Announcing the IPS Workwise Employment Service

Working Well Trust and Twining Enterprise are delighted to announce they are partnering to deliver the IPS Workwise Employment Service to the residents of Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, Newham and Barking & Dagenham.  The service will support individuals with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and complex mental health needs, who want to work as part of their recovery journey, to retain or gain competitive employment.

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Employment Specialists from both Working Well Trust and Twining Enterprise will be integrated within community mental health teams to provide the IPS employment support.  In keeping with IPS model principles, as well as providing one-to-one employment support to clients, there will also be a strong emphasis on building relationships with local employers to secure sustainable jobs, alongside the provision of time unlimited support once clients resume or begin working.

Helen Forster, Chief Executive at Working Well Trust said, “Partnering with Twining Enterprise allows us to bring over 60 years of employment support experience to our new clients in North East London.  Our goal is to help them find meaning, structure, identity, purpose, and social connectedness through positive, sustainable work.  IPS Workwise will significantly contribute to individual mental health recovery, as well as help mitigate the ongoing recruitment crisis among employers.”

Oli Jacobs, Chief Executive at Twining Enterprise, said, “We are looking forward to establishing IPS Workwise as a leading IPS service in London.  We want to ensure residents who are struggling with their mental health, but still want to find good sustainable work as part of their recovery journey, can access timely and effective employment support.  Our experience shows the most effective way of doing this is by nurturing strong partnerships with a network of organisations, from commissioning bodies to local community mental health support hubs, as well as local employers looking to recruit committed local talent.  We can’t wait to get started!”

About Working Well Trust

For over 30 years, Working Well Trust has promoted better mental health and supported individuals recovering from mental illness.  Our mission is to improve the lives of people who experience mental health challenges and/or are neurodiverse, through employment.  We work to support individuals at every step of their mental health recovery and employment journey, providing emotional and practical support regardless of their personal situation.  From support finding training and work, to setting up a social enterprise, we provide a range of support for clients. All our services aim to provide convenient and reliable support that aids client’s mental health and wellbeing.

If you would like to learn more please visit https://workingwelltrust.org/ or to contact the Working Well team, please email them on [email protected].

About Twining Enterprise

Twining Enterprise exists to improve mental wellbeing through helping people with mental health challenges find and stay in work; and for over 30 years it has been changing the lives of individuals across London.  Twining is a leader in implementing the Individual Placement Support (IPS) model of employment support, trailblazing IPS in Primary Care and innovating with the model in Secondary Care, across North and West London.  Recognising the acute need for mental health support for young people from ethnic minority backgrounds it also provides an online mentoring programme for 18–24-year-olds and recently cemented its stake in providing Employment Advisor support to NHS Talking Therapies across Barnet, Ealing, Harrow and Hounslow.

Twining is also part of Hestia (www.hestia.org), a charity established for over 50 years to support people across London and the Southeast in their moment of crisis.  Whether it’s by giving someone a home or helping them to get the right mental health support, their focus has always been on recovery and building a life beyond crisis.

If you are 18 or over, experiencing mental health challenges and would like employment support, either to find new work or to improve an existing work situation that has become difficult, you can contact us on [email protected].