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Scaling, integrating and better supporting people with mental disorders to engage in employment and/or education

Overview

This 2022 Australian policy brief examines employment barriers for people with mental disorders, who experience unemployment rates up to five times higher than the general population despite wanting to work. It recommends implementing Individual Placement and Support (IPS) programs nationally and integrating mental health services with education and employment support systems.

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Individual authors

uthors:

  • Rachel Brisbane
  • Sergio Macklin
  • Bojana Klepac
  • Rosemary Calder

Expert Reviewers:

  • Professor Helen Herrman AO (University of Melbourne/Orygen)
  • Dr Jackie Curtis (Mindgardens Neuroscience Network/UNSW)
  • Professor Graham Meadows (Monash University)
  • Professor Ellie Fossey (Monash University/La Trobe University)

Key insights

Key Insights:

  1. Mental disorder unemployment is 17 percentage points higher than general population

  2. Only 10% of psychiatric disability DES participants maintain employment for six months

  3. 75% of severe mental disorders emerge before age 25, disrupting education

  4. IPS programs achieve 60% employment success versus 25% for other programs

  5. Current employment services cost $520 million annually with poor outcomes

  6. 78% report employment-related stigma and discrimination in past 12 months

  7. Employment improves mental health and reduces healthcare system dependency significantly

  8. Integrated services like headspace demonstrate effectiveness in reducing access barriers

Did this resource draw on transformative evidence?

<p>This document was <strong>not</strong> based on experiential evidence from people with lived experience. It relied primarily on <strong>academic research, systematic reviews, and government data</strong>. While expert reviewers included mental health professionals, there&#39;s no indication that people with mental disorders or their families directly contributed their experiences to inform the policy recommendations.</p>
<p>This document was <strong>partially</strong> based on practice wisdom. It incorporated insights from <strong>expert reviewers</strong> including mental health professionals and researchers with clinical experience. The document references <strong>practical implementation challenges</strong>, service provider reports, and <strong>practitioner perspectives</strong> on barriers to employment support, though academic research and data analysis remained the primary evidence sources.</p>
<p>This document was <strong>heavily</strong> based on research and evaluation insights. It extensively references <strong>systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses</strong>, and <strong>government evaluation data</strong>. The evidence includes <strong>international IPS studies, Australian program evaluations</strong>, employment outcome statistics, and <strong>peer-reviewed research</strong> spanning multiple countries and decades of mental health employment interventions.</p>

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Evidence Summary