Ways to bounce back

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bluefox
bluefox Online Community Member Posts: 647 Empowering
in Work
I have been struggling with mental health conditions and some physical problems too and I’m due to lose my employment. 

But my biggest worry is how to bounce back from this in the future? What steps could someone actively take to bounce back? 

Could you flat out apply for jobs and risk them pulling your absence history apart (despite holding down a job for a very long time before becoming further unwell)

Volunteering? 
Job centre schemes?

It would hurt me that I’d be trapped in unemployment forever so I’m trying to convince my mind that the fear of the future isn’t to be feared. 

Any success stories on these forums of anyone bouncing back?

Comments

  • Ross_Alumni
    Ross_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,611 Championing
    edited August 2022
    Hi @bluefox

    I think volunteering can be a great way of bouncing back, as you put it. Working can be a bit of a pressure cooker, but volunteering can represent a good chance to gradually build up your skills and confidence without having the pressures of paid employment. Furthermore, depending on where you volunteer it can sometimes lead to paid opportunities and if that was the case you would have the advantage of already being fairly familiar with the environment you'd be going in to.

    Have you considered any volunteering opportunities?
  • Karen7788
    Karen7788 Scope Member Posts: 596 Empowering
    edited August 2022
    Hi @bluefox,
    Going to adult education classes at my local college helped me to bounce back. It eventually helped me in a change of career, built my confidence back up and as a bonus I made new friends. 
    I did do about 20+ years doing voluntary work, mostly in my local school, which did lead to a career in Education and Early Years, but then a few years later following a massive change in my life, Adult Education helped me to develop and advance in my present career in healthcare. 
  • bluefox
    bluefox Online Community Member Posts: 647 Empowering
    Hi @Karen7788

    Did you bounce back from losing a job? Or did you bounce back in general with your conditions?

    Sounds like you’ve done really well. I love reading inspirational stories of how people have bounced back. 
  • Karen7788
    Karen7788 Scope Member Posts: 596 Empowering
    edited August 2022
    Hi @bluefox,
    It’s a bit personal really, but I’m quite open about it. 
    No I bounced back from my husband of 23 years, he was my first boyfriend, going off with another woman after I found out about the affair and divorcing him for adultery, my declining health and the hurt and pain it caused my children. 
    It was my local college that helped build me back up and the counselling that I received also helped. 
    I’m very happily married again now and my children are all grown and happy. 
  • leeCal
    leeCal Online Community Member Posts: 7,537 Championing
    I bounced back several times from attempted suicides by just getting another full time job each time. Mind you I resigned from the last two but that was in itself empowering as you might imagine. They were both horrible jobs with awful employers though, didn’t enjoy them one bit. 

    Thankfully I’m now retired.
  • bluefox
    bluefox Online Community Member Posts: 647 Empowering
    leeCal said:
    I bounced back several times from attempted suicides by just getting another full time job each time. Mind you I resigned from the last two but that was in itself empowering as you might imagine. They were both horrible jobs with awful employers though, didn’t enjoy them one bit. 

    Thankfully I’m now retired.
    I appreciate this isn’t a question you might not want to answer. Did you lose any job through your mental health issues?

    then recover and find a job etc
  • leeCal
    leeCal Online Community Member Posts: 7,537 Championing
    No I didn’t lose a job due to mental health issues but I was self employed and so worked when and where I wanted. My last two jobs were horrendous and put me under a great deal of pressure in different ways so I resigned from them. Both jobs told me I couldn’t just resign but I did it anyway. Now you could say that me resigning was a sign of mental health problems I suppose but frankly It was a sweet release on both occasions. So yes I resigned then recovered and got another job.

    i was diagnosed with a serious mental health condition and really I shouldn’t have tried to hold down a job at all but at the time we needed the income so needs must when the devil drives as they say.
  • bluefox
    bluefox Online Community Member Posts: 647 Empowering
    I am worried my long absence history related to conditions is really going to prevent me from finding another job ever again. 

    I know they can do you a start date and finish date reference. But I’m frightened to death tbh
  • Ross_Alumni
    Ross_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,611 Championing
    bluefox said:
    I am worried my long absence history related to conditions is really going to prevent me from finding another job ever again. 

    I know they can do you a start date and finish date reference. But I’m frightened to death tbh
    It's understandable to worry, but I'm sure that if the time comes further down the line where you feel as though you're ready to step into another job, you'll be able to get one despite that history. You'll primarily be judged on your abilities at the time of interview, and you'll do great I'm sure.

    I know somebody, a friend, who found a job a couple of years ago despite being out of the workforce for about five years. All they had to show for those five years was volunteering. It just shows that it can be done, despite seeming like quite a large hurdle :) 

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