Job search depression

It actually shows you have the desire to work @Ruby26 You can even share that as part of your interviews and applications.

And yes, you are your own boss, so that helps. I do some volunteer work as part of advocacy too. I'm working on an information booklet at the moment. I do it, not because I have time, but because I feel it is so important.

Thanks for caring @tyme . I don't have a therapist at the moment to talk through work-related issues. I feel like they wouldn't be interested in what I have to say and also I'm not sure how to say what I want to say. I do have a thread called I quit work by accident where I go into my story in more depth. I think you have visited it before. If not, I would really appreciate your thoughts/opinion/advice. Thanks once again.

@Blackcloud I'm sorry you've had such a hard time. It must have been terrible if you had to leave so quickly each time. Belonging isn't something you get in a role right away, but you deserved to be treated with politeness and acceptance.

Having a support worker come with you sounds like a good idea. Remember that there are roles you can do that don't require too much people contact. For example, an op shop can be a nightmare to work in if you struggle being around people all day, but an animal shelter could make allowances, so that you need very little interaction with people. Think about the kind of environment that would work best for you. Look for things that suit you best, not just the first thing you get offered. Your support worker should be able to help you with organising volunteer work. It could be helpful to have your support worker on speaker to listen in when you talk to volunteer organisations on the phone too. I hope the next role you find works out better for you.

@tyme thanks for your support. Yes, I have all the advocacy work on my resume.

What is the information booklet you are working on about?

@Ruby26 yes I’ve volunteered at an op shop before and definitely wouldn’t go back to do it again. I had a customer that was rude to me - it started off by her asking me “do you work here?” and then going on to say that my enthusiasm was unparallel. After that incident, my anxiety of having customers coming near me and coming to ask me something increased, because before that, I didn’t have that kind of anxiety.

yeah, I’ll have to wait until my NDIS plan gets reassessed soon & hopefully that means they’ll add more support worker hours onto my new plan and then I’ll work out from there with my current support worker. An animal shelter sounds like a nice option, though I’ve never owned my pets + I’ve also tried petting a few different dogs/puppies along the way (some of them immediately backed off or run away as soon as I tried petting them though but they came up to me first) so I’m not very familiar with what I need to do for them.

@Blackcloud it sounds like indirect disability discrimination occurred because of that customer. I'm very sorry you were treated in this way. It's against the law to mistreat someone because of how a disability impacts their body language. Customers can make a judgement about the type of service you give them, but they have no right judge what you were feeling and its very rude to actually approach you to express such a judgement.

Customer service work is very difficult and demanding work. There are many other options of work that don't involve having to do customer service. I've never worked in customer service roles because high conflict positions are a mental health trigger. I can cope well with work in psychiatric wards and disability services, but I wouldn't cope in customer service. In theory, an op shop should support their volunteers, but the reality is that many of them don't.

I don't think you need any experience with animals to volunteer at an animal shelter. You just need to learn the signals that animals give when they want company and when they want space. When in doubt, you just give the animal space. Animals are much easier to read than people, so you should get the hang of it quickly. You should be able to bring in a support worker for your first shift for support in learning this.

@Ruby26 thank you so much for the kind words my friend ❤️ I did tell a few other volunteers I trust and the managers about it afterwards and they were upset to hear about what happened so I felt supportive by them. I was even told that next time when a customer comes up and is being rude to me that I can immediately go and let the manager know about it so that the manager can come up to that customer to tell on her. I really appreciate with everything you say my friend ❤️

I 100% agree, which is why I’ve never wanted to work in customer service. Even when I was in job seeker payments, I keep having to tell and try to convince the job consultants about it but they were always being dismissive by saying stuff like “is there a reason why you don’t want to work in customer service?” for example. At times they would come up with backhanded reasons by trying to reassure me whenever they introduced me to a role that they’ve found for me, even after I refuse. 2 of the jobs I worked at came from the job consultants from job providers applying them for me & I guess it’s kinda good that I got to experience what it’s really like working in roles that involve talking to customers, so that I now know as to what i decide to do and what I decide to not do.

It’s the main reason why I worked really hard for a few months (after being registered for job providers for more than a year and a half) to prepare for my DSP application. It’s also great that I got the 18 months experience in the program of support prior to applying for DSP.

thank you for that information. And that’s true, animals are more easier to read and to deal with than people are. It’s why I think animals are the best creatures to ever exist. 🤗

@Blackcloud you're welcome, I'm glad the people you worked with were supportive.

Job consultants have a terrible reputation in terms of supporting people who need disability accommodations. They often put people in jobs which have a long history of having employees quit due to poor working conditions and workplace bullying. I know people who went to job consultants for years and never got offered a job that was safe for them. Often it is when people stop going to these services and start looking for jobs on their own terms that they find jobs that meet their needs.

The DSP is better because you get to apply for things in your own time and space. You may find searching for jobs on your own would work better, because you can avoid applying for high conflict environments like customer service. Just be careful of Disability Employment Services, they are basically the same thing as the job consultants you would have seen with Jobseeker. The only real difference is that they may also offer supported employment, which means getting paid less than minimum wage and being in an environment with other people with developmental disabilities (it's the new term for a sheltered workshop).

It sounds like you would really be suited to working with animals.

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@Ruby26 wrote:

@Blackcloud you're welcome, I'm glad the people you worked with were supportive.

Job consultants have a terrible reputation in terms of supporting people who need disability accommodations. They often put people in jobs which have a long history of having employees quit due to poor working conditions and workplace bullying. I know people who went to job consultants for years and never got offered a job that was safe for them. Often it is when people stop going to these services and start looking for jobs on their own terms that they find jobs that meet their needs.

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@Ruby26 oh don't worry, the job providers I've been under were all under Disability Employment Services and I've had horrible experiences with them in terms of everything you mentioned here. One time I was offered this jobactive program by one of them and I participated in the program, but the way that the job provider + consultant handled it all was so disorganised both a few days before the program started and both on the day that the program started. That program was how I got my first job.

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@Ruby26 wrote:

@tyme thanks for your support. Yes, I have all the advocacy work on my resume.

What is the information booklet you are working on about?

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I'm working on a booklet for carers who are supporting loved ones in emergency departments. @Ruby26