Occupational Therapy News OTnews October 2019 | Page 30

FEATURE WORK
‘Once I’m doing something, it takes my mind off the pain’
Hannah, based in West Sussex, was diagnosed with mental health challenges at 15,
and experiences anxiety and fibromyalgia. ‘It affected me because I was scared of
doing things with the amount of pain I was in, but once I’m doing something, it takes
my mind off the pain. That is why work is part of recovery,’ she says.
Her NHS counsellor recommended IPS to her and she starting meeting with an
employment specialist for weekly sessions in a café to talk about what Hannah wanted
to do: build on her skills as a qualified hairdresser, address her anxiety and confidence,
and work on her CV. She now takes her skills as a mobile hairdresser into nursing
homes, and also works as a wardrobe mistress’s assistant where she is learning to sew.
The impact of the employment support extends beyond just work: it has given
Hannah confidence to go out, see her friends and travel to see them, as well as giving
her financial freedom and start to save.
‘I’ve felt like my employment specialist was there to help me and push me in the
right direction`. I definitely wouldn’t be in the place I am today if I hadn’t had support,’
she says.
30 OTnews October 2019
In an Australian study, Scanlan et al (2019)
evaluated outcomes achieved by individuals
(n=97) with a range of mental health diagnoses
who engaged with ‘WorkWell’, an Individual
Placement and Support (IPS) programme
informed by principles of the Collaborative
Recovery Model (CRM). Outcomes data
identified that 49.5 per cent of participants who
engaged in the programme gained a competitive
employment position, the average employment
duration was 21.6 weeks and overall, 63.9 per
cent were supported to achieve a vocationally
relevant outcome. The authors identify that
the addition of CRM principles to IPS appears
to support positive employment outcomes,
although results for employment placement rates
were lower than expected. They suggest that
future research should focus on which elements
of CRM contribute most to enhancing IPS
programmes.
therapist role,’ says Jasmin. ‘That really helped me at the start to
understand the principles.’
She adds: ’Find out where your local service is within
secondary mental health services and discover which clinical
teams have them, as not everyone has them. And then see how to
refer in, as all services are different.
‘Occupational therapists can be a vocational champion, so they
are the overarching recovery therapist in community mental health
teams. If they can be the champion for IPS and really support it
in a professional way to other groups, including other allied health
professionals, that would be really helpful.’
A particularly structured approach to doing this was taken up
in Sussex, where every employment specialist was partnered with
an occupational therapist, who took on a vocational champion
role, helping to make the most of both of their skills and together
challenging expectations of other professionals about the chances
of a person with severe mental illness gaining employment.
Other local partnerships have seen occupational therapists
in Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust work
directly in the employment service to expand their vocational and
IPS knowledge.
Says Gary: ‘Getting clinical staff to champion IPS employment
specialists would be ideal; occupational therapists are the perfect
role as they are focused on meaningful activity and work. I guess
part of the science is working with everybody as a team to help it
get embedded and get momentum going with referrals.’
With good integration, occupational therapists and employment
specialists work together, IPS is expanding rapidly and offering
new chances for people to take on work who previously thought it
would never be a real option.
Says Jasmin: ‘Sometimes you can hear that people aren’t
ready for work. When you then get an IPS worker to get them into
work you do hear from people, “I never thought they would work, I
thought they were too chronic”.
Reference
Scanlan JN, Feder K, Ennals P, Hancock N
(2019) Outcomes of an individual placement and
support programme incorporating principles
of the collaborative recovery model. Australian
Occupational Therapy Journal, 66(4) 519–529
‘It changes that culture and you are helping people to change
those views. It’s getting away from older models of care in mental
health and focusing on independence.’
Andrew Mickel, OTnews journalist, email: andrew.mickel@rcot.
co.uk. Find out more at: ipsgrow.org.uk