Press Release - "Tried and tested - Mental Health Europe urges EU to take up Individual Placement and Support"
Eoin Joseph Killackey
Hi Everyone
More news via Jo Smith. Mental Health Europe is lobbying for greater access to IPS for young people with mental health problems.
Kind regards
Eóin
From: MHE-SME [mailto:in...@mhe-sme.org]
Sent: 10 October 2012 13:45
To: 'Maria Nyman'
Subject: Press Release - "Tried and tested - Mental Health Europe urges EU to take up Individual Placement and Support"
MENTAL HEALTH EUROPE – SANTE MENTALE EUROPE aisbl Boulevard Clovis 7, B-1000 Brussels Tel +32 2 280 04 68 - Fax +32 2 280 16 04 E-Mail:
in...@mhe-sme.org
Brussels, October 10, 2012
Tried and tested – Mental Health Europe urges EU to take up Individual Placement and Support
Young people born in the late 1980s and early 1990s may well be entitled to complain they were dealt a bad hand. Born in an era of technological development and developing liberties, the “Millennials” could have been starting out their working lives full of optimism, had it not been for the financial crisis. However, they are now called the “Lost Generation,” one that has to deal with unprecedented unemployment and economic instability.
Unfortunately, unemployment also closely correlates with mental health problems, with almost half of unemployed young people believing joblessness to have caused them panic attacks or insomnia, and more that 41% of young people not in work, education or training claiming to have felt suicidal. The situation is even worse for young people with more severe mental health problems, who remain very unlikely to find and keep meaningful, paid employment, although this could greatly aid their recovery and substantially reduce the costs of their care and treatment in the longer term.
Therefore, on World Mental Health Day, Mental Health Europe (MHE) would like to urge European Union (EU) Member States to concentrate on this vulnerable group, as a vast majority of young people with mental health problems want and can work with the right help. International experience and research has proven that, with effective support, even youth with severe mental health problems can secure and maintain paid competitive employment through Individual Placement and Support (IPS).
The IPS method focuses on the person who is looking for paid employment, prompting health and employment services to work together in order to achieve a perfect job match for the individual. Employment specialists are therefore integrated and preferably co-located within clinical teams, and employment becomes a goal of the mental health services. There is strong, high quality research evidence that IPS is the most effective method of helping people with severe mental health gain and hold employment, with a success rate more than double that of traditional vocational rehabilitation alternatives. There is also good evidence to suggest that with IPS these success rates hold up even when jobs are scarce.
Thus, Mental Health Europe strongly believes that the European Commission should focus on IPS as a good practice for employment and should invest in it through EU funding instruments. MHE also calls on Member States who do not yet use the method to implement it.
Although barriers to employment exist for young people with mental health problems, these do not relate to the severity of their conditions. Actually, regardless of the diagnosis, wanting to work and believing that you can are the best predictors of work outcomes. Studies show that between 70 and 90% of persons with mental health problems want to gain employment or return to work. On their part, the willingness exists. It is now time for governments and EU institutions to show the same will to support them in their search for work and in recovery, not least through methods like IPS. For the “Lost Generation,” solutions can be found, and governments need to make it a priority to make sure that this indeed happens.
For more information, please contact MHE Information and Communications Manager Silvana Enculescu at silvana....@mhe-sme.org
Silvana Enculescu
Information and Communications Manager
Mental Health Europe - Santé Mentale Europe aisbl
Boulevard Clovis 7, B-1000 Brussels
Tel: +32 2 280 04 68
Fax: +32 2 280 16 04
e-mail: in...@mhe-sme.org
PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE ! : www.mhe-sme.org
