Supported Employment and Mental Health Recovery

Takeaways From This Episode

Recovering after a mental health crisis takes time and support. One thing that actually helps many people get back to their lives is meaningful employment and work.  Work is a positive thing for people living with mental health conditions. Research shows that when people with mental illness work it offers so many benefits in different areas of their lives such as self-esteem, housing stability, financial wellness, hope and their overall quality of life.  This podcast highlights the benefits of work for people with serious mental illness, describes the Individual Placement and Support model of supported employment, offers practical tips for supporting employment and gives listener some additional resources about how to learn more.

Supported employment programs help people find work and keep the job of their choice.  In the past, we may have believed that work made people’s mental health symptoms get worse, and that people with mental health conditions needed to gradually introduce work, conduct lengthy assessments, and help people practice work skills before actually working using step-wise strategies.  This might mean a person would go to groups to talk about work and then go to a so-called ‘sheltered workshop’ where many service recipients gathered to practice work skills.  Supported employment, and the IPS model in particular, demonstrates that a “place/train” strategy is the most helpful in getting people with mental illness back to work, meaning that people select a job and then receive training on that real-world job to help them succeed at that job.

Employment Specialists, or mental health staff with specialized experience helping people get back to meaningful work in the real world, can offer tailored support to get people with mental illness back into the workforce.  But, there are things that we can all do to help people with mental health conditions get a job. Some practical suggestions include talking to them about work, offer hope and inspiration to get back to work, and support their desire to work.

One of the most powerful quotes on this topic comes from Psychiatric Rehabilitation pioneer Joe Marrone who said  “If you think work is bad for people with mental illness, what about poverty, unemployment, and social isolation?”  Join us for a discussion about the importance of work for mental health recovery.