4/02/2026
By Vikkie Wilkinson FIEP, Director Social Enterprise & Employability at Waythrough
We are pleased to be a Capability Partner of the IEP aligning our employability work with the excellent standards of the UK’s only professional membership institute for the employability sector. We look forward to developing this partnership to support our team’s professional development through the accredited training pathway and to contributing to the development of and championing the wider sector.
Waythrough is a national charity with over 100 years’ experience supporting people facing multiple disadvantage to fulfil their potential. We successfully deliver over 270 services in community drug and alcohol treatment and recovery, mental health, crisis and recovery housing, supported accommodation and housing management, criminal justice, prison healthcare and substance use services, domestic abuse, young people and family services, employment, education and social enterprise. With over 3,500 amazing staff and volunteers every year our services support around 130,000 people.
Our vision is to break down the barriers that stop people getting the support they need to live a life they value. Our values underpin everything we do – from how we work together to how we design and deliver services.
Our values are:
- Kindness: be generous, caring and compassionate
- Courage: be bold, trust, commit
- Respect: everyone deserves dignity
To everyone that comes through our doors, we promise:
- Wherever you are now, we won’t judge or write you off.
- We’ll help you work out who you want to be and where you want to go.
- We’ll stick with you until you’re ready to move on
It’s a big ask, but one we aren’t shy of.
Employment Focus
Waythrough’s employability programmes work with a wide range of people from a variety of backgrounds, supporting them to overcome barriers to employment. Our services focus on getting individuals experiencing disadvantage (including substance use, mental health issues and physical health conditions), into mainstream employment, in line with their preferences, at a pace that suits them. Having delivered on employment support programmes from Building Better Opportunities to Work Programme and right through to UKSPF Waythrough have a wealth of employment specific experience.
We have delivered Substance Misuse IPS since 2019, when our Waythrough (then Humankind) Staffordshire IPS service was launched as part of a government pilot. Since then, our IPS Substance services have increased and we deliver services from Devon in the South to Gateshead in the North. We have a strong track record of collaborating with NHS mental health services; co- locating with clinical teams and working closely with clinicians across multiple sites to support individuals into paid employment as a positive intervention in their ongoing recovery. We currently deliver Mental Health IPS across the South/South West and South East.
We successfully deliver employment advice in Talking Therapies services where our advisors are co-located with primary care Talking Therapies teams. We continue to deliver traditional employment support models in Kirklees, North Yorkshire, Surrey and the Tees Valley.