Published on 12, July, 2020
So I have a an interview for a job I applied for a couple for a couple of weeks ago. I'm really pleased as I've been job hunting for a while and never managed to bag an interview so this feels like real progress.
Anyway it is a job for a mental health and wellbeing peer support worker. This is quite the career pivot for me as I currently work in a lab that manufactures blood grouping reagents and have a very scientific background. It's fair to say this interview will be quite different to ones i've experienced before as I've never applied for this sort of role before.
Does anyone have any experience in a mental health support role or similar and can offer advice on the interview? I really don't want to muck this up.
Take care,
Euan
No, but Good Luck. We aren't going to see any improvements to mental health services for autistic people until we have autistic people in those roles
That's like saying that we need more cardiologists with a weak heart. We need people with logical intelligence, emotional intelligence, empathy and skill. Those four characteristics are usually lacking in ASD people.
The neurotypicals may have those skills in abundance but they don't seem to be able to use them when dealing with autistic people. They do not understand the autistic experience and even worse they often do not even try to understand.
It's the double empathy problem in action.
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/double-empathy
What we actually need is autistic people in those roles, who can understand what it is like and how to help and support.
Fortunately, here in Northern Ireland, Mental Health Professionals are better trained with Autism. Plus, in general, we tend to be better people. Whereas others aren't as friendly.
Autonomistic said:What we actually need is autistic people in those roles, who can understand what it is like and how to help and support
Yes! This is exactly what's needed. Would have made my hospital admission much easier for me.