How many people with a mental illness are in work? Around one in five Australians experience some form of mental illness every year. Depending on the severity of symptoms and access to treatment, this can have significant and possibly lifelong effect on many areas of life, including employment. Finding and keeping a job can be a major challenge for people with a mental illness. Around a third are unemployed, and this proportion rises to around 75% for people with severe conditions such as schizophrenia. Australia has one of the lowest rates in the OECD of employment for people with a disability or mental illness.
Do people with a mental illness want to work? Yes, the majority of people with mental illness want to work: for the same reasons as everyone else: an income, to have a role in life, a routine that connects us with other people and the broader community, and to feel we are contributing to society. Work can also be a valuable contributor to rehabilitation and recovery for people with mental illness.
What are the challenges to finding a job? The effects of mental illness can present challenges to succesful employment. These vary with the diagnosis and severity of symptoms. Mental illness can also be episodic. These challenges may include:
- difficulty in concentrating and retaining information
- managing the symptoms of the illness
- difficulty with organising thoughts, problem-solving and ability to plan
- coping with the social nature of the workplace.
The person may have a disrupted education and patchy employment history as a result of the illness. If a job applicant discloses they have a mental illness they may also face misunderstanding and discrimination. With effective education, training and support these challenges can be overcome for many people.
What are the challenges to keeping a job? Keeping a job can be just as hard. Challenges to job retention include:
- difficulty managing the effects of the illness in the workplace (especially with the anxiety a new job can produce)
- lack of understanding and skill by managers in supervising employees affected by mental illness
- being unused to the social and team skills required in many workplaces
- misunderstanding and prejudice (or the stress of keeping a condition secret)
- lack of treatment and support.
What helps people with a mental illness back to work? Despite these challenges, people with a mental illness can and do make good employees when effective treatment and support is provided. Depending on individual needs, this may include:
- rehabilitation and training
- on-the-job support
- workplace adjustments
- education of managers and co-workers.
How do social firms help people back to work? Social firms are an innovative form of social enterprise in which up to half the employees have a mental illness or disability. They operate as real-world competitive businesses and pay all employees at award rates. However, as a ‘not-for-profit’ company, all profits go back into running the business – creating and maintaining employment for people with a mental illness. This supportive environment means that the challenges are understood beforehand and supports are already in place, so that employees are provided the help they need when they need it to get over a ‘rocky patch’ and to maintain succesful employment.
Social Firms Australia (SoFA) also provides a range of other training and consultancy programs to extend this expertise into other workplaces.