Andrea was working as a Customer Services Advisor at a call centre, but was struggling to stay in work and was experiencing periods of being off sick due to her mental health. Andrea found her job stressful and highly pressured, and that it was the main contributor towards the dip in her mental health.
Andrea found out about Good Work through her Community Mental Health Team who made the referral. Andrea was allocated Sarah as her Employment Specialist – and, thinking back to when they first met, Andrea said: “I was at an horrendous point – I couldn’t eat, sleep or function. I couldn’t do my job and it made me very anxious.”
Sarah and Andrea spent time on overcoming her anxiety, leaving the house, meeting friends and getting back to doing the things she used to love. With Sarah’s support, Andrea reconnected with the world, and started going out for walks and meeting up with friends for a coffee.
Andrea made the brave decision to leave her current employment and look for something else that was more suited to her.
Sarah supported Andrea in creating a new CV, highlighting her wealth of skills and experience and started looking for jobs and submitting applications. Andrea realised that there were lots of jobs out there that she didn’t know existed! Andrea was worried about her age, but found that many organisations viewed her experience as an asset not a barrier, which made her believe in herself and her brilliant transferable skills.
Andrea found a Customer Service vacancy in a shopping centre and went ahead and applied. Two days after the interview, Andrea received the call to let her know that she’d been successful and she’s not looked back!
Sarah is now providing in-work support to Andrea to regularly check-in with her to make sure everything is going smoothly. Andrea said: “I’m most proud of getting this job – the one that suits me 100%. I wouldn’t have achieved any of this without Sarah – I’d still be stuck in my bedroom.”
