Tom’s Story…
Tom is 30 years of age, married with a young family. He had always been in
employment from leaving school, and now at the age of 30, found himself
dismissed from his job. He had taken a work van and used it outside work,
without the firms’ permission. The firm did, however, say that they would not
disclose the dismissal for gross misconduct to the Job Centre, so he could still
get his benefits. When he went to sign on at the Job Centre, they told him he
was not entitled to anything as he had been sacked for gross misconduct.
His wife also worked for the same company, and she agreed with the
employer. The couple separated, and TOM went to his GP who referred him
into IAPT. He was assigned a therapist, who referred him into the
Employment advisor service. The employment advisors only deal with
employed clients, but the company that runs the employment advisor service
also has an unemployment service. TOM was given an appointment with
them, who then signed him up to a 13 week program to get him closer to
employment, and assigned him a vocational advisor.
He had no confidence in his ability anymore, and felt a lesser person as he
could not provide for his family anymore.
He did not know where to look for jobs, how to write his CV, how to compose
a covering letter, and how to conduct himself at an interview. All these areas
were covered on the program. TOM began to job search with the aid of his
vocational advisor, and realised that he was not getting many responses for
applications he had put in, but did get one interview. His vocational advisor
gave him a dummy interview, and he crumbled when he had to discuss why
he left his last job. The vocational advisor coached him through this, so he
could confidently say why he had left his last job, without going into too much
detail.
On the day of the interview, the vocational advisor arranged to meet him for a
coffee to calm his nerves before the interview. He heard the day after that he
had got the job. It was only a part time position, which was not ideally what he
wanted, but then the company rang him back that afternoon and had decided
that they could offer him full time.
His family life has now improved due to this positive outcome in his
employment situation.
Michael’s Story…
Michael holds a middle management role within a regional rail company. In
March this year an organisational restructure took place within Michael’s
workplace. This restructure saw extra duties added to Michael’s job role
without, in the opinion of Michael any prior discussion or any additional
resources provided to conduct these duties.
Following a period of absence due to stress and anxiety in April, a brief return
to work and a further absence again due to stress and anxiety Michael was
referred to the IAPT Employment Advisor service by his GP.
An initial meeting was held between the Employment Advisor and Michael at
his home; the result of this meeting being a clear action plan to assist Michael
in engaging with his Employer to resolve the workplace issues that caused the
anxiety and stress. The Employment Advisor spoke directly with Michael’s HR
Department and Senior Management, and a meeting between Michael’s
Senior Management team, Michael and the Employment Advisor was
arranged without hesitation. Two further meetings were held between Michael
and the Employment Advisor to prepare for the above meeting.
The meeting was held between Michael and his Employers with the
Employment Advisor attending in a supporting role. This meeting was a
success, with the Employer agreeing to redefine Michael’s job role and
provide additional resources, as well as both Michael and the Employer
agreeing on action Michael could take immediately in order to manage his
workload more effectively.
Since this meeting the Employment Advisor has remained available should
Michael wish to discuss any issues that may arise. The above meeting and
the input from the Employment Advisor has resulted in success, both in
resolving the cause of Michael’s ill health and the re-establishment of a
positive and productive Employee/Employer relationship.
Stacey’s Story…
Stacey has been unemployed for 9 years. She suffers with severe digestive
problem, which in itself causes her anxiety. She is anxious using buses in
case she is late for where she is going. She does not like to be away from her
home for too long. Her therapist referred her to the employment advisor
service, who then signposted her to their unemployment program, as Stacey
had decided it was about time she got a job, as her husband had been made
redundant. He did gain another job, but this meant less income.
Stacey was assigned a vocational advisor, who discussed what sort of jobs
she may be interested in, and what skills she has. The vocational advisor also
discussed the unemployment program with Stacey, telling her that there were
weekly training sessions in group of about 8-10 people. The sessions were
about job searching, motivation, confidence building, cv writing etc and lasted
from 10am till 1.30. Stacey had a panic attack at the thought of attending this.
It would mean that to come to this on a Monday, she would have to starve
herself form Saturday night. She was also worried about joining a group and
whether she would have anything to contribute.
The vocational advisor suggested that just the two of them met again on a
one to one basis, but at the same time as the training was going on.
With this amount of anxiety about coming to a training session, it seemed
fruitless trying to get Stacey closer to employment. She was not ready.
However, the vocational advisor decided to sign her onto the 13 week
program, just to build her confidence, and give her a sense of worth and
belonging.
She now attends the training, and if you walked past the room, you would
think she was the trainer! She is involved in the group and has a lot to
contribute. She is now considering some voluntary work at the hospital near to
her home. Her vocational advisor went with her to the coffee shop there to get
a feel of whether she could see herself there in the future. It may be an option
in the future.
Dave’s Story…
Dave is a skilled printer who was made redundant by his firm 1 year ago, and
then reemployed by them in a much lesser role. The pay was not much less,
but the status and skill needed for this role was a lot less.
Dave was referred into the IAPT service by his GP. He was triaged over the
phone by a senior mental health practitioner, who identified that part of his
stress was caused by an issue with his employment.
His first meeting with the Employment Advisor was held at a local medical
centre. His work issues were discussed, and he described himself as being on
the edge of a black hole, as this issue of not utilising the skills he had studied
hard for over the years, was destroying him. He described how much he
disliked the job; never took on extra shifts and could not wait until the end of
each shift to finish. He did, however, get on well with colleagues in the
workplace.
The Employment advisor discussed options for promotion within the work
place, but there were no alternatives, and Dave did not think he could apply
for them if they existed, due to the way he was feeling. The Employment
advisor discussed a change of career, and this brought out a bit of a
revelation. Dave had always wanted to be a drag queen. To see if this was a
realistic option, the employment advisor set him a task of finding local
amateur dramatic companies, make up courses, local theatre companies.
By the second meeting, Dave had signed up to be part of a local amateur
dramatics society, on the understanding that he only played the part of a
woman. He did actually then tell the Employment advisor that he is a cross
dresser. Allowing himself to explore this part of his life has now made him
able to cope with work. He saw the work as a means to end…it paid the bills:
and his life outside of work is therefore more fulfilling.
He began helping out in other departments at work, and offering to do
overtime. His attitude became more positive regarding his whole life.
He was recently called in to a meeting with the HR department, who
discussed what his ideal job would be. By the end of the day, that job was
posted on the notice board. He applied and got the position!