Job in mental health if you have mental health issues

Dunroamin

Sugar_Coated_Owl wrote: »

Thanks everyone

The job itself is irrelevant really.

It really isn't - it's absolutely crucial.

Mrs_Ryan

Sugar, I'm going to PM you as I know something that may be of help to you but I cant discuss it on open forum x and eileanlady - I work in mental health and although I have plenty of academic qualifications I have no qualifications related to my post.

System

eileanlady wrote: »

Frankly I am amazed. As someone who has been treated for illness in this area I want qualifications and objectivity from workers employed to aid me. The last thing I would want is some amateur with empathy. I would not expect the coal man to set my leg or the nurse to do open heart surgery. What are these jobs in mental health that require no qualifications?

I can see your point, but i don't think a little bit of empathy and understanding is a bad thing either

rubytuesday

How about looking into working as a Mental Health Act Manager when you are well - this is a voluntary posistion but you are paid for it.

Personal experience will be very beneficial but is not a prerequisite.

You are also allowed to take time from other employment to carry out this role - same as a lay judge etc.

Can't think of the term.

Dunroamin

Mrs_Ryan wrote: »

Sugar, I'm going to PM you as I know something that may be of help to you but I cant discuss it on open forum x and eileanlady - I work in mental health and although I have plenty of academic qualifications I have no qualifications related to my post.

Aren't you qualified as a nurse?

eileanlady

I did not say that empathy was unimportant. I said I was amazed that people whose only qualification was claiming that trait could be employed healing the sufferers of such terrible illnesses, was to me amazing.

coin_operated_girl

eileanlady wrote: »

Frankly I am amazed. As someone who has been treated for illness in this area I want qualifications and objectivity from workers employed to aid me. The last thing I would want is some amateur with empathy. I would not expect the coal man to set my leg or the nurse to do open heart surgery. What are these jobs in mental health that require no qualifications?

I work in supported housing as a MH support worker. 0 qualifications needed because quite frankly it's not the hardest job in the world. I didnt have any experience in MH at all when I got this job other than the fact that I had been volunteering with Mind for about 3 weeks. It's all about common sense, compassion and empathy. You're right though, I don't think there's many jobs in MH that require no qualifications, especially one that's so involved as being a support worker.

OP from what I remember when I volunteered at Mind, they employ a lot of people who have recovered from MI, especially ex-service users. I know the company I work for also employ ex-service users.

rozmister

OP you say you are waiting for DBT, do you mean Dialectical Behaviour Therapy?

From what I understand Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is usually quite intense (I nearly started it but was referred onto CAT at the last minute) and is often for people who need help with emotional regulation so they can be more balanced. If this is you it might be a good idea to wait until you feel you have your emotions under control for most of the time because it's hard to do a job or for an employer to choose you to do a job if at times you may be emotionally unstable (which there's nothing wrong with but can be hard to deal with in a challenging work environment).

My psychotherapist said it would have taken up 4 hours a week plus some tasks to do at home and I think I would have struggled to do a full time job around it. I needed time after therapy to sit calmly and reflect before I did something else so for me 4 hours would have equalled at least 6. Mental health is personal to everyone though so you may be different to me and time may not be such a concern. Or you might be looking for something part time.

The road to recovery is a long one; I am recovered (at present) but it took me three years to get here and there were moments when I thought I was there that I now reflect on and think I still had a way to go. I am passionate about giving back too but didn't want to work directly with people with issues similar to mine because I thought I would personally find it too distressing. Instead I've just taken a job doing an office based role for an organisation that houses vulnerable adults. For me personally I need that distance but I understand everyone is different .

Good luck whatever you end up doing

marybelle01

eileanlady wrote: »

I did not say that empathy was unimportant. I said I was amazed that people whose only qualification was claiming that trait could be employed healing the sufferers of such terrible illnesses, was to me amazing.

Actually, nobody did say that. It is impossible to provide detailed advice regarding specific roles because the OP is being remarkably coy about what the role is, and has provided very little information about their own mental health condition currently. So what has been said is only that having suffered from mental ill health is not a barrier to employment in the field of mental health and that it would be seen as one of the assets that somebody could bring.

And let's not over dramatise mental ill health as a "terrible illness". Mental illness is a range of conditions which go across a whole spectrum of problems from things that people may go undiagnosed for because it has limited impact to life to full-blown pathological psychopathies and everything in between. There are even clear diagnoses of some forms of mental illness which are not only not ever diagnosed, but which, if the person is fortunate enough to land themselves in the right circumstances, can be actually viewed as positive traits. Describing all mental ill health as "terrible illness" is like describing all physical illness as "terrible diseases" - you wouldn't be rushing to write out your will because you had caught a cold!

So nobody has suggested that the OP could go out and be a psychiatrist, or a counsellor, or one of the many jobs that require qualifications and specific skill sets. Nor has anyone suggested that they would be recruited to any type of role based solely on their having personal experience of mental ill health.

And frankly, given the information the OP has latterly provided that they are still in very early stages of treatment, although I think that some possibilities of voluntary work may be possible, the chances of paid employment in this field at the moment is highly unlikely; and withholding such information in order to obtain employment in the field (if they are able to do so) would be short-sighted and foolish and the OP is potentially putting their own health at risk.

Errata

Surely the point is that there are a great many positioins in MH that don't involve patient contact. If the OP was a qualified pharmacist, or a clerk, or typist, or vegetable peeler, or laundry sorter, or accountant for example, they couild spend a whole career in MH without ever clapping eyes on a patient