Today was my first day since leaving my job, and I have four days lined up this week with a mental health charity, local to me. They have some shops in the community, as well as their office from which they do a great deal of community and outreach work both including hospital visits, in-home support and education sessions – they do one called mental first aid, in schools . They also have a day centre which is where I was to be spending some time.
When I arrived I met the OT who talked to me more about the work that the charity does and a bit about the history of mental health. She qualified 25 years ago and told me how different it was then. Most patients were sent to asylums, and it was much more about protecting them and caring for them rather than empowering. They’d all be in a bit of a “daze” and have a few arts and crafts classes etc. She told me how day centres have also now become old fashioned, they used to have many more – because of the concept of social inclusion. They’re now trying to shift many of the practices in the day centre away from arts and crafts and 50 people on a coach to southend and aim to make it much more collaborative – getting the clients involved in creating their own sessions and she talked of how they all took themselves to Brighton by train last week.
This split or change in how mental health issues have been dealt with was particularly interesting when we talked about the work they did with carers. They have an older age group of carers for whom their children have spent so many decades in more of an institutionalised setting that the only help they now want is a place to vent. And a younger set of carers for whom their children are being treated with more modern techniques and who are watching them start to get better or be able to cope more effectively. Apparently because these sets of carers have had such different experiences, they run very different sessions for them.
The session that was supposed to take place today was specifically employment advice. The lady leading the session is a recruitment consultant by trade and now works for the charity, from this angle, discussing with clients how they can get back into jobs, or if they’re not ready, into voluntary work – giving them help with CVs and interview tips and sometimes going into the workplace to discuss issues with employers. We had an interesting conversation about equality and how employers handle the issue of mental health. I know I’ve read on the Community Care website lots of people who say they wouldn’t tell their bosses about depression for fear of discrimination. Apparently she tends to advise people who are going into the private sector not to declare if it they don’t need to, but in the social care world, she explained that if they met the job spec, and have a mental health issue, many are guaranteed an interview – a form of positive discrimination – or perhaps just additional experience with the fields they’re looking at.
We had a chat about the benefits trap too and how she’d found in many cases financially there was no advantage to these people working and they often lacked the motivation if it would only give them £20 more than benefits did.
Unfortunately, no one turned up to the session today, they usually get a few – one had called to say they couldn’t make it and the other 1 or 2 didn’t show. So I was sent home but am back tomorrow for next few days for when the rest of the programmes open up at the day centre. Apparently they get around 25 people so I’m looking forward to that.
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