By Blog, Man-archy

Progress

A man gleefully cheers

With Mental wellbeing, it is sometimes difficult to see progress, especially if you are in that black hole and the light seems very far away still. By working together with people where they are now, it helps them see their future, but also how far they have travelled on their journey already.

I shall discuss a case, their name has been changed to protect their identity. Adam has a family and a teenage child, he has had ups and downs throughout his life, but drove through and carried on. But this time was different, he had a family breakdown, he had to move back to his parents and the job he was at really took its toll on him. A triple whammy and he had nowhere to turn, we spoke a few times and he was an imminent suicide risk. We worked together to find the root cause for his breakdown. It turned out that work was the main issue as it had caused him anxiety and felt isolated within a team environment. We measured financial impact of leaving, whether he may be entitled to Universal Credit and also, what job would he like to do.

A year down the road, he has quit his job, has a good relationship with his former partner and sees his Son for 2 full days every weekend. Adam is still on the road to finding work, and has completed several parts of his aim to be a HGV or van driver, which would enable him to save up for a home of his own, which is his goal.

This goal may still be a long way off, but thinking that far ahead is unbelievable, when you consider he couldn’t see past the next 10 – 20 minutes, never mind day to day.

Looking back, he has managed to take hold of his own wellbeing and make it the number one priority, he has built relationships with his former partner, for the benefit of his son. He has quit his job and is proactive in looking for work and is a good way along his path to success.

It doesn’t happen overnight, but those small victories, make huge differences and when you see how far you’ve come, it encourages you to keep going.

That 1st step is always the most difficult to take, but it is worth it.