IPS Senior Employment Specialist - Southwark

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South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good'.

We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone's potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I'm going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you'll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

To support people with mental health problems into employment and provide supervision for a team of employment specialists.

Main duties of the job

• Giving individually tailored advice and support to a diverse range of clients, using a range of communication methods including video conferencing, telephone calls, emails, texts and social media.

• Working as part of a team of other employment professionals, sharing knowledge and expertise, and contributing to team meetings and service development activities.

• Providing effective supervision for a team of employment specialists to help them develop in their roles and achieve a high level of performance.

• Typing clear and concise session notes, and entering data onto electronic databases in a timely manner, ensuring that files and systems are always up-to-date and accurate.

• Working independently to manage own time and workload, keeping track of own progress towards targets, and continually reflecting on own performance to improve and develop in the role.

• Keeping up to date with local and national labour market trends, education/training opportunities, welfare benefit changes, and employment law in relation to client group.

Working for our organisation

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) provides the UK's widest range of NHS mental health services, including support for substance misuse. We serve over two million people across Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham, and Croydon through 230+ inpatient, outpatient, and community services. Each year, we care for over 5,000 inpatients and 45,000 community patients. We also deliver 50+ specialist services across the UK and internationally.

Work Well is a network of 10 employment support services within SLaM, helping people in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Southwark recover through meaningful employment. We believe everyone can work if they want to and should have choice and control over their career path.

Our values are:

• Person-centred: Supporting informed career decisions.
• Empowering: Providing tools for independence.
• Inspiring: Encouraging long-term career goals.

All staff are expected to uphold confidentiality, equality, health and safety, infection control, safeguarding, and professional standards. We follow NHS codes of conduct and financial procedures. Roles are reviewed regularly to reflect service needs and staff development.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Essential:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent (A).

Desirable:

• Qualification in Information Advice and Guidance (IAG) or similar (A).

Experience

Essential:

• Experience of delivering employment advice to people with mental health problems and/or disabilities who are unemployed (A/I).

• Experience of supervising or managing others (A/I).

Desirable:

• Experience of setting up new services or projects (A/I).

• Lived experience of mental health problems or caring for someone with a mental health problem (A/I).

Knowledge

Essential:

• Up-to-date knowledge about how to succeed in today's job market including labour market trends and common recruitment practices; and Covid-19 related employment issues (e.g. furlough, shielding, homeworking, etc) (A/I/T).

• Knowledge of primary and secondary care mental health service systems (NHS Transformation) (A/I/T).

Desirable:

• Knowledge of the local area (London Borough of Southwark) (A/I/T).

Skills and Competencies

Essential:

• Continually expands knowledge in areas related to work and keeps up-to-date with developments (A/I/T).

• Communicates effectively with others, selecting the best method of communication including email, telephone, video or face-to-face (A/I/T).

• Deals with challenging conversations confidently and sensitively (A/I/T).

• Regularly reviews performance and develops solutions for improvement (A/I/T).

• Interprets and follows relevant policies, procedures and legislation (A/I/T).

• Demonstrates responsibility for own actions and development (A/I/T).

• Maintains positive outlook and adapts to change quickly (A/I/T).

• Copes with emotional stress and strain by maintaining self control and resilience (A/I/T).

Values

The focus of every role at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is always around the service user. Every member of staff is expected to meet these five commitments (A/I/T):

• To be caring, kind and polite.

• To be prompt and value your time.

• To take time and listen to you.

• To be honest and direct with you.

• To do what I say I'm going to do.

In addition, all staff must understand and support the organisation's commitment to eliminating discrimination, promoting equality and fostering good relations, and put this into practice in everything they do (A/I/T).

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Educated to degree level or equivalent (A).

Desirable criteria

• Qualification in Information Advice and Guidance (IAG) or similar (A).

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of delivering employment advice to people with mental health problems and/or disabilities who are unemployed (A/I).
• Experience of supervising or managing others (A/I

Desirable criteria

• xperience of setting up new services or projects (A/I).
• Lived experience of mental health problems or caring for someone with a mental health problem (A/I)

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Up-to-date knowledge about how to succeed in today's job market including labour market trends and common recruitment practices; and Covid-19 related employment issues (e.g. furlough, shielding, homeworking, etc) (A/I/T).
• Knowledge of primary and secondary care mental health service systems (NHS Transformation) (A/I/T)

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of the local area (London Borough of Southwark) (A/I/T).

Skills

Essential criteria

• Continually expands knowledge in areas related to work and keeps up-to-date with developments (A/I/T).
• Communicates effectively with others, selecting the best method of communication including email, telephone, video or face-to-face (A/I/T
• Deals with challenging conversations confidently and sensitively (A/I/T
• Regularly reviews performance and develops solutions for improvement (A/I/T)
• Interprets and follows relevant policies, procedures and legislation (A/I/T
• Demonstrates responsibility for own actions and development (A/I/T
• Maintains positive outlook and adapts to change quickly (A/I/T
• Copes with emotional stress and strain by maintaining self control and resilience (A/I/T

Attitude

Essential criteria

• Demonstrates passion for supporting people with mental health problems into work (A, I, T). • Takes responsibility for own actions and personal development (A, I, T).

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity

Please note:

• That all applications for this post will need to be made online
• That you read and understand the Job Description and Person Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
• That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
• That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
• That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not been successful
• That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
• That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
• That we are a smoke-free Trust

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion , Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe'

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Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• IPS Senior Employment Specialist - Southwark (PDF, 342.8KB)
• SLaM Staff Benefits (PDF, 1.1MB)
• Happy to Talk Flexible Working (PDF, 680.1KB)