Getting myself back on track

Simon had experienced a difficult time with a previous employer which had left him with feelings of anxiety, leading him to seek help via his local Doctors surgery.  They recommended NHS Talking Therapies to support Simon with the anxiety, as well as Twining Enterprise, to support him with his employment situation.  Simon is now looking forward to the next chapter in his career with a new employer and can’t wait to showcase what he’s good at again!  Here he tells us his full story…

I had been signed off from work on sickness absence due to a dispute with my previous employer over unfair treatment.  This difficult experience, and developing concerns over my financial situation, led me to experience feelings of anxiety which were making it hard for me to move forward, so I decided to go to my GP for help.  They suggested speaking to an NHS Talking Therapist who I’d be able to talk to about what had happened and how I was feeling and would also be able to suggest intervention methods to help me get into a better frame of mind.  The doctor also suggested that Twining Enterprise may be able to help to help get me back on track with my next employment step.

I arranged a meeting with Dan, my Twining Employment Advisor, who was also really good at listening to what had happened, how I was feeling, and allowed me to open up about things and get them off my chest.  Both my therapist and Dan helped me to feel like it wasn’t all my fault, which put some perspective on my thoughts and helped me to start thinking positively again.

Being out of work was starting to have a financial impact, but Dan really helped me to focus on what to do next.  He gave me advice about going to the Citizens Advice Bureau, as well as where to seek affordable legal support.  Dan also helped me to develop my CV, which is something I hadn’t needed to do for a while.

I have family and friends to ask for support, but it really helped that both Dan and my therapist were both neutral about my situation – they didn’t feel pulled to give feedback in any one direction – their feedback and advice was completely objective.  Having that impartiality also really helped to bring clarity to my own thoughts.

Dan gave me timeframes to do things in; this enabled me to get back on track and re-build my career.  I developed my CV, sent it off, got invited to interviews… and Dan provided help with each of these critical job-hunting steps.  By giving me tangible actions it gave me a renewed focus which supported me to keep positively progressing.

The therapist gave me strategies for coping with the feelings of anxiety, for example, thinking about myself like a temperature gauge slowly going down in anxiety.  Then Dan provided the steps for getting out of the place I was in; he helped me to get thinking about the new chapter in my working life.  Rather than fixating on what had happened – and feeling down about it – I was getting back out there and making progress.

I started reading my old training books and refreshed my knowledge of what I was skilled in.  It helped me to remember what I have done, what I am good at, and what I have already achieved in my career.  This also really helped me to get back into the swing of interviews.

I was also able to take a step back which enabled me to see what I was doing in my career and what’s important.

Then after all the work I put in, I was successful with one of the roles I interviewed for!  I’m now really focusing on that new job – and the new work chapter about to start in my life.  Things had been starting to impact on me financially – but now there’s an end in sight – I can just enjoy this time off to just focus on being refreshed and ready for my new role.

I do still feel a bit anxious at times – I do have some slight doubts over going into the new role – but it’s predominantly positive and some anxieties are almost certainly expected as you start in a new job.  This job is a chance to showcase my skills and abilities.

If I could summarise it, my therapist helped me with coping strategies and to deal with the feelings of anxiety – but Twining and Dan helped with the steps needed to get me moving forward with my life.  I would describe it like having a fall and getting injured – the therapists helped me to heal from the fall – but Dan got me back out in the field again.  The future now looks positive – whereas before it had looked much less so!

Thank you, for getting me back on track!

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