Veritas House, in partnership with Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, has been funded to establish a Trauma Informed – Individual Placement and Support (TI-IPS) program to support young people who are in Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) or experiencing homelessness into employment.

This activity is supported by funding from the Australian Government through the Local Jobs Program.

In addition to providing youth-friendly Employment Mentors provide vocational assistance to some 200 local young people aged 16-24 over the next two years, the initiative will also fund research and evaluation of the effectiveness of this world-first initiative in achieving outcomes for vulnerable young people.

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is an evidence-based model of employment support for individuals experiencing mental ill-health and integrates vocational support services with clinical mental health services. It is founded on being strengths-based and person-centred, integrating vocational assistance with mental health support. IPS places the employment preferences and strengths of the individual at the heart of how it identifies, seeks out, obtains and maintains employment.

Veritas has recently recruited a team of TI-IPS employment mentors who will work closely with our Clinical and Consultation Services mental health team and Veritas’ Premier’s Youth Initiative, Permanency Support (OOHC), Supported Independent Living and Specialist Homelessness Services. Veritas case workers for our existing programs will continue to support the young people with their leaving care plans, securing stable housing and development of their independent living skills; while the new TI-IPS employment mentoring workers will support the young person to achieve their vocational goals. The TI-IPS workers spend a large portion of their time in the community, creating and maintaining networks with employers, education providers and other career support services to create new opportunities for young people in the program, and the strong connections and reputation Veritas has built in the region in the past 40 years will be instrumental in ensuring the program’s success.

As part of the partnership, Orygen will evaluate the program every six months and will conduct research to measure the effectiveness of this model in meeting the vocational needs of young people who have experienced trauma, the results of which could inform employment programs for young people nationally and internationally.