Employment Specialist

Milton Keynes (Bletchley) | Central and North West London NHS Trust

Permanent contract

Could you help people experiencing mental health challenges achieve their employment goals and build a brighter future through work? Join Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust as an Employment Specialist and support people across Milton Keynes to secure and sustain meaningful employment through the evidence-based IPS approach.

Deadline: 19th August 2026

• South East
• Full-time

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) is one of the UK’s largest NHS Foundation Trusts, providing a wide range of mental health, community health, learning disability, addiction, specialist and health justice services across London, Milton Keynes, Surrey and surrounding areas. The Trust delivers care and support throughout a person’s life, with a strong focus on recovery, wellbeing, inclusion and enabling people to live fulfilling lives within their communities.

CNWL is committed to delivering person-centred, recovery-focused services that help people achieve their goals and improve their quality of life. Working closely with local communities, partner organisations and employers, the Trust promotes innovative approaches that support both physical and mental wellbeing. The Trust is recognised for its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, creating opportunities for both service users and staff to thrive

Looking for a role where no two days are the same? Where your values matter and your energy makes an impact? This could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.

We’re on the lookout for a motivated, passionate self-starter to join our team as an Employment Specialist—someone ready to kick-start a career in mental health and make a meaningful difference across the North West London community.

This is more than just a desk job. If you thrive on being out and about, building relationships with local employers, and meeting people in the community where they are — this could be the role for you. You’ll work independently and remotely for a significant part of your working week, but will be supported by a team supervisor and colleagues in your mental health team.

You’ll receive comprehensive, on-the-job training, including IPS (Individual Placement and Support) best practices, and healthcare-related CPD. Whether you’re new to the field or bringing valuable life experience, we’ll support your growth every step of the way.

As an IPS Employment Specialist, you’ll be part of a multi-disciplinary team within secondary mental health services, helping people with mental health needs find fulfilling, paid employment as part of their recovery journey. You’ll work collaboratively, advocate passionately, and walk alongside people as they regain confidence, purpose, and independence.

If you’re values-driven, community-minded, and ready to grow – this is your next step.

Communication

• To manage a caseload of between 20–25 people who have experienced mental health or substance misuse problems who wish to return to work.
• To challenge inequalities experienced by mental health service users and to address existing discrimination, whilst ensuring a process of learning for the organisation.
• To provide individualised support to service users once they have returned to work to assist them in sustaining employment.
• To market the service to clinical staff and service users to ensure the service is well utilised.
• To have an understanding of evidenced based IPS employment practice, with a focus on delivering a person-centred, high quality service.
• To meet and exceed sustained job outcome targets for people accessing the service.
• Building relationships with clinical teams to generate referrals and create collaborative working partnerships with clinical staff, ensuring a Multi-Disciplinary Team approach to supporting individuals to get back to work.
• To support the team in promoting a recovery orientated environment by identifying recovery-focused activities and imparting information and education as required. This would involve promoting courses being delivered by Recovery and Wellbeing College as well as…