"Finding the confidence to get back into work"

Despite the added stress of the pandemic, I knew that after finishing my first job earlier this year, I was going to have a hard time finding work again. This was mainly due to my confidence and mental health issues. At work, I got to experience the struggles of retail, which unfortunately made my view of work much worse and subjective than it needed to be. I took my experiences at this job, and instead of confronting them, ran away from them, using the lockdown as a further excuse to not seek jobs and independence.

It took a while for me to get used to the Employment services as I felt uncomfortable talking over video calls and at first initially, a stranger. However, in time I grew more confident in talking to my helper and shared my goals and fears willingly. He helped me with research into jobs and gave many suggestions of different types of work that I hadn't considered, for me to look into. It was nice to be able to talk to someone who was non-judgmental and didn't make me feel as if there was something wrong with me, being 20 years old and barely having any work experience.

Although I haven't succeeded in getting a job just yet, I have gained confidence in applying and have filled out many applications with my helper's motivation. Because of this, I feel more ready to face these challenges in the near future.