Work and mental illness.......

Of course, mental illness will impact your work life.  You don't step out of your body or mind when you go to work.  Not really.  You take you to work. So, it's true that people are impacted by their mental illness when they step into their workplace.  And the more I am conscious of the impact of my own history, and my own struggles, on my work...the more I see it in others.  At a certain point in my career, struggling with the particular problem that I was dealing with was seen as positive.  As a chemical dependency counselor, having a background with alcoholism and/or addiction was definitely good. The theory was that if you had dealt with the problem, you could assist people from a place of genuine knowledge.  And while I had started down the path of having a 'problem' in college, I'd pretty much stopped all drinking at the time that I started my career in chemical dependency treatment. Of course, I could relate to some of the issues connected with drinking and using. I had depression. Additionally, I grew up with Maxine, who sometimes seemed like a training program in how to live with mental illness. Therefore, I had a lot of personal knowledge in addition to the education I had academically. And I used my personal experiences heavily in working with the people I worked with professionally. That certainly wasn't frowned upon.

But generally, mental illness isn't a positive in the work-place. Most employers don't have a lot of understanding of the biochemical realities of mental illness. And aren't willing to put up with the behavioral issues that can sometimes be evidence of mental illness. And frankly, sometimes people living with mental illness aren't capable of navigating the landscape of the workplace. But more times than not, people living with mental illness are excellent employees. Given understanding and support, they are capable of contributing. Given that it is preferable to have someone connected with life instead of isolating, it is my opinion that being employable is important to finding recovery. But again, we still show up at work in all our humanity, and mental illness can be of impact.

I have a front-row seat watching this because I'm employed. I also read about mental illness, so inevitably, I read about employment issues. And finally, I have friends that are involved in the mental illness/employment struggle. Some are personal friends. Some are in support groups. Rarely is someone able to say that their employment hasn't been impacted by their mental illness. I think this is an important topic connected to living with mental illness and deserves some discussion. I'd like to do just that. And I hope to 'talk' about it with you in the next few articles that I write. If you have something to share with me on this topic, I'd love to have your input. If you are out in the trenches, let me know. Talking it out is the first step in healing. Sending much love.......