Join Our Team and Make a Genuine Impact on Others’ Lives in Wokingham
Deadline: 22nd June 2025
* South East
* Full-time
Job overview
Are you passionate about guiding individuals toward meaningful employment in their recovery journey?
At Change Grow Live (CGL), we’re committed to empowering people through Individual Placement and Support (IPS), ensuring sustainable paid work aligned with their preferences.
This is your opportunity to be part of our recently established IPS service across Berkshire.
As an IPS Employment Specialist, you’ll continue with the ground breaking effort, developing project management, stakeholder engagement, and implementation skills. Extensive training and ongoing support will be provided to ensure your success.
Where: Wokingham
Full Time Salary Scale: £29,529.80 – £32,002.35 Dependent on experience ( pro rata for part time hours)
Hours: Full time – 37.5 per week
Role
Service Overview:
In this role, you’ll manage a caseload of 25 individuals receiving structured treatment for drug and/or alcohol use, helping them secure sustainable paid employment in line with their preferences.
You’ll deliver the IPS employment support approach, offering person-centred advice and guidance while fostering positive relationships with local employers to create employment opportunities.
Your focus will be on helping clients sustain their employment while working collaboratively with treatment service staff to identify potential referrals and provide integrated support leading to job acquisition and retention.
IPS is a fundamental commitment in the Government’s Drug Strategy, revolutionising employment support in all treatment services in England. This evidence-based model ensures service users secure preference-led paid work, significantly more effective than any other support.
Responsibilities
* Manage a caseload of around 25 clients in structured treatment for substance use who are motivated to start/return to work
* Deliver the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach for which training will be given.
* Meet and support clients to understand their key skills, aspirations, and goals through completing a Vocational Profile and produce an Action Plan to help them obtain and sustain competitive employment. This includes support with their job search, CV production, application forms, interview techniques and career development.
* Assess client support needs related to work which may include benefits/welfare advice, disclosure of mental health symptoms etc., and provide support & guidance.
* Attend weekly clinical team meetings as an embedded IPS practitioner.
* Source job opportunities for clients through tailored job search and regular contact with local employers to explore hidden as well as advertised employment opportunities.
* Provide education and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments, return to work strategy and on-going contact with the employer to ensure job retention.
* Build relationships with colleagues in clinical teams to engage and generate referrals and create collaborative working partnerships with clinical staff (promoting
employment as a positive intervention in the recovery journey).
* Once employment has been secured continue to provide quality service through conducting regular visits, effective monitoring and in-work support
to clients and employers to help sustain employment.
* To build and maintain employer relationships and maintain employer engagement database.
* Arrange regular meetings with clients to monitor and review progress pre and post- employment.
* Spend time getting to know local employers to negotiate job opportunities that meet everyone’s strengths, needs, abilities and preferences.
* To challenge inequalities experienced by clients and address existing discrimination, whilst ensuring a process of learning for the organisation
* Work with employers to promote the service, identify job opportunities and ensure appropriate strategies are in place to reduce barriers in the workplace – this can include exploring ‘job carving’ i.e. carving small slices of work from the duties other staff do not have time to do.
* To develop effective working relationships with a range of external agencies who can help individuals to achieve their employment goals. This may include local colleges and training providers.
* To adhere to administrative and data capture protocols which record the progress of individuals, and to keep accurate and complete records of casework.
To work independently, reliably and deliver consistently to deliver effective IPS practice.
* Ensure that effective monitoring and evaluation systems are adhered to and keep abreast of changing practice within vocational rehabilitation.
* To co-produce service development with service users where possible.
* To collect employment recovery stories from people accessing the service.
* Ensure that all relevant policies are implemented such as information governance, safeguarding etc.
* Partake in continuous learning about substance use and mental health conditions, their impact and how they can be managed and undertake mandatory training as required.
* Work flexible hours as required
The person
About You:
* Educated to degree level or equivalent work experience
* Strong communication skills for effective relationship building
* Proficient in team management and support strategies
* Aptitude in data collection and reporting for IPS services
* Dedication to assisting individuals secure paid employment
* Proven ability to connect with individuals, especially those affected by substance misuse
What We Offer:
* Generous holiday entitlement(+ bank holidays), increasing annually for first five years.
* Paid ‘Wellness’ hour each week, ‘Wellness’ hub, and Employee Assist Programme
* Contributory pension scheme
* Great benefits incl. discounts for shopping, cinema, holidays, etc.
* A supportive team passionate about their work
* Refer a friend scheme with generous vouchers for successful candidates
If you’re excited about this opportunity, apply now and be part of our transformative journey at Change Grow Live.
Join us in making a profound difference in people’s lives.
Please review the attached Job Description and Role Specifics for a detailed outline of responsibilities and Person Specification.
If you require sponsorship, please note that this role is not eligible for a Health and Care Worker visa. You may be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route but must meet the minimum salary requirements for the role. You can find out more hereSkilled Worker visa: Overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk )
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