Mark Power MIEP Shares Insights from the Frontline of Employment Support
Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 starts today from 13 to 19 May, and the theme set by the Mental Health Foundation is ‘Movement: Moving more for our mental health’. With our signing of the Mental Health at Work Commitment, the IEP remains committed to developing a workplace environment and culture where all employees can thrive and we’re equally committed to providing frontline professionals with the knowledge and skills to effectively support jobseekers with diagnosed and undiagnosed mental health conditions in their journey to employment.
Mark Power MIEP, Employment Advisor at Palladium and IEP Member of the Month January, is a recent completer of the IEP Learning Academy’s IEP Award in Mental Health for Employability programme who found the course to be “an insightful learning experience”.
“The award has helped me to not pre-judge people and to look deeper into people’s behaviour before having an opinion on their character,” said Mark.
Mark’s employer Palladium are running the Restart Scheme in the South Central region, and his role primarily is to support people who have been on Universal Credit for 9 months or longer to find employment. This involves all aspects of their life and the support they need to make this happen, inclusive of any barriers they have, and all done without any judgement.
Mark said the Award in Mental Health for Employability has helped with his work, particularly making it easier to spot triggers and early signs of mental health issues and giving him more confidence in his decision making.
“One example of this was a participant who had major anxiety issues and spent the whole first hour of our welcome meeting reaching through nerves. This was a reflex that had no cure and she was also seeing a psychiatrist for it,” he said.
“We started a very long journey on building up her confidence and discussing her individually as a person with no judgement and the employability took a back seat for 6 months.
“She grew in confidence and eventually coming to see me was one of the highlights of her week. This culminated in her applying for a job at Boots as a pharmacy dispenser including a 48-question quiz and an interview. She was successful and left the scheme in employment doing a job she enjoyed and her anxiety attacks alot less frequent and also more controllable.”
One in four adults experience mental illness, according to the NHS.
“I think the more educated we are around this then the more we can help people,” said Mark.
Find out more about the IEP Award in Mental Health for Employability here.
