Home› Work & Study
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨

Balancing mental health and work

BillieTheBotBillieTheBot Posts: 8,737 Bot
in Work & Study
Having a job has always provoked anxiety in me because of my fear of doing things wrong and fear of not being able to keep my issues away.

1)How you know you were ready for work.

2) How/if you have managed a job whilst having mental health problems of your own.

3)What you found helpful.

Beep boop. I'm a bot.

Comments

  • SienaSiena Posts: 15,681 Skive's The Limit
    I'm not sure how much help i can be so sorry

    I supoose it depends on the job and the memtal illness youre suffering with now .Are you asking because you have a job now and want to know if you're actually fit enough for it, or looking for a job?

    The first Job, didn't last 2 week's. Because when there was so many people, I would have to leave the shop floor because i would start crying. So they was extremely supportive and understanding when i wanted to leave.

    The Job I have now, is the most busiest retail shop. And that has only happened once. And 10 times as busier. And the only things I knew i could cope with having a job now was.
    -I was on better medication and stoped having depressionalision experiences.
    -Stoped being so anxious and scared everywhere else.
    -Things in my life are a lot less stressful, so the extra stress isnt to much for me now
    -I am more able to get myself out of bed in the mornings.
    -i been taught coping mechanism to when i feel stressed/anxious outside
    -My eating was better, so I had more energy.
    -i realised I needed money and if i got upset or anxious at work, I could go do some retail therapy to make it all better. Because that is the best therapy
    -it was a better pay so I was more motivated

    What some people find helpful is telling your manager/supervisor you suffer with mental illnesses and they may support you. Cause they could start to notic things. I never told them but they know now because i was of sick for so long. And it's sort of helpful.

    Basically think about if it's to much stress for you right now, if youre in the right mind set, like concentrating without you mind getting stop by things like negative thoughts, if you have the motivation to even get out of bed and go, if you are anxious outside atm.

    Do you think any of what i said may be something that may make your mental illness worse or something that may stop you from doing the work?
    “And when they look at you, they won't see everything you've been through. They won't see the **** that turned to scars that began to fade with time. They won't see the heartbreaking things that shook up and changed your entire world. They won't know how many tears you cried or even what it was you were crying about. They won't see how strong you had to be because you had no other choice. What they will see though is how compassionate you are because you experienced pain. What they will see is how kind you are because you experienced how cruel the world is. What they will see is how good you are because you've seen how bad things or people can be. The difference between you and your experiences are who you choose to be, despite everything that could have turned you cold and unkind.You are the good the world needs and the best of us.” ~ Kirsten Corley
  • Former MemberFormer Member Miniposter Posts: 91 Budding Regular
    TBH i work in an incredibly specific job so i'm not sure how generalisable my experiences are but-

    1)How you know you were ready for work.
    I tend to act on impulse whenever things arise because i know i won't do them otherwise so i volunteered for this work as soon it came up/shot, but in all seriousness at the time (hah) i saw myself ready for work because i could manage my anxiety (mostly) and the depression wasn't so bad that i was harming. So i guess one could say i was managing my conditions at that point?

    2) How/if you have managed a job whilst having mental health problems of your own.
    When things got bad (more like, while things are bad in the present tense) i've become unable to work fully- my job is teaching in high schools largely (charity i work for offers bespoke education on drugs to high schools) and i...can't do that very well in my current state of despising myself and being totally controlled by my obsessions. However, there's also 'behind-the-scenes' work i do instead of the public speaking (i take part in research process, training people to do the speaking in schools etc - anything that isn't the public speaking basically) that I take a greater part in beacuse the other side of my job is too much for me to handle. BUT I can only take the behind the scenes work because of the specific job i have, i'm not sure that's applicable to any entry-level customer service jobs, and isn't anything like most work places i see that aren't on the customer service side either.

    3)What you found helpful.
    Tbh i'm still in the pit of needing support from my superiors since they don't know i'm mentally ill lmao, but they're fine with my taking behind the scenes work and haven't questioned me thus far...so i guess i can't relaly help here? I'd assume that telling your employer helps because then they have to (or should at least) provide some support for you - in being less lenient with you, perhaps offeing a different kind of work depending on the job and such. I think having...a degree of control over your illnesses woudl help a lot too. Like i said i was more able to work when i could manage my issues.
Sign In or Register to comment.