Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Employment Service

Meet the team

Sara Brewin – Service Manager for Allied Health Professionals, Recovery and Inclusion

Sara started her LPFT career in 2003 as a Community Support Worker in one of the adult Community Mental Health Teams and then in 2011 qualified as an Occupational Therapist.

Sara is very passionate about mental health, recovery and inclusion, and very much values the role that collaborative working plays in a person’s recovery. Before becoming the Service Manager for the IPS Employment Team, she was the IPS Team manager for three years and is still very passionate about supporting and enabling the service to continue to grow.

Outside of work, Sara enjoys being a mum, spending time with family and friends, and going on local walks to keep her mind happy and healthy.

Jasmine Fawcett – IPS Team Manager

"Prior to becoming the Team Manager, I was a Senior Employment Specialist for Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust and before that an Employment Specialist. This puts me in a great position to support the staff members now in those roles as I understand the challenges they might face in supporting our service users, for example the impact of how rural Lincolnshire is on gaining employment. Our team covers all localities within LPFT and has staff from different backgrounds, which means they are able to bring a variety of different skills and knowledge to the team.

"Supporting others to live well with mental health conditions has always been important to me, which led me to study Psychology at University. Before and after graduating I experienced working in a number of roles, including retail, care, the university, physical healthcare, working with young people, volunteering for Samaritans and working in clinical research. I love my job now but I definitely did not love all of these, which really makes me appreciate what a difference the right role and employer can have. It is really rewarding supporting our service users to gain employment that is right for them and seeing what a positive impact this can have on their lives."

Vicki Masson – Senior Mental Health Employment Specialist covering Central Lincolnshire, based in Sleaford

"I started working in the Trust in 2005. I have had various roles and have managed to gain qualifications and learn new skills along the way. I worked in Grantham Community Mental Health Team for many years and loved being able to support people on their individual recovery paths.

"Since joining IPS in 2021 I have supported service users into work and helped others retain their paid employment, it is such a valuable service and a very rewarding job.

"I feel privileged to be part of someone’s journey into work and am passionate about making a difference to people’s wellbeing and recovery."

Sheila Imbriano – Senior Employment Specialist, covering the South area, based in Grantham

On leaving education Sheila completed an apprenticeship in hairdressing. Whilst raising her family she worked in nursing and residential homes, initially as a cleaner but she then grew to realise her passion for supporting others. Sheila started working for LPFT in 2000 as a Nursing assistant providing therapeutic groups within day services on the Beaconfield Site in Grantham. Career progression throughout the years as a community support worker and a housing support worker led to her becoming involved in the pilot for IPS employment support in 2015.

Having a varied career path, an appreciation of supporting others to become independent and her own lived experience, she understands the importance of a good work life balance and she promotes this within her work at every opportunity.

Sheila has a busy family life as a mother of four and a nana to eight grandchildren. Sheila enjoys music, baking novelty cakes, football and formula one racing.

Sarah Jones – Senior Mental Health Employment Specialist, covering the North area and based in Lincoln

Sarah gained her degree in Psychology and Criminology, and prior to joining the team, she began working for Lincolnshire County Council’s Special Educational Needs Department, which led her to a Therapeutic role supporting children and young people within Lincolnshire Children’s Services.

Sarah was working at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust before joining the team, and this is where her passion for supporting patients grew. Sarah has lived experience as a carer for her father with Parkinson’s disease and his journey with the associated mental health struggles.

Sarah is immensely passionate about mental health and believes getting back to work in a job you enjoy is hugely beneficial. Sarah enjoys supporting people through their own journey and finds it immensely rewarding watching people grow and become confident in their own abilities.

Lesley Sheehan – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Early Intervention in Psychosis

Lesley is passionate about making a positive difference in people's lives and finds her role very rewarding, she feels truly honoured to be part of a Service User’s journey into paid employment. Lesley thrives on making connections with people and finding ways to both support and empower those she works with. Her work is driven by empathy and compassion and she is committed to improving the lives of others. Having a varied career path, she has an appreciation of supporting others to become more confident and independent and with her own lived experience, she understands the importance of a good work-life balance and she cherishes promoting this within her work at every opportunity.

Lesley is very passionate about mental health and wellbeing, recovery, diversity and inclusion and she very much values the role that collaborative-working plays in a person’s recovery journey. Lesley is passionate about supporting people to find suitable employment which she strongly believes plays an important role in mental health recovery and that it has a positive impact on overall wellbeing; that it’s as important to look after our mental health, as it is our physical health. Lesley is also a Health Care Support Worker, NHS Bank Staff, and works on adult mental health wards around Lincolnshire.

Rebecca "Becci" Ellis – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Perinatal Team

Becci has worked for the NHS for over 20 years, where she has mainly worked as an Adult Nurse. She started working for Individual Placement Support (IPS) in November 2023 covering the Boston area. She takes pride in her job and strives to support individuals to meet their career goals.

