Claiming Support And Conditionality
Universal Credit is also designed to help people into work or to earn more, but there are strict conditions attached. A key part of the eligibility assessment is agreeing to a claimant commitment, which sets expectations of the amount of time people should spend looking for work. The standard expectation is to spend 35 hours a week seeking work . However, experiences of benefit recipients suggest that the circumstances of people with mental health problems often fail to be duly considered in setting these expectations.
During the first wave of the pandemic, the suspension of job seeking conditions for all UC claimants helped to mitigate the stress of searching for work, particularly when many sectors were closed. This blanket suspension has now ended, with work coaches instead applying discretion based on individual and local circumstances. It is important that this discretion takes into account mental health needs as much as caring responsibilities.
Common mental disorders are higher among those who are receiving benefits. Such disorders include anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder . Despite many claimants citing mental ill health as the root cause of unemployment, the application process and assessment regime has been found to exacerbate their mental health problems.
Talking Therapy Or Antidepressants Were Less Effective For Unemployed People With Depression
A study led by UCL researchers, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that people who were unemployed, or had less secure housing, had worse outcomes even when compared to people who had similar severity or number of symptoms of depression when they began their treatment.
Following the initial few months of treatment amongst employed and unemployed patients, the researchers noticed that the gaps between groups widened greatly, as after nine to 12 months, unemployed patients had 37% worse symptoms than employed patients.
Adjusting for other factors known to influence treatment outcomes such as: mental illness characteristics, in addition to age, gender, marital status, physical health conditions, and social support, they also reviewed whether financial strain or educational attainment were associated with treatment efficacy.
Financial strain and educational attainment did not carry a significant effect for the study, nor did those factors explain the links with employment and housing status.
While the treatments for depression varied between the studies including a few common antidepressants, cognitive behavioural therapy , computerised CBT, structured physical activity, collaborative care and other options the results were consistently worse for those people without jobs or secure housing.
Engage In Regular Exercise
A regular exercise practice can help you create much-needed structure in your day. You dont need to train for a marathon, though. Walking is exercise.
Shivy says creating structure, getting emotional support, managing sleep and eating habits, and getting regular exercise are critical but often ignored practices. Most people I see need gentle but continuous prodding to put these things in place. So if you have a friend or family member who could use a little prodding, do it, and ask them to check up on you as well.
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Guys And Gals: Know The Symptoms
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, depression affects 6 million men each year. But most men’s depression goes undiagnosed. They are much less likely to seek help because of the macho thing and because their symptoms are different than those we typically associate with depression . So it’s helpful to look out for these clues of male depression: irritability and anger, blaming others, alcohol and drug abuse, feeling ashamed, insomnia or sleeping too little, strong fear of failure, using TV, sports, and sex to self-medicate.
S To Take When Youre Depressed And Cant Find A Job
For those of us struggling with depression or any of its variants, the simple act of waking up every day can feel like a major accomplishment.
Whether unemployment is causing your depression, or depression is an obstacle in your job search, its hard to get the right momentum to successfully find a job.
And now, in a COVID-ravaged world, you may be depressed, anxious, coping with unprecedented uncertainty, and recently unemployed with no idea how to support yourself.
It feels overwhelming, but youre not powerless. In this article, well break down steps you can take to find a jobfrom getting into the right routine, to interview prep, to continuing in the face of rejection.
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Ease Conditionality And Improve Job Support
- While significant parts of local job markets remain slow, the social security systems conditionality regime could be eased, in order to remove the additional strain placed on claimants mental health.
- Finding good quality work that fits with other needs and responsibilities such as childcare commitments could be prioritised over finding any work.
- The DWPs dont call us, well call you policy had a positive impact for claimants during the pandemic, and could be maintained for the handling of new claims in future.
- Personalised support from the Jobcentre Plus could be tailored to the mental health needs of claimants. This will require advisors and assessors to undergo specific mental health training in how to manage and support individuals with different mental health conditions and needs.
- Disability Employment Advisers should be suitably trained, have manageable caseloads and access to adequate resources to support claimants experiencing mental health problems. Regular, mandatory disability equality training should also be provided to Jobcentre staff.
Tip : Get Moving To Relieve Stress
If work commitments prevented you from exercising regularly before, its important to make the time now. Exercise is a powerful antidote to stress. As well as relaxing tense muscles and relieving tension in the body, exercise releases powerful endorphins to improve your mood. Trimming your waistline and improving your physique may also give your self-confidence a boost.
