Looking for some ideas as to what to do.
Anyone on here done any and what type of work?
-- 
A useless life is an early death.
Goethe

We are the robots  wrote in news:wC8Ii.774$j16.35
@newsfe6-gui.ntli.net:

> Looking for some ideas as to what to do.
> Anyone on here done any and what type of work?

I got fucked over big time, and am now considerably worse off - both 
financially and in terms of recovery.

I saw a specialist adviser at the job centre who suggested that I try 
some voluntary work.  We sorted out a plan to get me back into full time 
paid work, starting with "therapeutic work" organised by my local 
secondary health trust, then with unpaid voluntary work type activity 
(all declared), moving into paid part time work, and then into paid full 
time work, but all the time still on IB with the various help back to 
work stuff that goes with it.

A few months later I get a review.  They say that because I'm doing work 
(unpaid, organised and supported by my mental health team, with the 
encouragment and support of the specialist adviser at Job Centre Plus) 
that I'm fit to work and they stop my IB.

I'd strongly advise that you get a health worker to attend all interviews 
with you, and that you get any advice from JCP staff in writing.  Make 
sure they provide a realistic timetable for getting you back into work.

You don't say why you're not working.  Here's a bit of general advice for 
people with MH problems:

1) Your specialist MH trust might have something called "therapeutic 
work" - but they ususally call it something else.  In Gloucestershire 
this was called "Work Opportunity Projects".  (Complex funding 
arrangements for health and social care meant that this project was 
closed in recent NHS funding cuts, and the local CACD haven't (and 
probably won't) replace it.)

2) "Service user Involvement" - health trusts have a lot of opportunity 
for service users to get involved.  There's the (nearly dead) PPI forums, 
which will change to LINks soonish.  But they also have other stuff as 
well.  Some of these provide low-key ways to get back into a regular 
structure.  Some of them offer expenses, some of them offer a small 
attendance fee.  Make sure all of that is declared.

3) Volunteer services.  Your local town should have a volunteer beureau 
giving advice for people who want to volunteer their time.  The JCP 
people should have contact details.  You might want to look around for 
things like "timebank" as well.

On 19 Sep, 13:29, We are the robots  wrote:
> Looking for some ideas as to what to do.
> Anyone on here done any and what type of work?
> --
> A useless life is an early death.
> Goethe

Basically its any type of work. Subject of course to what you can
physically or mentally do anyway.
Just take care that you don't start doing permitted work of a few
hours a week, get wage plus benefit - then have benefit cut because of
now being able to work and be stuck doing something that doesn't give
enough hours to live on.

ie clean toilets for 10 hours a week at £6 an hour. Great when getting
incapacity on top.
But then seen as fit to work and just having a 10 hour a week job.

Martin  <><