Taking The Pressure Off

An Impact learner describes her mental health experiences and how she has benefitted from attending three of Impact’s courses.

Following a meltdown, I had at work one morning I went to see my GP and had to have a couple of months being signed off sick.

My mental health problems had been triggered over time by hormonal changes and going through the menopause along with some relationship issues within my family. I then found myself unable to return to my job as Covid had hit and I was furloughed. This was actually a blessing in disguise as I did not feel ready to go back to work.

When my furlough period finished, I returned to work, but too much had changed and I felt that I was treated differently and my mental health begun to suffer again. I took the advice of my husband and other family members and friends and decided to leave. 

Throughout this whole period since my meltdown, everyone told me to take the pressure off myself, but I couldn’t, I just wanted to be back to normal and for me I thought this meant I needed to be back at work. 

Then I found Impact and enrolled on the YOU Programme, and I knew as soon as it ended, I would benefit from continuing with the Impact YOUR Recovery Pathways course, and I battled against a few challenges and obstacles and decided I needed to do it to help myself. I was already learning how to deal with my issues and starting to think of my selfcare more and what I needed to feel better and to be more in control of my emotions and feelings.

Impact had taught me about meditation, breathing and relaxation and having so much peer support was a really good thing for me. Having people that understood and had been through similar problems was just what I needed even though I hadn’t realised it before. I wanted to know more and to continue learning how to take the pressure off myself and stop beating myself up for not working. 

I learned so much more and became happier with who I was and the changes in me that were happening, increasing my confidence to try new things, watching inspirational videos that resonated with what I was going through. We played silly quizzes and laughed a lot, I thought I’d lost my sense of humour forever but even this was coming back! 

So, when the new UNLOCK YOU course was available to join I was in a place where I was starting to feel ready to look for a new job. However, the Covid pandemic and all its challenges meant I really felt I needed a little nudge to boost my confidence and get back out there and to go over some of the things I’d previously learned and not quite put into practice.

The impact team have been amazing and have been a lifeline for me to help me get to where I wanted to be, and I now look forward to the future with confidence. I know they have helped the other people that have attended these courses/programmes with me because I am still in contact with them all, and they too are moving forward with their lives because of the tools and help and support from Déanne, Jackie & Harry!