- Aim to exercise for 30 minutes or more per day, or break that up into short, 10-minute bursts of activity. A 10-minute walk can raise your spirits for two hours.
- Rhythmic exercise, where you move both your arms and legs, is a hugely effective way to lift your mood, increase energy, sharpen focus, and relax both the mind and body. Try walking, running, weight training, swimming, martial arts, or even dancing.
- To maximize stress relief, instead of continuing to focus on your thoughts, focus on your body and how it feels as you move: the sensation of your feet hitting the ground, for example, or the wind on your skin.
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Depression Is On The Rise With High Unemployment And Career Instability
Getty
Sometimes we flounder and just cant seem to get our heads in the game. Sometimes we lose orat the very leastwe forget how to win. And sometimes we struggle with stress, anxiety, sadness and even depression. This is such a hard time right now for so many people. Coronavirus is ravaging our lives, our economy, our jobs, and our mental health. Clearly, some are feeling it more directly than others, but a lot of us are feeling it. At least 85,000 people have died in the U.S. alone, and 3 million more new unemployment claims were filed in the last week. CNBC graphed out how the U.S. has lost more than 36 million jobs since March.
All of this has happened in only the last eight weeks, and now we are trying to figure out how to create a new way of being. While we do that, we must also prioritize our mental health and address the need to direct resources for the rising levels of fear, anxiety and depression being felt by many.
Notwithstanding that its undoubtedly a harder time for some its still a hard time for many. People are anxious right now, and many have become depressed. Depression is rising in children, in younger and older adults and in the employed and the unemployed. It is on the rise with both blue-collar and white-collar workers, and it is on the rise with low-income and high-income earners and everyone in between.
CNBC Unemployment Graph with Data from DOL
CNBC.com
You Are More Than Your Career
So much of who we are is wrapped up in work, but you are more than your job, said Alison Doyle, a job search expert at the Balance Careers, part of the Balance family of sites, which offer advice on such topics as personal finance, careers and small business.
When people imagine job-search depression, they often attribute it to financial instability and frequent rejection, but it turns out that identity is a much bigger piece of the puzzle than people had previously thought, said Dawn R. Norris, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and the author of Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health.
In fact, many of the people in my study said it was the most important thing to them, even beyond financial problems, she said. Those who listed financial concerns as their top source of stress often cited a perceived loss of identity as a close second.
The perception that we are our work is a major reason the job search, and receiving constant messages that we arent who we think we are, is so distressing.
If your identity is threatened, you need an identity-based solution, Dr. Norris said.
The solution: Recognize that your personality is made up of a diverse range of experiences, interests and values not just your employment status and have other areas in your life that you can lean on as a source of joy and confidence. This is pivotal to coping with job loss, Dr. Maidenberg said.
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Unemployment & Mental Health
When a person encounters job loss, it can create a string of unwanted and sometimes unexpected repercussions. Some of the most common responses to job loss include:
- Poor self-esteem
- Feeling lost and aimless
The effects of job loss often mirror the impact of a loved ones death. Strong feelings of grief will emerge.
Job loss does not happen in a vacuum, though, so when unemployment occurs, it increases the current levels of stress a person is experiencing. If their stress is at a 5 out of 10 while employed, it could easily grow to an 8 or higher when unemployed since their healthy coping skills may be gone.
When stress rises and mental health symptoms worsen, people may turn to unhealthy coping skills like substance abuse to improve symptoms and manage stress. These behaviors provide short-term relief but only exacerbate the unwanted effects in the long-term.
How To Cope With Unemployment Depression in Healthy Ways
Rather than relying on alcohol and other drugs to cope with unemployment depression, people should focus on healthy coping skills. The healthiest skills may seem uncomfortable and challenging at first, but they create the best effects with time.
Some helpful unemployment coping skills include:
Remember: Its Not Your Fault
Everyone goes through bouts of unemployment in life.
There are a million and one factors that go into finding and keeping a job. You can be the perfect candidate on paper, but maybe you dont have that much chemistry with the team. Or maybe you wake up one day ready to find a job, but theres a drought of openings in your area.
These things happen, and its not always your fault. The most you can do is not take it too hard, and remember to try your best for the next time. There is always going to be a next time, and if you give up, you miss out on that chance!
Job searching can be a game of chance and numbers, where you have to keep trying to find success. As Michael Caines character in Interstellar said, it only has to work once.
A healthy support network can help keep you motivated and help you sort out your priorities. We encourage you to take advantage of the support available right here, right now.
