Information for Service Users
How does the process work?
When we receive your referral, we will allocate you to one of our teams based on your location. Each team comprises of an Employment Specialist and a Specialist Support Worker. You will work with both team members at various stages of your journey with us.
It is possible that you may be put onto a waiting list, if the demand for our service is high at that time. Our team will contact you to ask if you would like to be added to our waiting list if our caseload is full.
Once accepted, your allocated Employment Specialist or Specialist Support Worker will contact you to arrange a face-to-face meeting. They will arrange a suitable place to meet you - it could be a cafe, a Local Authority Hub or your community mental health team.
At this face-to-face meeting, our team member will tell you more about the service. If you are happy to proceed, they will begin by filling out some simple forms so we can learn more about you and how we can help.
Your next meeting will be with one of our Employment Specialists who will discuss with you the type of job you want, putting the focus on you and what inspires and motivates you. Together, you will make a plan to achieve your goals. We can help you write a CV, if you do not already have one. We will also discuss whether you wish to disclose your mental and physical health challenges to potential employers. We are here to support you and be guided by you to achieve a positive outcome.
You will continue to meet your Employment Specialist regularly, together you will look for suitable jobs or training, talk about worries you may have - like job interview techniques, and discuss how you are finding the process so far. We will be there to help and guide you, and we will also be happy to contact employers on your behalf (with your permission) to find the right role for you. As a team, you and your Employment Specialist will aim to have made first contact with a prospective employer within four weeks of your start date with the service.
When you are offered employment or at any other stage of this process, your Employment Specialist can help you obtain access to “better off” calculations to ensure that if you are on benefits, you will not be worse off for accepting a paid position.
At the midway point, around the end of month four, you and your Employment Specialist will have a more in-depth review of your progress so far. What has worked for you and what has not? Does anything need to change to help you obtain paid work?
In month nine, if you have been unsuccessful in securing work so far, your Employment Specialist will go over your CV and other vocational documents which you may have compiled together and review your journey and signpost you on to other services if appropriate. You can re-refer to the service as many times as you like. Your Specialist Support Worker will complete an exit interview with you, so that we can learn how to improve the service.
What happens when I am offered a job?
When you are offered a job, you may find yourself concerned about how to get to work, what to wear, or the social aspects that we all struggle with when we start a new job. This is where your Specialist Support Worker will support you.
Once you inform us that you have been offered a job, your Employment Specialist will introduce you to your Specialist Support Worker if you have not already met. Your Specialist Support Worker will use their knowledge and skills to support you in the next stage of the journey.
In the week before you start your new job you will meet with your Specialist Support Worker and discuss any concerns you may have. These could be how you will afford to get the bus to work before your first paycheck, or how to talk to a manager about your mental and physical health challenges.
Your Specialist Support Worker can help guide you, as well as meet with your new manager if you want them to. They can also discuss reasonable adjustments with your new manager or signpost them to ways to support you in the workplace.
Once you start your new job, your Specialist Support Worker will contact you again to see how you are doing. From then on, you will meet with your Specialist Support Worker as required. Approximately four months after starting your new job, your Specialist Support Worker will complete an exit interview with you to help us identify what has gone well and ways we can improve the service.
If at any time you decide that you do not want the services of your Specialist Support Worker, that is fine - they will just carry out the exit interview and final document review.
If you would like to self-refer onto the service, please follow the link: Self Referral