Save the date: IPS celebration event
On Tuesday 3 December, from 10.30am to 12.00noon, our Independent Placement and Support team (IPS) will be holding an online celebration event to look back, celebrate and reflect on the inspiring stories and achievements of IPS service users and staff. Chief Executive Sarah Connery will open the event. All are welcome.
Tea & Talk drop-ins
Two members of the IPS team, Zoe Ward and Becci Ellis, have recently become wellbeing champions. Together, they are launching online Tea & Talk drop-in sessions to support the team’s wellbeing.
Olivia’s IPS Journey
My name is Olivia, and I am currently working as an IPS Employment Specialist.
My IPS journey started with my lived experience as a service user of the IPS team, after being referred by my Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN). Out of all the mental health services I have accessed, it has been my experience with the IPS team that has been the most helpful given how it has absolutely changed, and possibly even saved, my life.
I have been supported twice by the IPS team. The first time was in 2018 when, completely out of the blue, I had a psychotic episode and was admitted to the Peter Hodgkinson Centre in Lincoln. After I was discharged, I entered a deep depression and couldn’t work for months. My natural healing centre business that I had run for over 20 years, which offered services like yoga, massage therapy and hypnotherapy, was closed, and subsequently most of my longtime clients went elsewhere. I was suddenly a single mum with four children, a mortgage and no income.
My first employment specialist (ES) was amazing in supporting me with reopening. She helped me understand that it was better for me that I only had a few clients now as I could ease back into it and work more gently, making me more likely to cope and succeed. She acquired support for me with an ESA and PIP claim which was invaluable and supported with all the re-marketing. She really helped me regain my confidence and motivation which had been shattered; she even taught me how to use a spreadsheet and how to do my own books. Her ideas were inspirational - she came up with the suggestion that I try taking my work to nursing homes as a mobile service which I did, and it was a real success.
Then came the pandemic! Being a personal service, especially in nursing homes, my business was the first to shut down and last to reopen. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been back in service long enough to qualify for the Self Employment Support or any grants, so I was back to square one. My ES was in touch with me throughout the lockdowns and was fantastically positive and supportive; she would encourage me with statements like “we’ve re-launched you before Olivia, we can do it again” and so we did—a SECOND time!
Then I had a psychotic episode again. I was terrified that I was never going to be well and that my children would be taken from me, with a second business relaunch being a failure, another hospitalisation, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and some heavy medication. After almost 25 years of running a successful business and raising my family, I was devastated, and I simply didn’t have the energy to re-launch a third time. I made the sad decision to close my healing centre altogether.
In desperation for an income, I took a role in one of the nursing homes I had been visiting when I was working for myself, but this time employed as an activities coordinator. I was most likely over-qualified for this role, but I hoped that I would get to perform pleasant aromatherapy hand massages, reiki treatments and chair yoga exercises, etc., with the residents like I had before, but without the stress of running my own business. However, it was even more stressful; in fact, it was awful! I hated every moment of it. I hardly ever got to do the nice activities I was supposed to be doing with them as I had when I had been hired in as a more expensive outside visitor. I was continuously told to swap to a carer’s role due to understaffing, and I could feel the detrimental effects it was having on my mental health; I was down again.
My Mental Health Nurse suggested using the IPS service again, which I was so grateful for, as I didn’t think I could use it twice. A new ES was assigned to me and recognised instantly that with all the lived experiences of overcoming barriers to work I have gained, I would make a great Peer Support Worker for the Employment Service, and so I applied and held the position for 18 months until the post of Employment Specialist became available, to which I applied and again was successful.
Thanks to LPFT’s provision of the IPS service, and the recognition, emotional support and guidance I received from my Employment Specialist — especially with my application, NHS interview preparation, and opportunities to meet some of the team I’d be working with — I’m now incredibly proud to be working alongside her. It’s a privilege to give back by helping others overcome similar challenges and barriers to employment that I once faced myself.
I find the team inspirational and the work so rewarding. I am proud of my progression, and my mental health is the best it has been in years.
