We are a mental health charity that supports people to achieve their recovery goals through training and support to employment.
This means that we help people identify what they want to do about work. This may mean a quick move to finding work immediately but it may also mean looking at different ways to go back to work in the longer term. Work can be stressful but it is also a source of satisfaction, financial independence, and social contact and increased feelings of self-worth. Work is also linked to wellbeing, both mental and physical. The majority of people with mental health want to work but they are often significantly disadvantaged in the labour market.
Working with local mental health professionals, mental health service providers, local businesses and service user groups we support people to develop an action plan that sets out their choices around work. We focus on what people can do and then work with them to sustain their employment.
We offer training and employment support.
Training is available in three social enterprises. The enterprise teams work with real customers making sure that they meet deadlines, quality and cost demands. These environments offer a supportive way back in to work for people who are unsure about the route they want to take, they can acquire great transferable skills and build their confidence before taking the final step to go back to work.
We operate three employment support services that offer different routes into employment. Again we focus on the beneficiary's choice about how they want to return to work. Some people want to re-train or gain qualifications before work whilst others benefit from going in to work quickly with support from us and their employer to sustain that employment.
Finally, we offer help to people whose employment is at risk. The retention service works with the employee and employer to agree a way forward.
