Connections between employment and mental health with the Workforce Australia employment System

This submission is guided by several questions and focuses on the particular needs and experiences of people with mental health issues in relation to employment and their access to and outcomes from the Workforce Australia employment system.
Engaging in meaningful activity, including paid employment, is associated with positive mental health and wellbeing. The evidence shows that engaging in meaningful work improves not only mental health, but also access to the financial, social, and other resources necessary to improve mental health and quality of life. Employment can be helpful in preventing and reducing mental ill-health and promoting recovery for people experiencing more severe mental ill-health.

While the current system may achieve some success with particular cohorts, such as people who are short term unemployed and those with few barriers to employment, it has not succeeded in moving into employment those at risk of becoming long term unemployed and those who experience complex barriers, such as mental health issues, low educational attainment and homelessness.

WAAMH make several points about the current system and more specifically proposes a redesign of the system. The redesign would include a national rollout of the Individual Placement and Support model as a partnership between the Workforce Australia system and the mental health system.

The Individual Placement and Support model (IPS), which is an innovative, evidence based and successful approach to support people with mental health issues into employment should be scaled up and adapted and used as a template to reform the Workforce Australian system to ensure it works better for people with mental health issues. There is already considerable experience and expertise in the IPS approach within Australia to draw on.

WAAMH’s submission was mentioned by Julian Hill, the Chairperson of the Committee at the hearing on 19th September as a thoughtful and important contribution and he was encouraging people to read the submission and respond to the Committee on our proposal to embed employment support within existing services systems also known as the IPS Headspace model.