Supporting residents to live healthy and independent lives is a key priority for Warwickshire County Council. To help assist those with mental health conditions back into work or to retain their cu...
Supporting residents to live healthy and independent lives is a key priority for Warwickshire County Council. To help assist those with mental health conditions back into work or to retain their current employment, WCC provides a dedicated service through ReThink Mental Illness.
Funded by WCC and the European Social Fund, ReThink Mental Illness provides support to Warwickshire residents who have accessed secondary mental health services and are motivated to work or anyone who is in employment and has an emerging mental health issue, that could mean their employment may be at risk. This is done through promoting good mental health in the workplace by supporting and promoting well-being, and encouraging organisational good practice, understanding and supportiveness.
ReThink offers Individual Placement Support (IPS) whereby their Employment Specialists provide one-to-one dedicated support to help people in their efforts to achieve steady employment in mainstream competitive jobs, either part-time or full-time, helping individuals to make decisions about their future.
Alongside helping people into work, the ReThink IPS service also supports employers and their staff in regards to mental health matters in the workplace eg. phased return or reasonable adjustments.
One individual who was supported by ReThink first arrived at the service out of work, had left an abusive relationship and was estranged from her children as they had been removed from her care due to her mental health issues. Through support provided by the IPS service at ReThink, she was able to identify the types of job roles that suited her previous experience, work on her CV and confidence whilst identifying volunteering roles to help increase her experience and confidence in the workplace. She is now in paid employment with many hobbies to help increase her social confidence and regularly spends time with her children.
Talking about the benefits of ReThink, Councillor Les Caborn, portfolio holder for Adult Social Care and Health said:
“Over the past 15 months, ReThink have supported over 200 people and helped 79 people across Warwickshire into education and employment while working with 810 local employers.
“They have supported people into a wide variety of roles including teaching, healthcare, hospitality, administration, driving roles, retail, caring roles amongst many others.
“Supporting people with mental health conditions into employment or to retain their current employment is vital in our work to support residents to lead healthy and independent lives as far as possible.”
Nicola Hall, Service Manager at Rethink Mental Illness added;
“I am so proud of the team and of the achievements our service has attained during the past 15 months, supporting around 70 clients into employment and education as well as winning Awards at Pride of Warwick, for the care we demonstrate in our work and a Commendation from Leamington Business Awards for our service.
“To see the difference in people’s lives after securing employment and education and
the benefits this has on their confidence, self esteem and mental health is so rewarding.”
For further information about ReThink, visit https://www.rethink.org/services-groups/services/warwickshire-employment-service
Warwickshire Employment Support Service is part of Active Inclusion in Warwickshire, a project part funded by the European Social Fund.