May 15, 2024

Project Manager for Step Forward into Volunteering and Employment, Shelley Studholme, gives us an update on the programme’s activity during the first quarter of 2024:

The Step Forward into Volunteering and Employment Service supports individuals living alongside severe and enduring mental health experiences move forward into either work or volunteering opportunities. We are funded through the NENC ICB and are an integrated NHS service hosted by Cumbria CVS. We provide a holistic, aspirational, needs led, person centred aspirational and hopeful service. We work in partnership with Carlisle Eden Mind, Together We and The Glenmore Trust.

We support individuals in a time unlimited manner, putting interventions in along the way to support forward movement, be they academic upskilling, CBT, access to relevant services, CV, interview skills – overcoming barriers and misconceptions to mental health experiences and promoting the value of real, authentic and lived experience.

When our clients are ready to move forward into volunteering or employment placement, we actively employer and volunteer engage to find the right meaningful placement with the right work ethos, values, behaviours, mental health support and healthy approach to flexibility and reasonable adjustments.

Once placed we stay alongside our clients offering 3 months in work, in volunteering placement support and only step away if the client declares to us they are now confident and independent enough to do it on their own; and can navigate and articulate conversations with their employer, or volunteering placement provider, to ensure needs are met and mental health is maintained. The ultimate outcome is opportunities secured within the workplace and volunteering roles are maintained, sustained and retained.

We commenced on October the 10th 2022 – World Mental Health Day – and were funded to July 2024, however we have just secured continuation until July 2025, by using our underspend and submitting a business plan to the NENC ICB commissioners, which was accepted with the condition we feed into the national NHS Mental Health Services Data Set, which allows our data to be captured nationally and then interpreted on a local level. We have just made our first submission.

To date, we have taken 122 referrals since starting. These can come from self referrals or referrals from other professionals and agencies. We have 22 Volunteering outcomes and 24 Employment outcomes from October 2022 to March 2024. We are well networked, attending well over 100 events sharing the service, raising the profile of the service and generating referrals. We have built and built upon and have good and strong relationships with the NHS, DWP, Social Prescribers, Third Sector Mental Health Providers and have for some time been taking referrals directly from the Community Mental Health Treatment and Crisis teams, such is their respect and recognition of our service.

We identified a gap within the Community Treatment Teams that the IPS were not filling and worked and collaborated and broke down barriers to fill it.

In addition, because we work within the third sector and can move at pace and be creative, we have developed and delivered the Better Mental Health Toolkit to support employers, employees, volunteering placement providers and colleagues across all sectors. We have over 70 organisations signed up to the toolkit.

We have delivered a Library of Lived Experience across North Cumbria, sharing lived experience of mental health experiences and have shared that knowledge with others to ensure the LLE can be used by others; and in addition have developed and delivered a training offering in relation to mental health and the workplace and have delivered this to Copeland and Allerdale Citizens Advice staff and colleagues.

From January 2024 to March 2024 of this year we have delivered:-

1. Step Forward funded and organised a 2-day MHFA England for Managers course to the Step Forward team, wider CVS team and other colleagues from the third sector, it was delivered by Michael Boden CEO of Carlisle Eden Mind, securing a new batch of Mental Health First Aiders within Step forward, CVS and the wider third sector.
2. I (Shelley Studholme) attended Austin Friars, Carlisle delivering CV workshops and hosting a Step Forward stall at their first ever careers fair hosted by Becca Care, we plan to build upon this and work together to develop this offering within Carlisle.
3. Step Forward hosted a stall at the Social Prescribers Fair at Christ Central Church, Workington.
4. Step forward hosted a stall at Ewanrigg community Centre, Maryport the third sector meets the ICB.
5. Step forward hosted a stall at Cockermouth Community Hospital the third sector meets the ICB.
6. Attended and delivered a Library of Lived Experience to Social Prescribers, Pharmacists, and other NHS professionals at Wecan, Carlisle led by Sarah Penn.
7. Step Forward attended, presented at and funded an Inclusivity in Volunteering, for Volunteering Managers event at Annie Mawson’s Sunbeam Music Trust, Penrith for volunteering managers from across the county to educate, promote and instill inclusivity and good practice in volunteering and for volunteers.
8. In addition we have hosted a Work Experience placement for a gentleman as part of the Copeland Work and Skills neuro diversity placement and support package, working with All Together Cumbria, Morgan Sindall and Better Bodies.
9. Step Forward attended and completed Positive Relationships in the Workplace free training delivered by Adult Learning, Workington library.
10. Delivered a business plan to the NENC ICB Commissioners to retain funding – successful outcome, funded to July 2025.
11. Attended and completed training for the Mental health Services Data Set MHSDS and have made a successful submission one month early, March 2024 data captured.
12. Attended and hosted a Step Forward stall at the Rebuild site, Carlisle, Kingmoor Park, 2 day Spring Fair.

In addition, the Step Forward Team supported our active clients during the last 3 months and always responded quickly (within 2 weeks) to new referrals. We delivered the service, networking, attending relevant meetings, identifying and building links to support clients, promote the service, reach out to those living alongside mental health experiences and support our colleagues in other organisations and the sector.