Support2Work

Many people with mental health problems are struggling in work, or not working. The Support2Work project aims to assess whether seeing an Employment Adviser within the NHS Talking Therapy service improves people’s mental health and work-related outcomes, such as employment, return to work or productivity. This project also seeks to understand whether these outcomes differ between different socio-economic groups, how these outcomes are brought about and whether overall the Employment Adviser service offers value for money. A further question investigates whether seeing an Employment Adviser helps reduce secondary healthcare costs to the NHS. 
 
Based on our results, we will create descriptions of people who could potentially do well from seeing an Employment Adviser. An example might be a police officer struggling with work after an upsetting event. Another example might be an unemployed healthcare worker with anxiety problems. For each description, we will show if/how Employment Advisers could help people. 

We will use our findings and descriptions to write up recommendations of how to improve the service, sharing these with the government, the NHS, other stakeholders, and patient groups. This project will help people with poor mental health and will provide relevant information for employers and  policymakers.