Return To Work

Hello, dear reader!

So …. Apparently it's all change in the Rankin household, and it's my turn to write the blog—because rumour has it that I have had some good news this week. Are you sufficiently intrigued—then read on.

As some of you avid readers will be aware, I suffered quite a significant mental breakdown in 2021, which unfortunately resulted in me having to give up my job as a clinical support worker. I couldn't look after myself, never mind attempting to look after someone else! 2021 was ‘covid year’, and I had managed to work through some of the pandemic, keeping my client and myself covid free.

But then I broke in a way I never thought I would ever recover from. It was as if every trauma I had ever suffered, every difficulty, every pain, had all merged together in a hopeless yukky bleurghhhh. I was hardly functioning, and it took lots of effort from all who supported me to keep me from …. Well, I don't even want to think about what could have happened.

The Good News
Even though the NHS was so stretched and services had waiting lists as long as your arm, I managed to get appointments with mental health professionals and doctors, who initially gave me medication. (I was either struggling to sleep, or asleep all day). The medication made me very drowsy, but it began to help my mood stabilise. I was then deemed stable enough for some intervention from Mental Health services, after a bit of a hiccup (with one person saying that because I dressed well, and had a nice house, I didn't need any more help!). Fortunately after a very strongly worded email from my doctor, I did see the right people at the right time, and my journey of recovery commenced.

If you are interested then you can read more about my journey Here & Here

Soooooooo, what's my big news?. What's occurring in the next few months that will change the Rankin household dynamic? Well, my journey of recovery is now at the stage where I am ready to enter the human race again and make a contribution to society again. I’m ready to go back to work.

Back In The Old Routine
In the last few months I have been trying to instil some sort of routine back into my life, and I must admit, I haven't been too successful. A combination of me loving my bed, and taking heavy medication hasn't always provided the best concoction, and I'm sure my husband has felt alone in the house on a number of occasions ( he can admit whether that's been positive or negative!)

But, after a few conversations with my mental health team, a few strings pulled, and just a stroke of luck a job opening came up, and I made the decision that the time was right for me to enter back into normal society by applying for a job within the mental health team!

Whether you believe in things happening for a reason, or some kind of divine intervention, this opportunity most certainly came at just the right time. I needed to push myself, to test my boundaries, but I needed a supportive and safe environment to do just that.

Long Form
The NHS are constantly having to evolve to cater for an evolving society, and it just so happens that one of the new initiatives within the mental health services is a peer support scheme. This is when people with lived experience of mental health issues can come and work alongside people who are struggling and actively seeking help for their mental health issues.

From massively personal experience, I know having someone who knows what I am going through to walk alongside me, is vitally important in a person's possible path of recovery, because it was important in mine (and still is - I'm not fully recovered just yet!). So when the opportunity arose a few months back to apply for a peer support worker role within the team that I had received support from, It didn't take much persuasion for me to put my application forward.

 

Of course, my overthinking brain kept telling me that it was too soon, that I wasn't ready, and just wasn't strong enough, but I somehow managed (with alot of encouragement) to silence the doubts long enough to send in my very lengthy NHS application form. Pressing that very scary ‘send’ button still took all of my willpower

Interview with the Non-Vampire
So to cut a waffling story a bit shorter, my application was accepted, and I was invited to attend an interview, unfortunately there was a 6 week gap from applying to my interview, and my waiting skills are very questionable, always have been, and always will be.

The interview day was this Tuesday at 11am and, as interviews go, I thought that I had done ok. I felt positive and felt that I had portrayed my excitement in a captive way. I really do feel positive about the opportunity to share my story with others, and be an example of hope that having a mental illness doesn't have to be the end of the world. My goal really was to convey this excitement and enthusiasm about recovery clearly in my interview, and I felt sure I could be a positive asset to the team because of my lived experience. I just needed to convince them!

Well, after what seemed like days, the awaited phone call came to tell me I had been successful in my interview, and I was offered the position of Peer support worker within the mental health team based at Ravensleigh.

And so my journey back into work commences - I am both exhausted and really excited (overthinking everything takes some effort and energy you know), but I will be keeping you posted I'm sure.

If you have read, supported, and thought positively about me and my story over the last few months, then I am very grateful to you. And if I have inspired you, or given you hope, then my work here is, well it's not done yet. That I can guarantee!!!


Until next time…