Project COPE

This strand is for you if you're living with a mental health condition and wondering what returning to work could look like — at a pace that respects where you are. Project COPE walks alongside you through four kinds of activities: workshops that build practical job search knowledge, small group work sessions where you develop strategies alongside peers who get it, and co-production sessions where your lived experience directly shapes how the programme is designed for others after you. For those who are ready, a small number of participants may also be invited into a supported internship placement with an employer partner — a 3 to 6-month opportunity to try work in a real environment, with support around you. Agency isn't assumed here — it's built slowly, intentionally, and at your pace.

This strand is for HR professionals, managers, and organisations who want to see beyond the diagnosis — and recognise lived experience as an untapped strength. People who have navigated mental health conditions bring something most CVs don't capture: resilience, self-awareness, and a hard-won understanding of what it means to keep going. Project COPE helps you see that — and gives you the practical knowledge to act on it. Your involvement can take several forms: an online engagement webinar to understand what inclusive hiring looks like in practice, a workshop that equips your team with the tools and confidence to support employees with mental health conditions, and where you're ready, a partnership to host a supported internship placement. For employers who want to go further, co-production sessions invite you to shape the programme itself — bringing your organisational perspective into the design of something that works for everyone.

This strand is for anyone who believes it takes a village — and wants to be part of one. You don't need a counselling background or a clinical title to make a difference in someone's employment journey. What matters is showing up, listening well, and walking alongside someone during one of the harder transitions in life. As a community supporter in Project COPE, you'll begin with an alignment conversation — a chance for us to get to know you and for you to understand what the role involves. From there, a training workshop equips you with the practical knowledge to support a jobseeker well, without overstepping or burning out. You'll then be deployed as a buddy — accompanying your jobseeker through the job search, the applications, and the early days of a new role. The kind of support that doesn't require expertise. Just presence.