What is the Individual Placement and Support Program?
The Individual Placement and Support Program is a grant opportunity that integrates employment and vocational support with clinical mental health and non-vocational support, and focuses on the individual needs of people with mental illness who are seeking to enter or remain in education or employment.
Objectives
The objectives of the Individual Placement and Support Program are to:
- Deliver the Individual Placement and Support model of vocational assistance to young people with mental illness up to the age of 25 within the selected headspace sites. Additional detail regarding vocational assistance can be found in section 4.3 of the Individual Placement and Support Operational Guidelines – October 2020.
- Provide specialist vocational assistance that adheres to the eight core Individual Placement and Support Practice Principles (these can be located in the Individual Placement and Support Operational Guidelines – October 2020 at Attachment A).
Funding
This grant opportunity has a total of $21.97 million (GST exclusive) available. Funding is available for up to 4 years (2020–21 to 2023–24) from May 2021 to 30 June 2024.
An amount of up to $260,000 (GST exclusive) per year (pro rata) is available for each Individual Placement and Support program site.
Service delivery for this grant opportunity will commence from the date the grant agreement is executed, expected in May 2021. Funding must only be used for the purpose for which it will be provided.
Eligible Projects
For your grant activity to be eligible, you must:
- Comply with the IPS Operational Guidelines – October 2020.
- Develop a model of service delivery that is aligned with the 8 core Individual Placement and Support Practice Principles (refer to Attachment A of the attached IPS Operational Guidelines – October 2020).
- Employ a high level of flexibility and innovation to ensure the service design is responsive to individual need while at the same time allowing for robust evaluation of the Individual Placement and Support approach.
- Work co-operatively with the Fidelity Reviewer (refer to Section 4.6 Monitoring and Evaluation of the Individual Placement and SupportOperational Guidelines – October 2020) and/or program manager (where applicable).
- Ensure data collection and reporting to the department is timely and of a high standard.
- Ensure the vocational specialist works closely with each participant’s existing clinical support team to:
- coordinate services to ensure roles are complementary and not duplicated
- ensure the clinical team is aware of the participant’s goals and plans
- gather clinical input for the participant’s employment or education/training plan
- make appropriate referrals.
- Ensure participants are given specialist vocational assistance to obtain employment or training/education outcomes, including:
- job coaching, application assistance, interview techniques
- assistance to navigate mental health and community support services
- assistance to use services and Centrelink systems, including accompanying participants and advocating for them at appointments and assessments.
- Ensure vocational specialists will liaise with employers and education/training providers to:
- create real opportunities that align with the participant’s goals
- provide on the job support to assist the participant to maintain their placement
- provide support to employers and educators/trainers and participants if circumstances change, such as if the person has an episode of their mental illness.
Eligible expenditure items are:
- staff salaries and on-costs, which can be directly attributed to the provision of the Individual Placement and Support program in the identified sites as per the grant agreement
- employee training for paid and unpaid staff, and committee and board members that is relevant, appropriate and in line with the delivery of the Individual Placement and Support program
- engaging people or organisations with relevant expertise to ensure organisational capacity to deliver services (that is, measurement of fidelity, research and evaluation, as appropriate)
- operating and administration expenses directly related to the delivery of services such as:
- materials and equipment directly relating to service delivery
- marketing of services, including electronic promotion of services
- telephones
- rent and outgoings
- computer/IT/website/software
- insurance
- utilities
- postage
- stationery and printing
- accounting and auditing
- travel/accommodation costs
- assets as defined in Condition 21. Definitions in the Grant Agreement Terms and Conditions, that can be reasonably attributed to meeting agreement deliverables.
Eligible Applicants
To be eligible to receive a grant, you must be one of the organisations listed in the Grant Opportunity Guidelines and have received an invitation to apply through GrantConnect.
The list of eligible applicants were determined based on their proven experience, reputation and expertise in delivering mental health services to vulnerable young people under the age of 25.
The findings from the 2019 IPS trial evaluation indicated headspace is a suitable and effective environment to deliver IPS services. Headspace centres have the capacity and capability to set up IPS services that are accessible to a wide range of clients, in a short timeframe. Headspace also has a national presence with almost 120 centres across Australia. Headspace centres have been delivering the IPS program across 24 sites and have achieved positive vocational and educational outcomes for young people with mental illness.
Timing
Applications close 27 January 2021.
