Looking to the future

At the time of the research interviews, the study group included people who:

• were currently in work having moved off IB;

• had returned to work for a time but were not currently in employment and

were now claiming JSA, or had reclaimed IB, or were being supported through

another source of income;

• were still on IB with no return to work;

• had moved off IB (voluntarily or following a medical assessment) but had not yet

returned to work and were claiming JSA or being supported through another source of income.

Among those who were in employment at the time of interview, most people were glad to be back in work and, overall, were enjoying their current job and feeling positive about the future. In describing the aspects of work that they enjoyed, people’s comments reflected the benefits of work that have been outlined above, such as social contact, activity and occupation. Some people noted certain aspects of their new job that they struggled with, but these were generally unrelated to, and were not described as impacting on, their mental health. Some people, particularly among the older members of the study group, hoped to stay in their current jobs for the foreseeable future, perhaps until retirement. Several of the younger people had plans to return to education or training, to gain vocational or academic qualifications which would allow them to set out on or to make a more radical change to their career path.

Some people also talked about a realisation that the type of work they were in was not very well suited to them, given the effects of their mental health condition. For example, a person who experienced depression and who worked on a freelance basis, which inherently involved uncertainty about workflow, felt it would be beneficial to find work that was more consistent and predictable. Another individual felt that his experience of depression due to ‘job stress’ had been valuable in a way, because it had helped him to identify the alternative career path that he did want to pursue.

A small number of people described continuing difficulties in work which they linked to their mental health condition. Two people explained that they were currently struggling to manage in work, one of whom was off sick at the time of the research interview and was not planning to return to her job. One person had

changed jobs because he had found his role detrimental to his mental health, and another was thinking about changing jobs within the next few months, though this was in part due to physical health constraints. However, these few people who were looking to change jobs because of the effect their current work was having on their mental health maintained that they did want to work and felt able to work, given more suitable job conditions, for example, part-time hours.

Among the study participants who had not yet returned to work at the time of the research interviews, some people who were still on IB felt that, at the present time, they were not ready for work and needed to spend longer addressing their mental health problem. However, almost everybody hoped to return to work at some point in the future. Only a very small of people number were in a position where their ongoing experiences of mental ill health made it difficult to think about work at all. Rather, most people talked in some detail about their plans and ideas for work in the future. As with people who had returned to work, a number of people talked about plans to take up or return to education, in order to improve their prospects or work towards long-term career goals. Some people, not only younger members of the study group, were already engaged in vocational or basic skills training, either initiated independently or with support from Jobcentre Plus. Moreover, some of the people who had moved onto JSA, and indeed some people still on IB, said that they were feeling much better or at least well enough to return to work. Reasons underpinning such feelings included effective medical treatment, improvements in the personal circumstances that had triggered mental health conditions, time to overcome traumatic events, or the passing of a low ebb in a fluctuating condition. Thus, the current positions of these people closely reflect the accounts of feeling ready for work that were given by study participants who had already returned to employment.

Despite widespread desires to be in work, however, some people’s expectations or aspirations for work in the future had altered somewhat, in light of their experiences of mental ill health while in work. Other than the few people who had already done so, nobody expressed a wish to return to their previous job, including the two individuals who were still under contract or ‘on the books’ with their most recent employer. Moreover, some people’s experiences had made them feel that they could not return to their previous type of employment, because of the negative emotions or high levels of anxiety that were associated with it. For some people, this meant seeking a new direction after several years in an established career, for example, teaching, nursing or administration.

As noted in Chapter 5, some people who had returned to work were not seeking to obtain as senior or responsible a position as they had held previously and this view was echoed among some of the study participants who were still in receipt of IB. The experience of ‘breaking down’ under the pressure of work had led some people to be cautious about the kind of work they took on in the future. Although people frequently discussed a range of possibilities for alternative work, one person, who did not feel able to return to her previous profession explained that she was now feeling ‘a little bit lost’ and in need of some guidance in finding a new career path.

The experience of mental ill health had also led some people to reassess the priority they placed on work among other aspects of their lives. One person in the study group who had earned a particularly high income prior to becoming unwell explained how, through the experiences that had triggered his mental health condition, he had come to place far greater value on spiritual and emotional rather than material wealth. There were also people who had been very career- driven in the past, who felt that in future they would seek to achieve a better