Stress? Aniexty? or just Over Thinking

[CavingInbutGettingThere]

I'm currently on Work for the Dole while also with a paying job. I believe my job agency consultant is adding factors to jeopardise my mental health. I have told them I rely heavily on public transport and she has put me at a place that is a struggle to get to and is also quite costly.
I have spent the past couple of days freaking out from barely sleeping to crying my eyes out because I don't know what to do. Centrelink hasn't been helpful and have said i'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Department of Employment tells me my paid job comes first.
To make it worse,my job agency has been sending me consistent messages of "your payments have been suspend" even though I believe I've been doing the right thing,if I can't turn up to an appointment I ring them and let them know. I rang them to let them know I attended my work for the dole placement and they said they would mark me off but instead over the weekend I got bombared with "just a reminder your payments are suspend"
I have been with the same agency for a year and in the last few months they have just been nothing but stressful to deal with. I have a whinge on fb and my friends tell me to get a doctor's note to exemption me from work for the dole and possibly the job agency but my friends have also said to get a transfer.
I wouldn't know where to start on getting a transfer nor do I believe doctor's would believe me when I ask for an exemption.
It's now gotten to the point where i'd rather not be part of Centrelink or the job agency especially since the job agency has been claiming my paid work isn't good enough and that I need to put my paid job last. I'm on a casual rate and know that the few extra bucks a fortnight from Centrelink does help me when I barely get hours/pay from work.
My paid work is within walking distance of where I live and I've been with the company for five years but like I mentioned before,I am only on a casual rate.
Like Centrelink has said I'm stuck between a rock and a hardplace which is making me feel worse because I believe there is no one (government wise) out there to help people like me who are trying to do the right thing.

[PamelaR]

Hi CavingInbutGettingThere,

Welcome to our community forums. Dealing with government agencies is difficult at times and can be frustrating especially when you are trying to do all the right things.

It's good you have friends you can talk to and who offer you some options. Talking is one of the best things to help with our anxieties and depression.

Life does sound quite stressful for you and if it were me, I'd go to the doctors to talk about my mental health and the requirements of working for the dole. Ask what they thought e.g. whether I'd benefit from being referred to a health professional or being given medication.

What do you think?

It's really good you are keeping up the casual work. Everything like this helps to feel good, but the messages you are getting certainly not helping you.

There are a few in our community who are on benefits. Maybe they'll pop in and give you their experience. While you're waiting, feel free to search our forums to find threads about similar situations. There is a search field at the top of our webpage, enter keywords, e.g. Centrelink, Work for the dole, anxiety.

If you want, there is also a checklist for anxiety and depression. You can find this by doing a search. It might help you work out whether it would be good to go to the doctor.

Hope some of this helps CaingInbutGettingThere. (BTW Love the name)

PamelaR

[Scotty2013]

Sound like you should be on DSP, its so hard to deal with things esp agency's when your mental health is so bad. How long you suffered for?.

[anxietyalien]

Stress, anxiety AND over thinking! I've never been on the dole, but know that they can cause stress. I was on the youth allowance up until 2014, at which point they threatened to make me pay a heap of it back if I didn't go round a roundabout and dig up documents and such.... Their job is to make things difficult not easy! I think you definitely need to think about change. Something has to change because the path you are on is going to make you very sick. It made me very sick, and I had to stop everything, because I went too far with it all. If it weren't for the support from my parents, I would be homeless or dead, as i'm on no youth allowance, dole, job, nor study income. Nothing, and haven't had any income since early 2014. Been very sick ever since. Don't let the stress, and anxiety and overthinking of it all make you sick, like it did me! You need to make a big change, CavingInButGettingThere. Preferably change that involves migrating to some other source of income (as a goal).