How can I help guide my 22yr.old son into suitable work while he recovers from d!


Question:

How can I help guide my 22yr.old son into suitable work while he recovers from depression?

I learned too late that my son's depression caused job loss, then debt (repossessed a truck), then homelessness. Now that he is willing to get help, what suggestions for finding low stress work and getting him back into society in a healthy manner?


Answers:

His depression was VERY serious. He was without a job, a vehicle, or a roof over his head. Yes, he's willing to get help, but treatments don't work overnight unfortunately. Anti-depressants can take up to 6-8 weeks to kick in, and that's only if they hit on the right diagnosis and RX right away. I'd be careful about pushing him, or you could push him right back into living on the street. Right now he needs some security and stability. He also needs help with his self-esteem and self-confidence and socializing skills. What if he gets a job and gets fired? What will that do to him? Probably make him feel even worse, a real failure. You could have a suicide risk on your hands then.

Do you have a computer? Do you have extra stuff in your house, garage, attic you'd like to get rid of? Why don't you let him sell that stuff on eBay? For the summer anyways. He will be learning something new, he'll have to perform well to get positive Feedback, and he'll have a PayPal card that he could spend the money he makes on buying his own personal goods. He could work his own hours, around the times he feels good. It's a baby step in the right direction. After awhile he'll feel better about himself, he'll want to make more money, maybe get his own space, and he'll be ready for a real job. Maybe by the Autumn. And in the meantime he will have acquired skills too, operating his own small business. I think a future employer would look favorably on that, because it shows self-discipline and initiative. He'd also learn to deal with failure, for those times an item doesn't sell. Learning to deal with failure and frustration is a challenge for someone depressed. He'd learn to brush it off, roll with the tide, bounce back. His eBay sales could even contribute something to a non-profit, and he'd have the knowledge he was helping others. If he's a nice young man whose only problem is depression, don't throw him to the wolves.




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