Elaine Dutton – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Lincoln City Community Mental Health Team

Elaine started her career journey wanting to be a Forensic Psychologist, probably after watching too much Cracker on TV! Instead, her journey took her from an undergraduate degree in psychology into adult education and community rehabilitation. From there she worked in education in various roles for many years, including youth work and tutoring in alternative provision, teaching psychology in mainstream school, pastoral care and enrichment programmes, and most recently leading on Careers Education in secondary schools. She is currently studying HR Management with the hope of better understanding recruitment practises and employment law. Empowering people to make informed decisions about their own lives, to do what they love and be happy and healthy are what Elaine has worked towards in all her previous roles and hopes to bring this passion to her role with IPS.

Out of work Elaine is rarely found inside, preferring the outdoorsy world of hiking, camping, and exploring the countryside with her son, partner and overly energetic Border Collie ‘Mazie’. She likes live music, cooking, ‘upcycling’ furniture, and if she can’t get away up a mountain at the weekend, she’ll be found in the garden growing vegetables.

Leah Dobbs – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Spalding Integrated Place Based Team

"I have accumulated 5 years of continuous NHS service and have always had a keen interest in the mental health sector. I believe employment is a crucial component in the overall recovery process; I feel as though I am a prime example of this with live in experience and having knowledge of being an IPS service user. Being an Employment Specialist is very rewarding, especially being part of a service users journey to recovery and encouraging them to believe in themselves."

Julie Measures – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Gainsborough

Julie has been an Employment Specialist with LPFT since April 2023.  For most of her career she has worked in the education and employment sectors as a qualified Careers Adviser helping adults and young people to work through barriers to achieve their aspirations and find their purpose.  Mental health and wellbeing has been central to her work, a factor that motivated her to enter the IPS service. Julie also has experience of running her own business.

Michelle Wilkinson – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Grantham

Michelle’s background is with the Probation Service for 15 years working with people within the community and within custodial settings which included rehabilitation, addictions, mental health, accommodation, finance, relationships, programmes and employment.  With a passion for supporting others through their own journey, Michelle feels honoured to be able to work with people wanting to retain or gain employment to assist with their mental health and wellbeing.  

Julie Salt – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Louth

"I am very passionate about mental health, recovery and the importance of work for mental health in facilitating recovery. Being in work is important for general health and well-being: it gives us a purpose as well as a wage, promoting independence, as well as enabling social contacts.

"My working life began with teaching French and Psychology after undertaking my adult teaching qualification. I then progressed to managing a department in a local authority education service offering educational opportunities to the local community.

"I have lived experience as a carer through my daughters’ recovery journey in mental health services. My approach is to always try to understand what it is like to be in someone else’s shoes and bring this perspective to my work roles.

"I spent four years championing the carer perspective in a community representative role at Navigo mental health services. I have delivered Beat eating disorder training for the national charity Beat.

"Currently I am championing collaboratively working in my ad hoc peer reviewer role with the Royal College of Psychiatrists on working age mental health wards. I also have experience of working at Safe Space (Mind) the crisis café in Grimsby.

"My most recent working role as Employment Specialist I have been doing for 18 months now. This involves supporting people in community mental health services into/ to retain employment.

"Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my grand pups’ – two adorable Golden Doodles who bring a lot of pleasure and mischievousness. My favourite thing to relax is a long soak in the bath not forgetting my Lush bath products!"

Amy Woods – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Stamford

"I’ve been an employment specialist for Lincoln North and Gainsborough CMHT, covering for a colleague whilst she is on leave and am shortly going to be starting permanently covering Stamford. I have only been in this role for a few months, but it has already made me appreciate so much. I’ve worked for Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust for the past 5 years but my role before this one was in a corporate team, looking after the recruitment for new bank staff. Before this, I worked at a solicitors as a legal secretary so I have always worked in an admin-style role but this one is completely new to what I know.

"The best part about this role is engaging with the service users by far and giving them the hope and confidence boost that they need. I love to chat and support people and it gives me a buzz when people achieve their goals and I enjoy being part of that journey.

"I truly believe there is the ‘perfect’ job out there for everyone, its just finding that job which can be a bit of a struggle but that’s what I’m here for! The great thing about being an employment specialist is that no day is the same and you get to interact with a variety of people.

"I am passionate about mental health as it is something we all have and need to look after, and employment plays a huge part in an individuals mental health. Everyone always thinks ‘it won’t happen to me’ when in fact, it can happen to anybody. A mental health conditions do not discriminate. Always be kind, as you just don’t know what somebody else is going through."

Zoe Ward – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Spalding

"I began my LPFT career as a bank support worker in 2016, then went on to qualify as a mental health nurse. My mental health background includes rehabilitation, substance misuse, and a variety of inpatient wards. I began working for the Individual Placement and Support Service in August 2020. I am passionate about supporting service user’s to find meaningful employment, which I believe empowers them to move forward positively within their lives. Employment offers people a sense of purpose, identity, stability, financial independence and a routine which are all essential to our service user’s recovery journey’s and it is an honour to support people within this aspect.