If you want to talk with other people struggling to find a job while depressed, visit Supportivs instant, anonymous chat. Hit Chat Now, enter your main thoughts, and youll get connected with others who get it.
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What This Means For You
Its frustrating and scary to be unemployed. And its tough to plan for the future right now due to the uncertainty of the situation. But taking care of yourself and your mental health can help you cope with some of the distress youre feeling.
If youre struggling to manage your mental health, however, its not a sign of weakness. Dont be afraid to ask for help. Talking to a therapist can help. And there are many ways to reach out to a therapist online right now, so you dont even have to leave home to do it.
Just Another Manic Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Because I knew I could easily fall into I CANT KEEP UP WITH ALL THIS DRAMA! territory, I put systems in place to put my anxiety to work.
Anxiety tells me I need to have every single answer to every single question figured out before anyone even asks. So, I put together a web-based spreadsheet that tracked every job lead along with the primary contacts info, our last date of communication and all the notes on what wed talked about so far. I also kept folders for every lead containing all the homework Id done on the company, every email Id sent/received and any notable industry news stories that might add to interview conversations.
When I was tossing, turning and not sleeping in the middle of the night, Id grab my phone, pull up my spreadsheet and see who I needed to contact next. Id use my nervous energy to write emails to people I hadnt talked to in a few weeks, then save them as drafts to re-read the next morning with a clear head before sending them out. If writing felt like too much work, Id search job boards and my favorite agency sites for new job postings. If I found a good one, Id email it to myself so I could dig a little deeper the next day.
Having spent some time updating my to-do list, it was much easier for me to go to sleep knowing Id been productive and had a plan for tomorrow.
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Headlines Delivered To Your Inbox
There is not necessarily a corelation between your positions being made redundant and your not getting along with co-workers and your supervisors. It may just be coincidence, and more likely, redundancies were undertaken in response to restructuring based on the economic climate and the need to be profitable.
You have not been getting responses to your job applications and it is possible that you need to get help with writing résumés and job-application letters. This can be learned online and from other professionals.
You should also consider cutting your expenses further. You must try and conserve more energy. Energy costs are a major expense. You will have to entertain yourself on the cheap and find inexpensive food. And when you do not feel like eating, then drink something nutritious. If you have serious problems sleeping, then consult your family doctor.
Finally, you need to work on your social skills because they are necessary for team work and a harmonious environment. Perhaps you need to join a social club in order to better appreciate being involved with persons with different personalities and values.
How To Ask Your Employer For Mental Health Support
Part of the conversation with your employer should focus on your mental health and well-being. In 2020, employers and employees need to check in with each other regarding mental health and coping. As jobs, expectations and work settings change due to the coronavirus, employers should respect the needs of the individual.
If your employer is not bringing up the topic, take the lead and ask:
- What measures are you taking to improve employee mental health?
- What can you offer me to ensure my employment does not impair my health?
- Are there any policies prohibiting me from using sick time for mental health issues?
- Is the company providing any workshops regarding mental health?
- What level of reimbursement should I expect for equipment and supplies needed for my job?
Remember, all conversations have to start somewhere. You may not get the desired response at the beginning, but it only means you need to continue the conversation in the future. These conversations may be uncomfortable, but they go a long way to reducing mental health and substance abuse stigma.
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How To Cope With Unemployment Depression
Coping with depression is usually a challenge, but coping with depression during the coronavirus pandemic is even more complex because stress is higher, healthy outlets are scarce, and the worlds uncertainty seems to grow each day. Coping is always possible, though. Heres how:
- Fix the physical. People may want to address the mental health concerns head on, but sometimes, giving attention and time to your physical health is a great start. By eating well, prioritizing sleep and getting more exercise, you put yourself in a better position to recover.
- Limit the content. Being stuck inside more probably means that you are staring at your phone endlessly. Many people are consuming copious amounts of content about politics, COVID-19, and other stressors. There is a fine line between being informed and being overwhelmed, so turn off your screens and search for beauty in your world.
- Control the controllable. Wanting to improve your employment or mental health is fantastic, but you have limited control over these issues. You cannot force someone to hire you and you cannot make your brain stop being depressed. Practice patience and understanding while being kind to yourself to shrink the unwanted effects of unemployment and depression.
- Find yourself. If you are used to being identified by your profession, this period of unemployment allows you to rediscover who you are, what you like and what you want to accomplish in your life. Its not a crisis. Its an opportunity.
