Rebecca Odedra
Rebecca Odedra is a Reintegration Programmes Manager at WDP, a national UK-based charity that supports those affected by substance use. Rebecca leads and manages WDP’s IPS into Work team. The team aims to support participants into sustainable paid opportunities, using the evidenced-based model of Individual Placement and Support.
Having graduated with a Law degree, Rebecca has dedicated her career to working with people to gain education, training and employment opportunities in the Health and Social Care field.
Rebecca has over twelve years’ experience in expanding and developing reintegration and aftercare services in the substance misuse and homeless sector. Having started as a Job Coach she has extensive experience in working with services to develop and run programmes that increase self-esteem and confidence, personal responsibility, employability, work readiness, accredited qualifications and literacy and numeracy skills.
Rebecca is passionate about digital transformation, service user involvement/engagement, and delivering evidence and outcome-based projects.
IPS into Work
Aims To evaluate the feasibility and impact of utilising the Individual Placement Support (IPS) Model within Community Substance Misuse Services.
Methods IPS supports people currently/previously misusing substances to achieve paid and sustainable employment. IPS into Work operates in 8 West London Boroughs and involves providing up to 12 months of tailored in work support. Utilising Jan 2019-May 2021 data, WDP have completed a quantitative analysis of outcome data and qualitative analysis of service user case studies.
Results Feasibility WDP successfully established:: -recruitment of WDP IPS Employment Specialists ; -referral pathways with Job Centre Plus, NHS, Probation and Rehabilitation services ; -partnership working arrangements with other substance misuse service providers ; -job brokerage with/and significant engagement of 30 employers ; Impact : -Over 1,200 referrals, with 80% from Drug and Alcohol Services ; -Over 750 engagements ; -191 job starts, 36% job start rate (76% full-time work, 24% part-time work) ; -38% job sustainment rate at 13 weeks ; -73% reporting increased health outcomes ; Over 3,700 hours of support were given to participants. ; -Key themes identified during thematic analysis of service user case studies included enhanced motivation, increased confidence, reintegration with society and the development/improvement of professional and social networks and skills.
Conclusions This evaluation demonstrates that an IPS model can be successfully implemented within a community substance misuse setting and that it has a notable impact on service user employment engagement, outcomes and experience. We aim to commission a larger scale external evaluation and will utilise our expertise to advocate for the expansion of IPS through local/national government.