"I also enjoy working part of a team who offer a wide variety in skills coming from different backgrounds, which provides a vast wealth of experience that make IPS team a caring and compassionate service."

Karen Hallett – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Boston

Karen initially trained in ladies hairdressing but found that it wasn’t for her and started work for the civil service. She started working in Jobcentres in 1989. Karen has a passion for helping people find the right job for themselves and seeing how it helps their self-esteem and general outlook on life.

Outside work, Karen loves watching cookery programmes and travelling.

Dee-Anne Greensmith – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Lincoln South

Dee-Anne has been an Employment Specialist for the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Employment Team since 2018 and prior to this, in a variety of other NHS organisations including, Community Mental Health Teams, Integrated Adult Health and Wellbeing Services and Continuing Healthcare. She is passionate about supporting people to make their own choices, find a good job match for them and helping them to gain and retain meaningful, paid employment which makes a significant difference to their lives. She feels honoured knowing that she is helping with their recovery journey.

Kelly Thornton - Mental Health Employment Specialist, Sleaford

Prior to joining the IPS Team, Kelly was an Assistant Practitioner in the Early Intervention in Psychosis team for three years. Previous to this, Kelly worked in CAMHS in an acute inpatient setting supporting children from the age of 13-18. Kelly is a qualified Midwife having trained 15 years ago and has always had a passion for working in mental health, having worked in a mother and baby unit which specialise in treating severe mental health problems. Kelly is passionate about supporting people to find suitable employment which plays a key role in recovery and has a positive impact on overall wellbeing. Kelly is a mum to four children, and she is a carer for her youngest daughter who is neurodivergent. Kelly is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion. In her free time, Kelly enjoys walking her two whippets and gardening.

Clare Fuller - Mental Health Employment Retention Specialist, Lincolnshire North

Before joining the IPS team Clare worked for the Probation Service for 14 years actively supporting the rehabilitation of Service Users in the community and upon leaving prison. She has had the privilege of watching people on her caseload grow and understands the importance of being in the right job for your own wellbeing. Mental Health has been at the forefront of all work Clare has done and this is something she has a keen interest in and feels very passionate about.

Jack Bennett - Mental Health Employment Retention Specialist, Lincoln City

“Hello, my name is Jack and I joined LPFT in September 2024. I have spent the last 15 years working with people recovering from mental health difficulties, and previously I have worked at probation and homeless charities and with young people.

“I am very passionate about supporting people in their recovery. The IPS team is a great team with a large array of specialists, and they excel at supporting each other to come up with solutions for our service users. It’s a great team to be part of.”

Sarah Vines – Mental Health Employment Specialist, Skegness

Sarah is new to the IPS Team and is an Employment Specialist, predominantly covering the Skegness area. Her background combines experience in Human Resources Management and Community Development projects and engagement. Sarah is also experienced in supporting Unpaid Carers needs and rights. Sarah is passionate about providing the support to enable everyone to meet their full potential.

Fiona "Fee" Schofield - IPS Administrator

 

Fee’s career after graduating from Nottingham Tent University in 1997 was as a formally trained fashion designer in London for various brands/designers before returning to Lincoln in 2002 to care for her late father, which she did for 15 years.  Upon returning to Lincoln Fee had had a varied career in Academia and ended up back at NTU as the Research and Graduate School Team Leader within the faculty of Arts and Humanities.  Following this Fee worked locally as a data analyst then for the Rural Development Programme for England supporting rural businesses apply for funding.

Fee joined the NHS in 2011 and had worked in various areas starting in the Lincoln PCT supporting GP revalidation and moving to LPFT to support the Older Adults team.  Fee spent 5 years working at Rampton Hospital and returned to LPFT as a support worker within the Crisis Team before a short spell as a Trainee Nursing Associate.

Fee has decided to put a pause on her career for now and very much enjoys working for the IPS team as their full-time administrator alongside a team of Mental Health Employment Specialists and Peer Support Workers who achieve amazing things.

Ceri Miller – IPS Administrator

Leah Charnock – Peer Support Worker, Sleaford

This is Leah’s first job role within the NHS. Before this, Leah worked as a Customs and Trade Advisor for 3 years. Leah previously used the IPS Employment service, working with Natalie Wells. Having an employment specialist support and guide her, led her to her role as a Peer Support Worker within the IPS Employment service, which she thoroughly enjoys. With Leah having not only lived experience of poor mental health, but also using the IPS Employment Service, she is keen to help and inspire other people to get into paid employment which they enjoy, as she knows this is a massively important step to your recovery, of leading a happy and healthy life.

When Leah is not working, she likes to spend her time travelling and seeing new places, trying new things and having fun days out!