"OT Support"

The positive support received from Lisa, Occupational Therapist based at Airdrie Health Centre

Throughout my school days I had a low self-image and I struggled with academic work. In 2002 due to my difficulties with the written word I enrolled at college which led to a Chartered Educational Psychologist diagnosing me with dyslexia.

This diagnosis identified a reason to me for my past struggles which in turn supported me to wipe away some of the immense frustration and barriers that I had previously faced throughout my life when progressing with education.

I obtained a grant from Access to Work for software which made it slightly easier for me to get what was in my head down onto paper.

Around 2014 my responsibilities at work were increasing and I was advised that I need to go on a course. I was informed that the course provider would have knowledge of dyslexia and they would support me with the qualification. This failing by the organisation to understand my dyslexia difficulties led me to suffer a huge loss of confidence and had an impact on my self-worth.

Throughout my life, I have always been quite resilient but over time my dyslexia coping strategies started breaking down. I became de-motivated about life in general, was thinking in a negative way and the things that seemed to protect me from stress and anxiety-like going to the gym and spending time relaxing in my garden became none existent.

My sleeping pattern had become erratic and I regularly woke up in the early hours, lying in bed questioning over and over again my abilities to function as a manager. As the role involved increasing administrative duties it felt that my brain had crashed like a computer.

Over this period of two years, I had several different managers. I carried on in my role due to my commitment to the people but found it difficult to open up about my insecurities as I did not want to be seen as weak in front of my colleagues within the workplace environment.

I eventually spoke to my service manager about my stress levels and was referred me to occupational health. I was eventually signed off from work for the first time in fifteen years and prescribed sleeping tablets and medication for a depressive illness by my G.P.

The absence of the appropriate support and reasonable adjustments for my Dyslexia were causing me huge amounts of stress when managing my workload and ultimately led to me suffering from depression and being diagnosed with an adjustment disorder by a Forensic Clinical Psychologist.

The depression made me feel hopeless which in turn had an impact on my speech and memory. The combination of both made it impossible for me to function in a working environment.

Due to struggling to cope with my depression and work-related stress, I was referred by the G.P in October 2016 to Lisa Geer the Occupational Therapist based at Airdrie Health Centre. .

Lisa had a major influence on the start of my mental health and wellbeing recovery. During the consultations, I spoke about my dyslexia difficulties and explained to her that in general there seemed to be a lack of awareness around the emotional complexities of dyslexia. When under pressure coping strategies can often break down and can heighten the emotional complexities of dyslexia.

Lisa stated that to get a better understanding of the difficulties that Dyslexia individuals could face, she enrolled onto a dyslexia awareness course.

We discussed the employability support which is available from Dyslexia Scotland. As the Occupational Therapist was not aware of this support network before and having had previous clients with dyslexia she thought it would be helpful for other O.T colleagues in mental health and those who work in vocational rehab to be aware of and passed this link on to them.

Lisa encouraged me to write my thoughts and experiences on paper as my depressive illness and anxiety had made me more introverted and my communication wasn’t fluent.

I was also encouraged to explore volunteer work within the local community. I went along to meet up with other volunteers who were also struggling with mental health problems. Our role would consist of the replanting of garden beds at various railway stations within the local community.

In November 2016 the Occupational Therapist referred me to a social enterprise in Lanark who provide opportunities and mentor support

to individuals to engage in landscape, horticulture, environmental and woodcraft projects. When being mentored two days a week it started to give me a purpose and over the months my mental health, wellbeing and confidence improved and led to an improvement in my communication. Having the opportunity to do voluntary work in an open and green space within a non-judgemental environment also gave me a purpose and enabled me to engage with other individuals who have or were experiencing mental health problems .

At the peak of my illness I felt isolated but having the opportunity to be with other people who had or were having similar experiences, gradually led me to be more open and frank about my depression, knowing my situation was not unique also seemed to give other people permission to do the same and share their own experiences. When volunteering for this organisation it also gave me the chance to show my true dyslexia strengths within a less stressful environment. This over time led me to successfully apply in June 2017 for a two-day post within this social enterprise organisation.

I am now currently mentoring others, to develop their skills and increase their confidence and encourage the individuals to get back into full-time employment by creating and implementing strategies that will enable them to achieve their potential.

The organisation is person-centred and disability friendly and at the last team meeting, there was a talk on the awareness of dyslexia. Access to Work have also been to my place of work and carried out a holistic assessment for me to obtain the latest software. Through time I have started to look at life in a more simplified way. I began to open up regarding my own mental health problems and dyslexia difficulties and started to see my strengths to move forward. I now have a sense of self-purpose and engage openly with others on a daily basis.

Having regained my confidence in the written word has also helped me confront my mental illness this was not always an easy process, but it was worth doing as it gave me a better understanding of myself which provided me with an invaluable source of encouragement and advice and led me to have a better understanding of the emotional complexities of dyslexia.

Working outdoors also gave me a feeling of community and enhanced my fitness levels which gave me more mental and physical energy. The benefit of exercise was an excellent coping strategy for my dyslexic brain which in turn led to me processing my experiences from the last couple of years. Over the following months, I managed to stop smoking and attend the gym on a regular basis. I have also engaged in park run.

My experiences have made me strongly motivated, I now have the resilience to rebuild my career and I think the support I received from the Occupational Therapist Lisa was a major factor in this.