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Stockton and Hartlepool | Recovery Connections

Fixed term contract

Lead Change. Empower Recovery.Join Recovery Connections as a Senior Employment Specialist and help shape the future of supported employment in the North East. You’ll guide a dedicated team, build employer partnerships, and support individuals in recovery to achieve meaningful, sustainable work.

Deadline: 4th January 2026

• North East
• Full-time

Recovery Connections is here for anyone in the North East of England who has experienced drug or alcohol problems, and who wants things to be better. We work to challenge the stigma that surrounds both addiction and the people who’ve been through it.

This is support that welcomes and understands.

We understand what it’s like and we know what works (as well as what doesn’t). Which is why we place such value on empathy, honesty, and community.

The Senior Employment Specialist will provide employment professional supervision to a team of Employment Specialists and will lead the on-going development of Individual Placement and Support Model within the service(s).

The Senior Employment Specialist will also hold a reduced caseload of his or her own. Managing a limited caseload of people in drug and alcohol treatment services who wish to return to, or start, paid employment. The people you work with will be worked with for up to 9 months, plus up to 4 months of in-work support. The employment specialist will be required to build effective working relationships with local employers, training providers and colleges to secure employment and education opportunities for people in community treatment for substance misuse, including ensuring the service is focused on accessing the ‘hidden’ labour market. There is a requirement to provide job development and job search activities directed toward positions that are individualised to the interests and uniqueness of the people supported, whilst following the evidence-based principles and procedures of IPS supported employment.

Ongoing support will be required according to both the employee and employer’s needs to enable people who have experienced dependency on drugs and/or alcohol retain employment once secured.

The employment specialist will be required to develop the day-to-day operational practices of the Employment Specialist Team and the provision of IPS supervision to Employment Specialists based in your locality.

• To provide leadership and employment professional supervision to Employment Specialists within the team.
• To provide field mentoring to employment staff to enable them to further develop their practice and increase outcomes.
• To liaise with Public Health England, senior practitioners and managers within the service, and the local authority commissioner, around the on-going implementation of the evidence-based Individual Placement and Support Model.
• To work with client key workers and clinical staff, including through case conferencing, to ensure that clients receive appropriate support from everyone involved in their care during the return to work process.
• To lead a local employer engagement strategy to involve employers (including the local authority and partner services), and open-up and secure work experience and paid employment opportunities for people in treatment for drug and/or alcohol dependency.
• To provide advice and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments and on-going contact with supervisors to ensure job retention.
• To assess individual support needs related to work which might typically include help with benefits, travel to work, managing health and work etc.
• To work flexibly on occasion as required by clients and employers, which may require some working out of normal office hours.

Promote the profile of employment and working embedded within the team to raise expectations around the ability of clients to attain paid work.

Please download a full job description for person specification.