.