Joanne Gavin is NHS Integration Co-ordinator as part of the Working Well: Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPS) delivered through GC Employment. She's been asked to speak at the House of Books & Friends event: 'An Evening with Julia Hotz: The Connection Cure' later this month.
Joanne has a real-life case study from when she was a social prescriber a few years ago before she joined GC, which appears in a book, The Connection Cure – that's being showcased at the event.
The book by journalist Julia Hotz is a combination of diligent science reporting, moving patient success stories, and surprising self-discovery which helps us find lasting and life-changing medicine in our own communities.
Social prescribing, sometimes referred to as 'community referral' – is a means of enabling GPs, nurses and other health and care professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services.
At the event, Joanne will share the case study, about how she and her colleague helped someone back into work, and also bring to life how our work at GC continues to support people in the community through our welfare and work programmes.
Working Well: Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC), delivered in the Greater Manchester region is designed to support residents with physical or mental health disabilities to access or retain paid employment. It's delivered by GC in partnership with Groundwork, and will support individuals to move into competitive employment if they are out-of-work, or to return to and retain their work if they are in-work and off sick or struggling due to their disability.
Joanne tells us more about how including her story in the book and attending the event came about - and how she's looking forward to talking about the support GC offers at the event:
"The story that's now the case study came from during my time as a social prescriber for Bolton Community Voluntary Service, which then fed through on to the NHS Social prescribing team.
"From this role I became interested in how good employment helps good health, and I moved into becoming an Integration Co-ordinator. Julia saw the story on you tube when she was researching for an article for Wired magazine, and later for this book.
"It was the turning point for me in my work life, and it made me even more passionate about ensuring everyone can work if they want to - because there's always the right job for the right person. It'll be great to mention my current role at the event and showcase the great work we do here at GC to help people get back into work. "
