Care Assistant interview (Past mental health issues)

ITZ

Hello, I have an interview next week as a care assistant/support worker. It will be with elderly/dementia.

What exactly should I tell them about my past mental health. I was unemployed for about 10 years and in that time I was sectioned twice and admitted to several hospitals, had several support workers from a few organisations, also a few CPNs and only moved out of supported living last year.
I'm guessing they will ask about why I was unemployed for a long time.

I can't just lie and say nothing because theyes always the chancestors someone who knows me is working there now. But I dont want to say too much either. It's a job with no experience/driving license needed.

Savvy_Sue

Without knowing anything about your mental health, that's impossible to answer. However, I'd suggest that whatever you decide to say, practice saying it beforehand, out loud.

So it might go something like "when I was younger I was unwell for quite a long time and needed a lot of support. For the last X years I've been much better and am now able to look for work. I hope that my experience will help me be a good care assistant because I understand how important it is to have the right kind of support."

If you can identify a trigger / reason for your illness that could be useful, just to help establish that there was a reason you were ill and that reason no longer applies. Again, just as an example, "there were several traumatic deaths in my family just before I became unwell and it took a long time for me to get help with dealing with this."