When I wrote the article, What I Wish I Knew: A Snapshot of My Experience with Mental Illness at Work. I shared the things I wished I had known when my long-term career at a large financial organization was abruptly interrupted by depression. When I was first diagnosed with a mental health condition by the doctor, I didn’t receive the support from my employer I needed to save my career. I didn’t even receive the support I needed from my doctor to believe I could recover from depression and rebuild my life. During my recovery, I looked around and I realized I wasn’t alone. Many others were facing similar struggles with no hope for recovery. The diagnoses seemed like life sentences for me and for them.
This catapulted me into a new career path and life passion to help others connect with hope, recovery and successful careers. I retrained as a workplace mental health consultant, certified peer support facilitator and adult educator. I developed the Toward Recovery© framework adapted from the training I received on the 5 stages of recovery, a self-management tool to support the recovery process for people with mental health conditions.
In this space, I plan to further explore the wishes I wrote about in the article and update them to what I do now ‘know’. I will also share news as well as tools, anecdotes and insights that can help facilitate recovery and career success for people currently struggling with mental health conditions and for the employers who value them and the practitioners who support them.
So hello and welcome to my blog. May hope and recovery be with you.