Schizophrenia Awareness Day: Supporting people back into the workplace
25 Jul 24
We know that schizophrenia can significantly impact people’s lives and getting back into work is one aspect that can be extremely challenging.
As part of Schizophrenia Awareness Day, we are offering some advice for people living with schizophrenia and other mental health conditions about how to find work and keep well once in employment
· Identify your personal values when thinking about looking for a new job. Will this job align with my personal values? Will this job support me on my recovery journey? Will this job enable me to build positive relationships? Will this job offer me a sense of identity and purpose in life?
· Ensure the employer has a good reputation as a supportive employer, for example are they a ‘Disability Confident Employer’? Do they have a Mental Health Champion/Mental Health First Aider on site? Do they have a good reputation? You can find these things out by researching the employer online.
· Decide whether you wish to disclose mental health challenges to a potential employer. You may not want to tell your employer because you are worried about confidentiality or how you will be treated, however if you do share this information, you will be better supported by your employer under the protection of the Equality Act.
Keeping well once in employment
· Ensure you have completed a WAP - Wellness Action Plan, and shared with your manager so they can identify early warning signs if you start to become unwell in the workplace.
· Agree a regular meeting with your manager so that any reasonable adjustments that you may require in the workplace can be identified and actioned as soon as possible to support your wellbeing.
· Become familiar with resources within your workplace that you may need to ensure your wellbeing such as Occupational Health, Human Resources, Access to Work and the Flexible Working Policy.
For people who are already being supported by HPFT, they can access our Individual Placement Support service (IPS) who support people into employment, regardless of the mental health challenges they face.
The Individual Placement Support (IPS) service recently helped a young man who is living with symptoms of schizophrenia to get back into work.
The IPS service received a referral from the clinical team for a male service user who was struggling to find employment on his own despite being motivated and delivering his CV to various employers. After a while he became despondent as he was not receiving any responses.
Our employment specialist met the service user for an informal discussion and this was followed by four weeks of intensive support.
The service user felt that his main challenge to obtaining work was the conviction on his criminal record, as well as some of the symptoms of his schizophrenia which could manifest themselves as auditory hallucinations. He was keen to obtain work in a kitchen environment preparing food or pot washing as this was his allocated employment whilst he was in prison. He stated how “work will help with my mental health.”
The IPS team developed a good relationship with the manager of the local Public House who were keen to meet the service user and have an informal discussion with him about a potential job offer working in the kitchen. He was offered a role and his IPS team contact attended with him on his first day at work to ensure he was comfortable and felt safe in his environment. Since then, he has flourished in his new role and remains in the job to this day.
For further information on employment-related courses and other courses for mental health recovery and wellbeing, please visit: New Leaf Recovery and Wellbeing College Courses A-Z (newleafcollege.co.uk)
For further information on HPFT’s Individual Placement Support Service (IPS), please visit: Helping you back into paid employment (hpft.nhs.uk)