This activity is part of Healthy Working Life, a joint programme from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, focused on helping people stay healthy, well and in work.
The Proper Job Theatre Company uses creative practice to support people experiencing mental ill health to remain in or return to meaningful work. Building on their successful LAB wellbeing model, this work supports people recently signed off work with mental health and other issues. The team aims to intervene within the first six weeks of absence – a period shown to be critical in preventing long-term detachment from the labour market.
Working closely with local employers, GPs, job centres and mental health providers, Proper Job identifies participants within the first six weeks of leaving employment. Each cohort of eight to 15 people takes part in a focused programme of around 25 to 30 hours over one week, using creativity to build resilience and develop practical, personalised coping strategies. The peer support of a group with shared experiences is central to the approach. At the end of the week, participants assess their own readiness to return to work and set goals with the support of Proper Job colleagues.
One participant says how the course helped him reclaim his own self and sense of purpose: “These training courses were valuable to me, to learn what my position was – and who I was in the community.”
Another adds: “When you step through that door, you’ll grow in confidence. I’ve seen it in other people - and in myself.”
This video is the fourth in a series of five. See the playlist to find out more.