Oy vey. I'm getting all emotional over a debate on YouTube, a sure sign it's time to leave work for the day. It's just that there's someone who keeps posting things about how brainwashed I am, yet uses Scientology videos to boost such claims. Talk about denial. At any rate, let's forget about all that, shall we? No Scientologists come ’round these parts; they know better.

Someone emailed me today asking how to get back into the workforce after an absence due to mental health problems. People ask me this frequently, and I've failed to address it sufficiently. Allow me to rectify that now with the following response that I gave him:

As for reintegrating into the work world, when I tried to jump in and take on full-time work, I tended to crash because the transition was so overwhelming. I lost several jobs because of that. But when I took part-time jobs and volunteer positions--jobs where set hours weren't required--I did okay, which encouraged me and made me feel like maybe I'd be able to work after all. I was a Spanish teacher back then, and I decided to teach two classes. Then I taught three, then four. And then five was too much, and I had to bail on a couple assignments, which was embarrassing. So then I scaled back.

It was a year or two of kind of trying things on and seeing what I was capable of. Because it was all part-time work, I didn't have to explain myself in terms of the illness. And because I wasn't technically an employee, I could quit without notice. Volunteer opportunities or internships are even better in that regard.

Ultimately, one of my part-time jobs asked me to work extra hours, and I found that I could. Then they asked me to come on full-time, and I felt ready. And here I am, at the same place, seven years later. However, I told them about my illness from the start, and even before the ADA passed, they understood that if I was going to work with them, they'd have to make some accommodations to employ me. (Nonetheless, I was relieved when it became law to do so.) If people value your work and your presence, they will try to do right by you. Being a hard worker who's really interested in the company's goals is a huge help.

There are vocational services as well that I've found useful for people here in Philadelphia. One guy I knew who went through the mental health association's job training did get a job through it, but felt like he was better than the other people there--some of whom were very down and out. I didn't like his attitude. It was very snooty. But it's certainly true that those classes are likely to include people who are still struggling to make life work. If you're a step ahead of that, maybe you're ready to go it alone.

Any other ideas?

[This image is of a woman named Leslie who works at a university in Iowa. I needed an image of someone at a desk, and she has a nice face.]