Talk. Change. Feel better.

Working in partnership with Sunderland Counselling Services, delivering counselling services in County Durham and Darlington.
“We support people to gain,
retain or return to work”

Employment Support

NHS Talking Therapies offers Employment Support Services in partnership with MHM for individuals experiencing mental health challenges and seeking help with finding, maintaining, or returning to work.

This support is provided by dedicated Employment Advisors, who work alongside our Therapy team, to address practical work-related issues and can be flexible to meet individual needs.

In partnership with

Who the service is for

Employment support within County Durham and Darlington is available to anyone aged 16 or over who is currently accessing or waiting for psychological therapy with Talking Therapies.

This includes people who have already had an assessment with the Talking Therapies Team.  Find out how you can access the service here

What we do

We understand that your employment situation can have an impact on your mental health. Whether you are currently in employment, on sick leave, unemployed, in education or looking for training or education, we can help.

We support people with their employment goals

  • Job skills-matching
  • Identifying barriers
  • CV writing
  • Job applications
  • Confidence-building around interview techniques
  • Volunteering to build skills
  • Finding a suitable employment role
  • Benefits calculations and other support

We support people with education and training needs or volunteering

For some people, finding employment may may be difficult without the right skills, training or experience. We can help people to develop further skills, knowledge and experience through volunteering or support them to try out new job opportunities or a change of career.

We support people to return to work

Some people may have had to take sick leave due to deterioration in their mental health and could be struggling to return to their current employer. Patients may need to build confidence to talk to their employer themselves around their mental health, or there could be other support needed such as how to negotiate reasonable adjustments in the workplace. Our experienced Employment Advisors can provide help and advice to support based on an individual’s needs.

We support people with job retention

We support people who are not on sick leave but need support within their current role to avoid taking time off work due to mental health issues.

People may experience communication barriers within the workplace, or bullying/discrimination of some sort, requiring reasonable work place adjustments. People may have an issue in their personal life that could require a change in working hours. We can help and provide support to guide patients to successful outcomes.

Whatever is needed, we can support patients to find solutions to help, gain, remain or retain employment.

Find more support for employment

How our Employment Support Service can help you

We provide support with everything from CV writing and job applications to interview preparation, workplace confidence, and overall wellbeing.

Find out more

How to access our Employment Support Service

If you’re interested in getting help from the Employment Support Service, there are a couple of ways you can get started.

Find out more

What happens
next ?

After your referral and initial assessment, you’ll be connected with an Employment Advisor who can help guide you through the process.

Find out more

What people say

I may be an older person, but I felt very supported and valued

Real stories make the biggest difference. Hear from Paula as she shares her journey and explains how our support has helped her along the way. Watch her story here.

I have really thrived with my experience of the employment service. It has always been very helpful in our sessions and has helped me to grow in many aspects of my employment journey.

I have been able to increase my confidence and develop my skills. I don’t believe I would have been able to achieve as much as I have without the support and am extremely grateful for all the support I have been given.

The advisor was quick to provide helpful answers to my questions and concerns.

Everybody was very helpful and I felt at ease using the service

My advisor was not only knowledgeable and helpful during our sessions, giving me some very useful tips to help with job applications and career development, but more importantly she was super encouraging and supportive. She goes above and beyond for her advisees, and kept me accountable to my goals, while ensuring that I took care of my mental health

The Employment Advisor listened to my thoughts and concerns, gave me food for thought and also reviewed my CV and gave helpful feedback

The Employment support service is such an amazing service and I had an overall brilliant experience with it. The Employment Advisor I was assigned was understanding and supported me when things got hard. I could not ask for more. Thank you for your help and guidance.

Having that expertise around the employment issue, but also for me having that understanding of what I was going through, and things that you didn’t know you looked up. For example, menopause at work – for me that was important. I felt I was treated as an individual and listened to. Also, you sent me information that was helpful and appropriate

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