I recently had to leave my full time job due to it causing issues with my depression/anxiety and causing a major mental health spiral. After seeing a walk-in doctor (because my own was away) I received a note saying I was unfit for work. My workplace “wouldn’t accept” it saying they needed more information. No, actually… you don’t need more information. That’s a violation of my privacy and the Canada Human Rights Act. But I got your form filled out by my family doctor anyway.
Then I applied for the insurance program for those who can’t work due to illness. I was told that since I got paid 2 sick days, I wouldn’t have to wait the two weeks… but now turns out that’s wrong. At any rate, I haven’t had any income at all since before Christmas and no one seems to be able to tell me when I will be able to get some money.
I went back to work recently, because I needed to be able to pay my rent and such… but after a couple shifts, I realized that I just can’t do it. Hence, I’m now out of money and I’ve made too much to qualify for the insurance (which, btw, if I rely on solely, works out to 5.5$/hour which is less than minimum wage and in no way is enough to reasonably pay basic living expenses—how are they allowed to do this?)
Why isn’t there more being done to help those who can’t work due to mental health reasons? It’s stressful enough trying to prove you are sick when you aren’t coughing/puking… now you have to add in additional stress as to whether we qualify for insurance? Some days it’s all I can do to crawl out of bed, I certainly am not well enough to wait for hours at your office for someone to tell me that they don’t know what to tell me.
Oh, and to all you employers out there: when someone is out sick due to mental health reasons, and they are medically required to cut back hours—accommodate them. Forcing me to quit my full time job and pick up casual hours “as they are available” isn’t helping me… now I am anxious about whether I’ll have enough shifts to pay rent, and since working a full 8 hour day puts me over the income level to qualify for insurance, I’m screwed if you don’t let me work half days. —Attempting to heal myself
This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2011.
My friend is going through the same thing, only her back has gone on her, and she works a labour job. She has to go to physio in the morning and work 4 hour shifts in the afternoon. Of course, any progress made on her back in the morning is undone in the afternoon. So, she never gets better (in fact, she getting worse), she’s not getting by financially and due to the pain and stress, she has to take medication that is not only impairing her ability to work but cause other medical problems to develop. She is locked into a destructive, downward spiral which will eventually end with her on disability with permanent damage.
Get yourself better quickly, when you aren’t working, we the workers are paying for you to live. Is that fair? Find a job that works for you.
That goes for your pal too Kim_NS. Tell her to get a job she can actually do without causing a disability.
Our country is great in that, we can go back to school anytime in our lives to learn a new skill and be productive.
You know something? In most countries in the world, if you don’t work, you don’t eat, I don’t see much wrong with that myself.
You need treatment first. You cannot let your depression/anxiety completely control your life to where you can’t work. I had this condition for decades but also knew that if I didn’t work, I would spiral into poverty. Take the first step and get in touch with a mental health professional asap.
I empathize entirely with the OP…. The worst thing, by far, about mental illness is the dark covering if tends to put over one’s mind. It’s easy to tell someone to get help but at the mercy of stress, anxiety and the physiological side effects that come along with that…. making the decision to actually do that is virtually impossible.
OP… as tough as it is to muster up both the mental and physical energy to seek out professional help… it is a decision that will ultimately decide how you go on living. It’s going to seem like every little task is monumental, but you have to look at where it’s going to lead you. I have, in the past, felt so down on everything going on in my life… and I would tell myself, AFTER WORK I will go home and kick-start the process to regaining a healthy mind.. By the time I got home that brief feeling of well-being was gone. I couldn’t bring myself to pick up the phone and expend any more energy. This continued to eat away at all I had worked for in my life until one day I convinced myself that THIS moment would be the moment I would turn things around. My situation had become so unhealthy that it was only a matter of time before I’d start experiencing serious physical health problems and by then it would be too late.
It also helps to have someone to whom you are accountable. Someone you allow to check up on you and ask you if you’ve done the things you said you’d do. You’ll be surprised at how much this, as well, can light a fire under you to make things better for yourself. So try not to focus on what you won’t be able to do… instead work toward making it so you can do everything you need to.
This is the way it is OP, because of the lazy pricks and whores that take advantage of the system. Good luck :(!
Good luck with your situation.
What an unfortunate situation, although not all employers are like the OP’s. Some are very accommodating towards an employee’s health condition. I suggest the OP not return to the job that obviously doesn’t care about his/her well-being, and seek a job that has a positive work environment. Also, the OP should seek help for a mental health therapist, etc.
sounds like if you just gave your employer “more information” about your mental problems, instead of playing the “human rights” card you might be further ahead.
o.p., see my above comment about where i worked. the air quality was shit there, all recycled, and anyone with a cold or flu, or whatever, bled it into the system, and we used to get nailed, at least once a month, with that shit.and stressful, oh yeah, it was a place of assholes and douchebags, that should have stayed where they came from.
“Oh, and to all you employers out there: when someone is out sick due to mental health reasons, and they are medically required to cut back hours—accommodate them. Forcing me to quit my full time job and pick up casual hours “as they are available” isn’t helping me…”
This pisses me off. While I understand a mental health problem can be disabling, since when does it make you the most important person on the fucking planet? Working half days requires someone else to work the other half of your shift. Another employee then has to either a) give up hours b) work 12 hour shifts or c) the employer has to hire a part time employee which can be a HUGE expense and who then has to have the availability to work the same days as you.
I worked with someone with the same issue as the OP and my coworkers and I had little sympathy. We would have to stay for 12 hour days and cover their scheduled shifts when they decided they ” just couldn’t cope” half way through week.
An employer doesn’t create a job to fit your situation, and it certainly should not have to be there top priority. I suggest applying for one that is more appropriate for you.
I couldn’t of said it better ej1!