Learning training and work support
Katherine's story - Southdown Supported Employment
Katherine* retains her job - Laura of
Southdown Supported Employment tell us how
Katherine was incredibly unhappy in her role in the company she
had worked at for 3½ years. Due to a change in management and the
way she was being treated, she was suffering from stress and
anxiety. As a result, her mental health was suffering and making
her unhappy outside of work. The manager she was working for seemed
to exclude her from the rest of the team leaving her feeling
undervalued and miserable. When I first met with her, she initially
wanted my help to seek alternative employment as she did not want
to stay in that role and work for that company any longer.
Katherine decided she did not want me to approach her employer,
but to offer her support 'behind the scenes' and advise her how to
best handle the situation. We arranged to meet outside of her
working hours so she did not have to take time off during the week
and put herself in any awkward situations.
I spent some time with Katherine working out how I could best
offer support. Initially she wanted to leave her role within the
company and seek alternative employment with my help. We spent some
time going over all the various options. We also included how we
could make her current situation any better. She had a meeting
scheduled with her Occupational Health department, so before
this we spent some time talking about what she wanted to get from
this. I advised her that the Occupational Health meeting would be a
great opportunity to tell her employers how she was feeling and the
impact it was having on her mental health. It would also be a good
opportunity to put forward how her manager was making her feel, and
discuss some of the challenges she was facing. We put together a
letter for her to take along to this meeting so that she could tell
them how she was feeling in a balanced way.
Katherine initially felt scared, but could see that being
honest was the best way to help her situation. Before meeting with
me and receiving my support, she said she felt "as though she was
completely trapped with her situation at work".
The meeting with Occupational Health was successful, and as
result some really positive changes happened for my client. She was
offered the opportunity to reduce her working hours from
37½ to 22½ a week. Changes were also made within her team to
help her feel more included and happier.
After the changes Katherine decided that she no longer wanted to
leave her role, and preferred to stay. She has been much happier
since this change, and at our recent review meetings she seems like
a much happier person. She said: "The support I have received has
been fantastic and I am really grateful to Southdown. I now feel
happier knowing that there is support out there and have reduced my
hours. I also have the time and space to work on other areas of my
life that I need support with".
*The client's name has been change to maintain their
confidentiality