My story with work and volunteering & what I view the benefits as:

When I was struggling a few years ago with poor mental health; I found it difficult to go to work in my retail job. I felt depressed and would rather have had the time to myself. They were my thoughts at the time. However with encouragement I kept going.

While I didn't particularly like working looking back from a good place I do feel I made the right decision. Not only did it give me an income but it added as a distraction to my mental health (rumination, anxiety, parnanoia etc) and gave me a sense of purpose, routine and reduced social isolation. These are the benefits that I can see now from a good place.

However, I left my retail job in 2020 to go to New Zealand with my family on holiday. I couldn't get the time off work. When we arrived back to the UK in March 2020, COVID-19 was spreading rapidly. There were lockdowns and I decided not to go straight back into my retail employment. I was anxious about spreading covid to my family and catching it myself and I thought it would be a good idea trying to pursue a career I felt more passionate about. I had a mentor from an organisation called Building Better Opportunities and he encouraged me to volunteer in animal establishments to try to get employment in something I would enjoy.

Lots of people will say being around animals is therapeutic and I studied animal management at a college so I had a qualification behind me. In the past I had given up trying to find a job in animal care because I had low self-esteem and didn't think I'd ever get a job in a competitive field. I had volunteered in the past but after volunteering for three animal/conservation establishments in 2021 at the same time (was able to this as I wasn't working). I was taken on by one of the animal rescue centres I was working for as a part time animal care assistant. This job had it's challenges but I coped and now have got a job at a more enjoyable animal establishment.

Way I view it there's two approaches that I've taken with my working life which may or may not be helpful to someone in a similar position who no longer wants to work.

1) To carry on working at current job - and try to focus on the positives the work brings.

2) Trying to pursue a career in something that am passionate about - by volunteering. Volunteering also helped my confidence a great deal and gave me a greater sense of purpose.


Another approach that's helped me get ideas on what I may want to do in the future is using an AI service like ChatGPT or Claude. I can see artificial intelligence for many being something unusual that is hard for them to get there heads around. However, I feel like there is a lot of potential in helping you find employment using AI due to the enormous amount of information that is stored on artificial intelligence. I've often heard from people at mental health meetup's etc that it's not they don't want to work, it's just that they don't know what they want to do yet. If that's the case with you - I would recommend giving AI a try!

I have used this website myself by typing in all my interests and hobbies (out of a big list that I've created) and typed in what I am good at and my previous jobs. I then ask AI to give me a large number of suggestions to get many different ideas on jobs that I may like to do.

There were actually many jobs that I hadn't even considered e.g;

• I typed in "I like animals" and that I'm also "interested in working in mental health" and a job came up as a therapeutic dog handler - taking your dog to people that have special needs / mental health conditions - which would involve two things that I am passionate about.


• I also typed in that I'm "into photography, videography and video-editing". Another job came up as a video editor or photographer for animal rescue charities . As well as setting up my own pet photography business.


• Another job that interested me becoming an ecotherapist. I love being in nature and doing mindfulness and this is a job that helps people in this field.


• I also typed in "I love hiking" and a suggestion came up for a hiking guide, as well as someone that does canine search and rescue which often take dogs out into the mountains / hills looking for people. Again involving two big interests of mine.


• A social media manager for an animal charity was another suggestion. As I like charities and writing things and engaging in social media.


• Other ideas AI gave me: setting my own campsite business up, becoming a gardner, photography holiday business, police dog handler and an animal behaviourist.

Setting up google alerts for jobs you're interested in can help you not miss out on the job you're after. Google alerts send you a of recommendations and saves you having to search all the time!

I feel if you can do a job that you enjoy or are passionate about that can help.

Please note: I perfectly understand people may not be able to work for various reasons so I am not telling anyone what to do. I am just trying to write my thoughts and story on the topic. There are other options like studying. I was once told by a previous CEO of a regional MIND in the UK that "If you can work I would try to".