Hillside
Clubhouse
IPS Employment Specialist (Mental Health)
Location - Hybrid across Islington/community working
Salary - £34,385 plus pension and benefits (rising to £35,073 after successful completion of probation)
Closing date - 17th January 2026
Responsible to - IPS Operations Manager
Hours - 35 per week
Accountable to - Executive Director / Trustees
Job description
Hillside Clubhouse is recruiting an IPS Employment Specialist to join our dynamic Islington team, supporting people with mental health conditions to gain and retain employment. The IPS Employment Specialists within the Islington IPS Service work within the nationally recognised IPS (Individual Placement and Support) model within NHS secondary and primary care mental health teams, based in the heart of Islington.
We believe diverse teams create better outcomes for the people we support. While we welcome applications from everyone who meets the criteria, we are particularly keen to hear from Black men, who are currently underrepresented in our team and in the wider mental health and employment support sector. Your perspective and experience can help us shape services that truly reflect the communities we serve.
Who We Are:
Hillside Clubhouse is a co-produced mental health employment support charity working across Islington. We support people with mental health conditions into training, volunteering, and employment opportunities. People can access our services via our Clubhouse, where they can share their skills and expertise with others and support the running of the charity. Alternatively, they can receive support out in the community from one of our Employment Specialists based within NHS mental health teams.
The Role:
We are recruiting for one IPS Employment Specialist role within our Islington IPS Service. This position will be based within the North London NHS Foundation Trust mental health services in the borough of Islington.
As an IPS Employment Specialist, you’ll play an important role in supporting people with lived mental health experience on their recovery journey by supporting them back into paid employment. This is an opportunity to offer ongoing support, to motivate and provide people with hope, while developing the tools and skills required to recover - ultimately transforming their lives.
A variety of skills are needed in this post including but not limited to: a strong ability to develop empathy and rapport with clients; a determined approach to seeking out job opportunities; a person centric-approach to working with people; strong communications skills to motivate clients; strong administrative capabilities and an attention to detail engage with prospective employers via business development and face-to-face meetings, as well as to be able to challenge some perceptions around mental health.
The postholder will be directly employed by Hillside Clubhouse but work under an Honorary Contract from the North London NHS Foundation Trust. They will be managed directly by the IPS Operations Manager but work as team member within the clinical team. The role is dynamic and involves being integrated in a clinical team, working within the community, and we operate a flexible working policy where working from home is also permitted up to two days per week.
Overall Aim:
To enable people with mental health issues to gain and sustain competitive employment by working within the evidence-based Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model.
Duties:
Please see the Job Description and Person Specification attached for a full description.
Application Instructions:
If you are interested in applying for a role, please email your CV and a two page covering letter outlining how you meet the criteria of the role to Emily Forster, Hiring Manager – eforster@hillsideclubhouse.org.uk
We are a Disability Confident employer and actively encourage applications from people with lived experience of mental health conditions.
Hillside Clubhouse is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and strongly encourage applications from those who experience discrimination and / or prejudice based on their race, ethnicity or immigration status, women, new parents, people with disabilities and LGBTQI+ people.
All job offers are dependent on satisfactory references and a DBS check. The successful candidate will also be required to attend mandatory Safeguarding Adults, Children & Young People training.
The recruitment process will be an assessment centre approach, including a task, role play and individual interview. We envision the whole process lasting no more than 90 minutes.
We reserve the right to close this advertisement early if a suitable candidate is identified. Interviews may be scheduled on a rolling basis as applications are received.