Something about my NDIS support shift this afternoon made me think about how I can engage in professional development in my mental health support work. I want to have a real impact on my client’s life.

I am not here to fuck spiders!

What I really mean is that I am not here to stuff around. I am getting paid to do mental health support work. My job is to provide support to someone with a severe mental illness, and I want to have an impact.

What can mental health support work achieve?

I think the NDIS is a wonderful program and it is doing a huge amount of good in Australian communities. Ideally, I would use the opportunity to support someone to transform their lives in a way that is meaningful to them. It is surely possible. Because I have done it myself.

I know that the qualities of a rich and satisfying life are different for everyone. And what I observe are micro opportunities to stand next to someone with a diagnosis of mental illness and shine a little beam of light on a way forward towards opportunities in life, society and work or leisure. It might be that someone could take small, incremental steps towards earning some extra money for themselves. Or perhaps they could engage with their community so that they are more socially engaged. Maybe they have a passion for learning or their domestic environment. There are lots of outcomes that could enrich someone’s life.

First steps

I think that my job is to first gently probe my client to find out what areas of life they would like to progress. And then provide support so that they feel empowered to develop skills that will help them on their journey towards that value. It feels like a big job. But I feel like it would be such a worthwhile endeavour.

It is so richly interesting, to try and tease out of someone what their values are. I wish I could download a psychology degree into my brain!

One thing is for sure. I find this kind of work incredibly rich and rewarding. As someone who loves to grow and learn myself, it is incredibly compelling to think about how I could guide conversations in order to find out how to best support someone else to become the best version of themselves!

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