My Support Forums - View Single Post - What barriers do you face with job process / college process?

ThunderGoddess · Dec 02, 2021, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roomwithaview

What a great idea to start a non-profit to help people with mental health issues with career-building.

I have many of the same problems you have; of big gaps in my employment history. I have had a lot of different jobs because of depression and dealing with past abuse as a kid, not getting a fair start in life, having a spotty educational background, etc.

I also have a hard time getting recommendation letters because I work at places for a short time and have to quit after a bit because of mental health issues. I have one great reference but it is from 2016 and I don't feel like I can ask anyone for a reference lately.

I do get around some of these issues a bit by having an online freelance writing business that is sporadic.

I have had the site for a few years and have a lot of articles in my portfolio over the last few years. So I just put that down as my long-term job and fudge things a bit to make it look like I am OK. I have become a bit of a genius at getting hired for jobs and looking "normal" but then I have trouble staying with a job long-term because of low pay and boredom issues etc.

I really want to work from home and not have to deal with the anxiety of being around a lot of other people every day, so I have recently started learning web design more seriously after dabbling with it for years and thinking I wasn't smart enough to be a web developer.

Thank you for sharing. I think the gaps in employment and lack of recommendations is quite common among us suffering from mental health disorders. I'm great at landing jobs as well but keeping them is a huge issue. I believe it's due to lack of inclusivity. It isn't safe to bring up our struggles as the stigma is so strong, we are seen as lazy or unable to handle to job.

I hope to change that mindset with advocacy.

I'm still working on figuring out the best course of action for this nonprofit and I've been thinking a lot about an online hub that is nationwide linking employers with employees. I see so many job assistance programs all over the US but when I really dig dip there is no one to easily contact to sign up for the assistance so I feel like the programs are a lot of smoke and mirrors right now. And I don't think job training programs are enough, I believe they are part of the whole package, there needs to be job placement as the next step or it's just not complete in my opinion.

I want to create a straight forward experience for people looking for work and I want to educate employers on how they can help to retain and create a safe space for people.

Have you or anyone else reading this had experiences with job assistance programs / what was your experience like?

I've used one-stop career centers but it didn't help me retain employment or really find the best fit for me. They just provided me with training as a CNA but if anyone really sat down with me and explained the job I don't think we would of found it was a good fit for me. I feel these one stop career centers are solely focused on providing training but with very limited career options that aren't typically the best fit for people with mental health disorders.