Type of Project: Funded project Model project
GUIDE - Supporting health in permanent gainful employment

Together with its project partners Werkstatt im Kreis Unna gGmbH and the Sozialforschungsstelle TU Dortmund, the Jobcenter Kreis Unna has designed a process chain for clients receiving SGB II benefits with permanent mental and/or somatic illnesses, ranging from holistic health stabilization to accompanied work trials and support with work integration. The target group is deliberately broad in order to be able to gather broad findings. The GUIDE project aims at - (re)establishing employability, - approaching the labor market and - sustainable integration into working life. GUIDE is divided into various systemically coordinated phases (entry, clearing, stabilization, work testing workshop, job search, follow-up support) in order to be able to offer project participants support that is as individual and tailored to their needs as possible. The team, which is located in an external building outside the offices of the Unna District Job Center, is made up of a health-oriented case management team (1:25), occupational therapists, a psychologist, a financial advisor and a company recruiter. It advises and supports the use of medical and therapeutic services, interlinks them and promotes sustainability. All participants are invited to psychological and occupational therapy counseling sessions at the beginning of the project. Together, an individual coping strategy is developed, resilience is strengthened, and life situation problems are addressed through financial counseling. Parallel sports, creativity and nutrition programs increase life satisfaction and independence, which should result in increased self-confidence and a willingness to take up employment. In a work testing workshop, participants are encouraged to try out their skills under professional, educational and occupational therapy guidance by means of simulated company work processes. An aptitude assessment is carried out at the beginning of the workshop. In the course of the workshop visit, the participants' individual capabilities are consistently promoted and consolidated and an integration strategy is developed. Working and learning are to be promoted as a holistic principle in everyday working life, incorporating cognitive, emotional and social learning. A company recruiter then makes targeted contact with suitable companies, arranges and grants employer subsidies from various service providers, and initiates integration into the labor market together with the case managers. The project participants continue to receive support after integration. Employment coaching is provided to ensure the sustainability of integration. The project is scientifically supported throughout all phases by the Social Research Center of the TU Dortmund University. The systematic evaluation is intended to reveal positive effects of the project, but also possible weaknesses. On the one hand, this is intended to improve the quality of a project and open up the possibility of readjustment, and on the other hand, it increases the feasibility of implementation after the end of the project.