Why I do what I do: IPS and my passion for health and employment support (6 min read)

Why I do what I do: IPS and my passion for health and employment support (6 min read)

In my first blog since starting a new role as the Director of IPS Grow, I’m sharing the professional and personal reasons why I care so much about our IPS community and the people we serve.

I’m privileged to have started a new role as the Director of IPS Grow. For those who don’t know, IPS is an evidence-based employment support model shown to be highly effective in helping people with Severe Mental Illness, drug and alcohol addiction and other complex health needs into employment. Whether it’s training, recruitment or quality assurance, our team of experts work side-by-side with the brilliant IPS community, helping them to scale their reach and maximize their impact.

The temptation as a newly appointed leader is to jump straight into the what: all the things that my colleagues and I want to achieve. I feel that pull. But I wanted to start back a bit further, with why I care so much about IPS and why it matters to so many people across the country. And in doing so, I’ll be talking about some personal and family experiences that I’ve never shared before, even with people I love and have worked alongside for years. I’ve come to realise that it’s not possible to explain my passion and commitment to IPS without telling that chapter of my story.