AN EAST Surrey charity has launched a new employment service for people experiencing mental ill-health problems, in a bid to attract new funding.
Employment Support Retraining Agency Ltd (ESRA) has launched Working Together, an employment service aimed at people with mental health issues in Redhill, Reigate and Horley.
It comes as the charity, based in London Road, Redhill, struggles with funding cuts, caused by the reorganisation of the NHS.
It has been running since 1980, providing specialist employment-related services to people experiencing mental health issues and local employers, but will be forced to close next year if new funding sources are not found.
General manager of ESRA Graham Plummer said: "We have lost a considerable amount of funding for key employment services through changes in commissioning arrangements, including changes to the new GP clinical commissioning groups.
"This means that over 30 years of local, specialist provision could be lost to larger, less locally-focussed organisations. Unless our funding situation improves from 2014, we will be forced to close. Feedback from local services and individuals is that our service would be missed dramatically and consequently our board has decided to self-fund the service for one year to build a case for future funding."
The group accepts self-referrals and referrals from GPs, mental health workers and therapy providers.
For more details, contact ESRA on 01737 772115 or e-mail info@esrasurrey.co.uk
