Anxiety and Taking the Next Employment Steps - Any Advice

[UltimaMic]

Hi All,

I have read other useful posts and have been thinking about something for a while.

I am guy in his 30's and live with GAD in Sydney, I work as an accountant and have previously had to leave work as I had extreme anxiety and depression over 3-4 years ago. For a while my life was in limbo and I was in a bad place.

Thankfully I am still here and have had many a counselling session and psychologist visits to get me in a better place. I have struggled but now found some stable employment. (I found my disability services provider was quite limited in how they understood and could empathise with mental illness as opposed to physical illness).

I have worked as assistant accountant for over two years now and find the work unfulfilling and even a little bit devaluing given my qualifications. I constantly question whether I should just appreciate it and stay in the job. Most of my peers who have similar qualifications have advanced well with their careers and I am plodding along and most of my colleges are university graduates in their 20's.

I want to move forward however my current workplace does not have a mental health plan or support and I feel I would need that if I were to try to move forward within my employer. I have a very limited social network after I withdrew myself a lot after my mental health episode. I have had a lot of problems with mainstream recruitment agencies in regards to sharing about my mental health and their reactions and subsequent devaluation of my profile. (yep its discrimination but what can I do about it? as I have signed up to their services).

Can anyone recommend a recruitment agency that works with professionals with mental illness? Any advice on next steps - I dont want to push myself to the extent where I have another breakdown however I do want to grow in my career. Its hard to get the balance right

[Just Sara]

Hi and welcome Mic;

Finding fulfilling employment is at the top of everyone's list of to-do's, especially those with MH issues. I'm not surprised you're feeling the way you do and sorry things are this way...

If you visit the nearest NDIS office, (National Disabilities Insurance Scheme) they'll hopefully put you in the right direction. Even though you're not a client of theirs, they know local organisations better than most.

Another option is Centrelink; they're in contact with employment agencies all the time so they know which one's offer quality MH service provision. Mine (regional NSW) offered to regularly visit me at my job if I agreed to take a position and were great with empathy and compassion.

The problem with these agencies, is that they get heaps of funding for people like yourself while you're on their books. So gaining employment means they can't claim for you anymore. It sounds defeatist and even illegal, but I can assure you money makes keeping you around sound reasonable to some of them.

With your current situation, have you tried asking for formal supervision? During this session you can ask why you haven't moved upwards as well as requesting a MH plan be put in place. (With your psych and GP's involvement)

Due to it being a formal process notes must be taken, signed by both parties and copies provided prior to leaving so there's evidence of the meeting taking place and, having the discussion about your MH. If your manager doesn't take notes, request them.

The cruel reality of MH in the workplace means we as employee's or seekers of employment need to be proactive instead of waiting for others to step up.

I hope all goes well if you decide to use any of these suggestions. I'd love to hear back from you, even if it's to chat.

Kind thoughts;

Sez

[jollydolly]

Hi Ultima Mic,

Unfortunately I don't have anything useful to offer in response to your question about recruitment agencies, but the NDIS and Centrelink ideas seem like good first steps? I wanted to post to say good on you for getting and keeping your job, and I wish you all the best. I have two staff members in my team who are on or are getting flexible work arrangements to manage mental health issues, and we are lucky enough to have an injury management section of HR that includes mental health conditions. If you're able to, perhaps consider going for a job at a large organisation (mine is a university) that has HR policies like this? Regardless of a manager's personal feelings, he or she is bound by workplace policy to work with you to manage your condition. Good luck.

[UltimaMic]

Thanks Sara for your input. Some of those steps I would like to take at work however I think I would feel overwhelmed at just trying to talk to my manager about this anxiety and depression I face. My manager and I are not really close and I do not think this manager is the supporting type. I think if I speak out to say I want to advance I will be given tasks that over whelm me and that I wont have any support. I just think I need to find a better work culture. Its just soooooooo damn hard to find a better role when you have anxiety and the battle of whether to disclose or not. I have not tried NDIS office, I have tried Centerlink when I was out of employment and I find they just refer you to a Employment Agency that specialises in disabilities. I find these agencies do not really focus in the corporate arena and large businesses. They focus more on small businesses who need staff. Maybe will give NDIS a go.