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Introduction
Southdown Housing Association, a not-for profit Sussex-based organisation, is jointly commissioned by local authorities and Primary Care Trusts to provide vocational support services within Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust's Mental Health Recovery Teams. It currently provides vocational support to over 1,000 people each year across Brighton and Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex, and in 2010/2011 successfully met its contract targets by securing paid employment for 191 individuals.
Based on the proven success of these kinds of services, Southdown has been accredited as a national "Centre of Excellence" for delivery of the individual placement and support (IPS) model by The Centre for Mental Health, working in partnership with the Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust.
As part of its commitment as a Centre of Excellence Southdown was keen to undertake additional research to consider the wider benefits to the individuals that it has supported into work. During the summer 2011 Southdown commissioned a research project that looked to answer the question "Is work good for you?" - in particular to consider whether paid employment produces additional positive social capital returns for people with severe and enduring mental health needs[1] .
Mental health and employment
The estimated employment rates (above the benefit threshold of 16 hours a week) for people with mental health conditions are estimated to be around 13.5 per cent, whilst for people receiving secondary mental health care this figure is as low as 3.4 per cent. These levels compare poorly with the national average of 73.5 per cent for working age adults in the UK as a whole.
Mental ill health is the most common reason for claiming health-related benefits; 42 per cent of the 2.6 million people claiming health-related unemployment benefits are doing so primarily because of a mental health condition. Many others have a secondary mental health condition that contributes to their continuing unemployment and increases the barriers faced in returning to the workplace.
Amongst the working population at any one time, one in three people of working age in the UK are likely to experience some kind of mental distress or mental health problem. One in six adults of working age experiences some symptoms of mental distress that do not meet the criteria for a diagnosis of mental ill health but...