Two Healthy Living Centre beneficiaries who were placed in jobs and are still being supported by Status Employment, agreed to be part of the Croydon Healthy Living Centre video. Neither of these beneficiaries who took part would have had the confidence to be so open about their mental health disability before doing the video but said they felt proud to be in employment and to be supported by STATUS Employment.
Status Employment carried out interviews with their candidates who had found open employment or achieved "improved employability" with STATUS to find out how they felt about our Healthy Living Centres work. We asked them, for example, whether they felt they had a reduction in stress levels; whether they had an increase in self-esteem or in social contact; whether they felt they had improved in their personal skills; and whether they had become better off financially. Below are the results of the interviews with the candidates.
John Jones has benefited greatly from learning good job interview techniques at STATUS that included talking part in "mock" interviews. He now feels more confident in himself, which has helped with his interpersonal skills in his day-to-day life, including an improvement in his interaction with fellow service users at his Day Centre.
Alan enjoyed two work experience trails arranged through and supported by his Employment Consultant at STATUS Employment. In a supported and stress-free environment, Alan felt comfortable. The work had links to his previous employment. He commented, "Doing the book-keeping takes me back to when I was a hotel manager and I may get back there." He even felt able to talk about his mental health issues with the employer. Alan feels that his self-esteem has increased, feels less dependent on mental health day services and decided to look for voluntary work.
Peter also feels that his self esteem has improved, so much so that he feels able to sign up for a college course in accounting. He is taking more pride in his appearance, coming for his meeting with his Employment Consultant very smartly dressed, and is focused on completing this course, getting his qualifications and then finding a job through STATUS.
Mary has received extensive support from her Employment Consultant. Amongst STATUS Vocational Profiling activities aimed at improving her employability, she took part in a three-day work experience placement with a business solutions company. Feedback from the business was excellent and she felt empowered by the compliment on the quality and speed of her work. Mary, although "out of touch" with workplace culture, interacted well with her colleagues and felt her self-esteem had risen. She became more knowledgeable about her own mental health and more realistic and feels she is now accepting more responsibility for her own life situation.
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