Celebrating One Year of Employment Advisors at Newham Talking Therapies

One year ago, Newham Talking Therapies launched a new employment support service via funding from the Department for Work and Pensions. This has enabled the team to provide various employment opportunities for service users across the borough, enabling them to become more confident and upskill along their recovery journey.

The service has been provided by Ingeus, a UK-based employment provider for health programmes, aiming to serve people by equipping them with training and skills needed for the workforce. The ‘Employment Advisors (EAs) in Talking Therapies’ scheme is led by Alison Campbell, who also leads similar schemes in Derbyshire.

A year after the launch, Ingeus hosted a reception to reflect on the opportunities provided to service users and the ways the organisation hopes to continue working with Newham Talking Therapies in the future.

During the event, Ingeus’ Head of Delivery, Fran Stanton and Director of Strategy and Business Development, Lindsay Mann thanked Newham Talking Therapies colleagues for integrating the Ingeus team at Vicarage Lane Health Centre.

Commenting on the partnership, Newham Talking Therapies’ Senior Clinical Lead, Daniela Antonie, said: “Employment support alongside psychological therapy significantly enhances recovery for clients most at risk of poor clinical outcomes. For clients less likely to recover, the odds of recovery are 2.54 times greater for those receiving employment support, with 47% achieving recovery compared to just 27% of those receiving therapy alone.

“Integrated EA support fosters long-term mental wellbeing, and I look forward to continuing to make a difference to service users’ lives with the support of Ingeus.”

If you would like to learn more about the employment support provided to service users at Newham Talking Therapies, you can contact Senior Employment Advisor, Don Rouse, at don.rouse@nhs.net - or Zakia Zertal at zakia.zertal@nhs.net.