Therapy Bits

so this afternoon, i went and met my new job coach, whose name is chris. and what a lovely guy he is! he’s so nice, and so easy to talk to!

we are starting off with an initial get to know each other period, so today we just filled out paperwork, and chatted about me, and about the type of work I’d like to do, about my background etc.

I told him about my mental illnesses, and we talked about disclosure to an employer, he said I probably should disclose that I am suffering with a mental illness to them, but that I didnt have to disclose the exact illnesses, he said 1 in 3 people who are in a job now has a mental illness of some kind! Mindblowing!

Anyway, he said they work with some employers, like, they have a list of employers that they work with, and something might come out of that, because sometimes the employers ask if there is anyone on the job coaching agencys books who can fill a role they are hiring for.

But he encouraged me to look for jobs, and he said I can email him or phone him if I need anything, so if I find a job I feel is suitable, I can email him on the details and he’ll look at it for me. He gave me a few websites to go looking up jobs, so I’ll be doing that soon!

We talked about pay, and he told me minimum wage here is 10.10 an hour, so thats the least I can earn, but I could earn more. But I gotta be careful about my benefits, not work too many hours. But I’m going to try for part time at first, about 25 hours per week.

It was a very encouraging meeting, he seems like a very competent guy, like someone who can really help me to succeed and get a job! At least I hope so! He said he’s going to email me on some stuff over the next while, and he’ll also tidy up my CV!

So I left feeling very hopeful!