Marches Mental Health Service proves to be Centre of Excellence

A charity which works with the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership to help people overcome barriers to education, training and employment has become the first in the country to gain centre of excellence status for one its services.

Landau Ltd is the first NHS Wave 2 funded site to achieve the status in the UK for a programme which supports people with enduring mental health issues.
The Herefordshire Individual Placement and Support (HIPS) service is provided by Landau, who have 25 years experience working with employers and employees, in collaboration with Herefordshire Mental Health and Learning Disability Service.
HIPS launched in April 2019 and covers the whole of Herefordshire, delivering support to unemployed adults who are experiencing a mental health barrier.
Specialists help people with severe mental health difficulties into employment, offering intensive, individual support, a rapid job search followed by placement in paid employment and time-unlimited, in-work support for both the employee and the employer.
Landau CEO Sonia Roberts – a Marches LEP board member – said: “Landau is proud to announce that as a result of the brilliant work of the HIPS team Landau is recognised as an ‘IPS Centre of Excellence’ demonstrating a high quality in their IPS model and the job outcomes they achieve for people with severe and enduring mental illness and/or other complex health conditions.
“This recognition is most timely as we prepare staff for the huge demand in our services following the coronavirus epidemic. It is predicted that a vast number of people will look to access mental health service and employment support. Landau is in a brilliant position to deliver both.”
The Landau HIPS team has demonstrated areas of excellent practice including client-focused job search, supervision, integration and quality of employer engagement, as measured by the IPS fidelity scoring process.
The employment specialists on the team work with their clients to determine their job preferences and develop working relationships with local employers to facilitate the right employment for their client that is both sustainable, and in a competitive employment environment.
Diane Topham, Deputy Lead for Mental Health and Learning Disabilities in Herefordshire said: “We are proud to be in partnership with Landau in providing this important service to our service users. The HIPS workers are fully integrated and are valued members of the mental health teams.”
Landau are currently piloting a young persons service across the Marches aiming to become the first Young Persons IPS service provider in the UK.