Everybody needs something meaningful to do with their time. A purpose, a reason for being, a meaningful occupation.

This is not to say we don’t need time to rest our minds and our bodies – to be with family and friends, enjoy our hobbies, or to experience the wonderfulness of doing nothing and then resting afterwards.

But when we lack something meaningful or purposeful to spend our time on, it is detrimental to our wellbeing.      

“How we spend our days is how we spend our lives” - Annie Dillard[1]

Things like parenting, caregiving for less able friends or family, volunteering, looking after the environment or otherwise contributing to our community can all give us a sense of purpose. These activities provide us with social connections, a structure to our days, and make us feel good about ourselves.

Being employed in a job is an important meaningful occupation. Over and above the benefits of other meaningful occupations, a job provides an income – this increases our independence and allows greater freedom and choice with how we spend our time. A paying job is also an important part of what makes up our identify – how we think about ourselves and describe ourselves to others. A job increases our confidence and improves our self-esteem.

This can be especially true for people living with a mental illness.

“Employment is a critical mental health intervention ” – Robert Drake & Michael Wallach[2]

For people with a mental illness, finding and keeping a job can be an essential part of recovery and living a good life. And overwhelmingly, people with a mental illness want to work. Research has shown employment brings mental health benefits over and above what can be realised from medication and therapy[3].   Feedback from employers is that people with a mental illness are good workers who bring value to the business.

Employment opportunities are especially critical for young people with a mental illness

When a young person develops a mental illness, the impact to their personal and social lives can result in them being unable to access many of the ways people find their first jobs (recommendations from friends, direct approaches to storefronts, work experience opportunities). This can negatively impact their entire working lives, and will have implications for not just themselves, but their families and community. When mental illness-related unemployment impacts enough young people, it can also have significant consequences for the economy. This is why Australian governments are increasingly investing in employment support as part of mental health services.      

Individualised employment support for young people

As part of the range of services we offer through headspace Inala, Accoras delivers the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach to young people with a mental illness. IPS is a specialised program that helps people with a mental illness find and keep a job they are interested in; it aims to prevent poor outcomes like long-term unemployment and welfare dependence. IPS vocational specialists don’t just work with young people – they build relationships with employers, educating them about mental illness, how they can build inclusive and psychologically safe workplaces, and the many benefits that can come from employing someone with a mental illness.

Any young person who wants to work can access IPS – there is no exclusion criteria. Support is time-unlimited and looking for the right job is the first step of the plan, not the last. You can learn more about Accoras IPS here.

When young people with a mental illness are able to find work, everyone wins.

About the Author

Suzie Lewis is the General Manager for Strategy, Innovation and Research at Accoras. She holds a Master of Clinical Psychology and a Master of Perinatal and Infant Mental Health.

[1] Dillard A (1989). The Writing Life. Harper & Row, New York.

[2] Drake RE, Wallach MA (2020). Employment is a critical mental health intervention. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences 29, e178, 1–3.

[3] Luciano AE, Drake RE, Bond GR, Becker DR, Carpenter-Song E, Lord S, Swarbrick P and Swanson SJ (2014) IPS Supported employment: a review. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 40, 1–13.