Are you interested in supporting people to rebuild their lives after a mental health crisis?
In this rewarding role, you will support individuals recovering from a first episode of psychosis to move forward into education, training, and volunteering. Your work will help them regain independence, purpose, and confidence. You will also play a key role in reducing financial stress by providing practical welfare benefits support, enabling service users to focus fully on their recovery.
Over time, you will develop strong partnerships with educational institutions, local providers, and community services, ensuring our service users can access a wide range of opportunities to support their goals and aspirations.
We’re looking for someone who is:
Experienced in benefits advice, employability, education, or support work
Skilled at working with people facing complex barriers to engagement
Confident completing detailed benefits applications and paperwork
Able to build trusting, therapeutic relationships
Organised, proactive, and able to manage their own workload
Supporting service users to explore and access education, training and volunteering opportunities
Providing hands-on support with benefits applications (Universal Credit, PIP, Mandatory Reconsideration Requests, UC Journal Support etc)
Helping individuals set goals and overcome barriers to participation
Delivering 1:1 and Group sessions at team base and out in the community
Working collaboratively with care coordinators and other professionals as part of a multi-disciplinary mental health team
Building links with local providers, colleges, and community services
Keeping up to date with benefits changes and local educational opportunities
Updating records and sharing progress with the wider MDT
LEIS provides specialist Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) support to people aged 18–65 who are experiencing or recovering from a first episode of psychosis (FEP). Our service works collaboratively to support recovery, promote independence, and improve long ‑ term outcomes for service users within the borough of Lewisham.
This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and motivated individual who is committed to the Early Intervention (EI) ethos of hope, recovery, and high ‑ quality person ‑ centred care.
Why join LEIS?
Be part of a supportive, experienced multi-disciplinary team
Develop specialist skills in benefits advice and vocational recovery work
Access ongoing training and development opportunities
Build meaningful community partnerships
Shape the education and benefits pathway within the service
Make a visible, lasting difference to people’s recovery journeys
Please see attached full JD and person specification
Direct work
- Helping service users to identify and consider educational or voluntary opportunities, set personal goals, and develop appropriate action plans to overcome any barriers.
- Supporting service users to complete benefits application forms where eligible, such as Personal Independence Payments, Universal Credit, and Employment Support Allowance.
- Develop and facilitate group work as appropriate.
- Keeping up to date with local and national education and labour market trends & policy, and informing and educating service users and colleagues about education/training opportunities for our client group.
- Keeping up to date and informing and educating service users about welfare benefit changes relevant to client group
- Providing training to colleagues on welfare benefits eligibility.
Communication & engagement
- To collaboratively and sensitively work with individuals with a range of mental health needs, adjusting and adapting approach as necessary
- To use a range of communication methods and being flexible in what is offered - face-to-face appointments, video meetings, telephone calls, emails, texts.
- To be creative and innovative in engaging sometimes hard to reach service users
MDT working and stakeholder engagement
- Contribute to the EI Pathway vocational strategy by working closely alongside the team’s Occupational Therapist, Vocational/Employment specialist (IPS worker) and STaR worker
- Working with local providers to identify work experience, volunteering, courses and training that meet the needs of service user’s vocational development
- Working as part of a team, sharing knowledge and expertise, and contributing to team meetings, service development activities and wider networks
Documentation
- Typing clear and concise event entries, entering data onto electronic databases, ensuring that files and systems are always up-to-date and accurate.
- Participate in audits and data collection as required
