Explore Your Career Identity: A Mental Health Workbook

By Annie Southern

Career theory today sees illness not as an abnormal event but as a probable event for many people. Even when one cannot work in paid employment due to mental illness, all the other aspects of one’s life still work together to make up what is called one’s life career. In the new millennium spiritual career development theory sees one’s life being one’s actual career. The idea of social progress and self-betterment has meant that, rather than lifelong unquestioned static work roles, the concept of ‘career’ – a sequence of jobs over a lifetime - has become the norm. This makes career planning important for an individual and it can often be a confusing process as we try to understand all of the influences that affect it. This workbook is for people with lived experience of mental illness. The lived experience of mental illness can make career development very difficult. Illness can lead to job loss and the need for unanticipated life transitions. This can lead to a need for career exploration as people recover. There are two parts to career exploration: exploring your identity in terms of career (‘career identity’) and opportunity exploration. This workbook (based on Dr Southern's 'Explore Your Career Identity' practical workbook) deals with career identity with a special focus on mental illness and helps you to develop hunches about the directions you might take in life after experiencing mental illness and reaching a level of recovery that means you are ready to engage in work and other aspects of your life-career again. It is not prescriptive and it does not aim to direct you towards a particular career. Rather the exercises in this workbook are to be used as prompts and insight generators to help you work out for yourself what direction to take. As Steve Jobs (US computer engineer & industrialist, 1955-2011) said: “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” This book helps you to explore your heart and use your intuition to discover your unique career identity. Good luck and have fun!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Annie Southern
• Release date: Nov 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311484024

Annie Southern

Dr Annie Southern was educated at Oxford University and has a PhD in health science from the University of Canterbury. Her doctorate looked at women's career experiences as they are affected by mental illness. She has worked in publishing as a magazine and book editor. She has also lived through the Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand and has an interest in earthquake trauma. Her publications are available both as ebooks and print editions.

Book preview

EXPLORE YOUR

CAREER

IDENTITY:

A Mental Health Workbook

Annie Southern PhD

Cover and book design:

Social Media Revolution Design

Copyright: Annie Southern, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-3114840-2-4

Pictures sourced from Depositphotos.com

Copyright Photographs and illustrations:

Philipp Kammerer, Kirill Kedrinskiy, Sergey Pykhonin, Pavel Potapov, Marek Uliasz and John Lee

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the permission of the author.

This material is general in nature. It is made available on the understanding that the author is not thereby engaged in rendering professional advice. Before relying on the material in any important matter, users should carefully evaluate its relevance for their purposes and should always obtain professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances. The material incorporates and summarises views of third parties. Such material is assembled in good faith, but does not necessarily reflect the considered views of the author, or indicate a commitment to a particular course of action.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Job loss & transition

HOW I SEE MYSELF & MY CAREER

Career theory - what does career mean?

How I see my career

My goals

When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut or a movie star!

A picture of myself

MY INFLUENCES

People resources & community

My career family tree

Who influences my career planning?

JOB PREFERENCES

My jobs so far

What I’m looking for in a job

I prefer to work with …

Mental illness & employment options

JOB FACTORS

Career theory – traits and factors

7 main parts of the job of being a …

‘Family tree’ for a particular job

Organisation inventory

MY PERSONALITY TYPE

Career theory - RIASEC types

Job types

Taking a plane journey

What kind of person am I?

My life advantages

MOTIVATION

Career theory – fit and flow

My flow states

What motivates me

My perfect lifestyle

LIFE ROLES

Career theory – life roles

My timeline

Balanced lifestyles

CAREER SELF-CONCEPT

My career self-concept

CAREER TYPES

Career theory – career types

My career types

CAREER ANCHORS

Career theory – career anchors

What anchors me in life is …

MY INTERESTS AND VALUES

My core self – me, myself & I

Reflection

My achievements

OPTIMISING CHANCE EVENTS

Career theory – planned happenstance

HOW I SEE MYSELF AND MY CAREER - REVISITED

How I see my career - revisited

My goals - revisited

My inspiration picture

CONCLUSION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

REFERENCES

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

INTRODUCTION

Career theory today sees illness not as an abnormal event but as a probable event for many people. Even when one cannot work in paid employment due to mental illness, all the other aspects of one’s life still work