East London NHS Foundation Trust, supported by Think Ahead, have been piloting a trust-led Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) programme. This programme has been developed by Social Work Leads across London NHS trusts and has an enhanced mental health focus.

In this webinar we will explore the following:

ASYE in the NHS and London trusts
Development of mental health social work ASYE programme
Experiences of an ASYE assessor and of a NQSW on the programme
Initial findings from evaluation and next steps

Speakers include:

Katie Lander, Social Worker Learning and Development Project Lead, East London NHS Foundation Trust
Roxanne Timmis, Head of Partnerships, Think Ahead
Karen Linde, Social Work for Better Mental Health Improvement Programme
Sharon Thompson, Head of Social Work and Social Care, West London NHS Trust
Richard Fradgley (chair), Director of Integrated Care, East London NHS Foundation Trust

Background

There has been significant progress in the last 3 years in progressing a stronger identity for social work including addressing the specific challenges of social work in the NHS. However, many barriers remain to parity of esteem with clinical professions and one area that has reflected these tensions is the development of the ASYE which forms a key progressive support in the early career of social workers. The direct delivery and support of the ASYE by NHS trusts for social workers they employ has been limited.

A project was undertaken by Think Ahead with Skills for Care, funded by Health Education England, to map current ASYE provision in NHS trusts in London, including a greater understanding of good practice and barriers. There were several challenges to providing the ASYE in trusts identified during the project and it highlighted a need and appetite for an accessible and robust ASYE programme, supporting readiness to work in mental health and health led settings.

The recommendation was for NHS trusts in London to work together, capitalising on economies of scale and the strength of partnership to develop a pan London NHS trust-led ASYE programme. Following this, a collective was formed between London trusts to develop this programme with East London NHS Foundation Trust as the lead organisation. The pan London NHS trust ASYE programme is now in pilot and was developed by and with social work leads across trusts. Whilst the programme adopts the Skills for Care framework for ASYE, it has an enhanced focus on mental health and working within a health led setting.

We will be promoting the event through Twitter and LinkedIn, please feel free to use the following hashtags:   

 #SocialWorkWeek2022  
#SocialWorkAndMe  
@ThinkAheadMH
@NHS_ELFT
@SocialWorkEng

Supporting newly qualified social workers in NHS trusts