Work Experience

This week would have been a bad week to look for casual or low-paid work in our area.  Julie's school alone found two-week unpaid work experience placements for over four hundred teenagers.  All over the region there are bemused teenagers standing in shops, answering phones, or shadowing hapless office workers.  And one of those teenagers was Julie.

This is the first time in a very long time that Julie has done something along with her peers.  For two years she has been the exception - the youngster who didn't make it to class, didn't sit exams, then didn't make it to school at all, had to live away from her family, couldn't join in anything.  But as far as anyone knows at "work" this week she is just another teenager taking a break from her lessons.

As a nod to Julie's illness, we did make two concessions.  She is only working a three-day week, not five, because she still gets very tired; and we have provided all the transport so that she didn't have to struggle with bus travel on top of everything else.  Apart from this, we made no other special arrangements.  She has been expected to get up early each morning, work an eight-hour day, much of it on her feet, and meet many new people.  The biggest challenge has been the lunch hour which she has had to spend on her own, unsupervised, in a shopping centre, with money in her pocket.  In the past, this was a risky situation for Julie: isolated and nervous, she would promptly go to the nearest shop, buy what she needed to self-harm, and then use it.  She knew this was a significant risk, but she wanted to face it rather than have supervision during the lunch hour.

The outcome?  Julie loved it, thrived, and is looking forward to the second week.  She had opted to work in an optician's because she has some idea of studying optometry, and it turned out to be a great choice.  Not only is there the usual "shop work" experience, but this optician's is big enough to have it's own labs, and a wide range of equipment. The staff have been fantastic, giving her a chance to sit in on eye exams, encouraging her to try new tasks, and praising her for her work.  She comes home each evening exhausted but full of stories about her day.  For lunch she has found a local cafe where she feels comfortable sitting for the hour, enjoying watching the world go by and recovering ready for the afternoon shift.  In one huge bound, she has achieved some independence, and discovered that there are good things waiting for her out there on the other side of school and exams.

I was not too surprised to find that after her three day week had finished, Julie was pretty tired on Friday!  She spent the afternoon watching the tennis, with her feet up.  I recognised that she needed a bit more attention than usual - she was more dependent again because she was so tired, and didn't want to be left alone.  I made sure I had finished off my work by Friday so I could spend time with her.  In the past so much excitement and exhaustion often led to a rough patch, but I felt that with support she would be able to get through this.  It looks so far like my hunch was right, though it will take a while before we can be sure.