Within EDGE, a “business-like”
approach and culture has been developed. This is a service offered
and marketed to employers. Staff need to mirror the environment
in which they are moving, speak the language and know the priorities
and imperatives that concern the world of commerce.
The “business-like” approach recognises that the
service has two key and equally as important clients: the job
seeker and the employer. Thus an implicit aim is to provide
a quality service that meets the needs of employers and enhances
their workplace effectiveness. There is no searching for charity
or an excessive beneficence on the part of the employer. A business
case is made for the decision to hire someone with a mental
illness.
Clearly, determined and inspiring leadership is vital in the
face of these challenges. Such leadership must also be encouraging
with a healthy dose of “single-mindedness” to ensure
that employment for people using the service is the clear outcome
to be achieved.
The singleminded communication of this vision is best articulated
in the two motto’s EDGE staff guide their practice by;
“Real jobs for real pay”
and “Whatever it takes!”
These two statements along with the six principles already articulated
form the framework for all decision making within the service.
There is significance in the large number of self-referrals
now enjoyed by EDGE. Improving access to mental health services,
and responsiveness of those services has been a contentious
issue for a number of years. A challenge for such services is
to engage with clients, and offer interventions, which have
meaning, relevance and contribute to successful living in the
community. The experience of EDGE is that of providing a service
which has been specifically shaped to meet a need. Any success
EDGE has enjoyed has accrued from this focus.
Popular belief within mental health services is that the community
and employers are not interested in engaging with health and
social initiatives. This is contradicted by developing business
practices that implement notions of social responsibility and
triple bottom-line reporting.
Thinking like a business is imperative to the very survival
of a service like this. In 2000 we achieved our goal of becoming
an employment service with a mental health focus rather than
a mental health service with an employment focus. Whilst this
may seem semantic the difference in these two statements underpins
how we do what we do. We do it
like the real world!
