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Change of job

BeckyThump

I'm starting the process of getting referred for assessment for autism, having up to this point thought that the issues I've been experiencing could mostly be attributable to the anxiety and depression I've had for years, and have been diagnosed and treated for by a variety of healthcare people.

If this isn't the case, and I am autistic, where do I go from here? I'm currently a teaching assistant at a broad spectrum special school, and I'm realising that a classroom is just about the worst place for me. I'm hypersensitive to noise, require routine and little to no unpredictability, and struggle around bigger groups of people, which is basically the opposite of what my job entails.

What can I do instead? I'd still like to do something to help people, although maybe not around people if that makes sense. I've got a degree, and I'm a qualified teacher, though haven't practiced in years. I don't think I want a job with too much responsibility, that takes energy that I just don't have from past experience (see not teaching anymore).

Even if a diagnosis doesn't happen, which seems unlikely at this point, I think I need to change job anyway.

Parents

  • Hi BeckyThump, thank you for posting this. It's so important that you are questioning your career choices as I think it is really important that people find jobs that work for them considering it takes so much time in your day. 

    For me, there are two parts to your situation:

    • You want to get out of the job you're in now
    • You want a job you're interested in where you can help people 

    It's very easy to get caught up in trying to do both at once, (which I know from experience) but just getting out of a job that is stressful and into a better working environment, even if it doesn't meet your ultimate goals, is a really good step. 

    In my experience, when I was transitioning out of a bad job I was carrying a lot of stress and anxiety and I wasn't in a good headspace. I needed time to settle and balance back out again in a neutral role before moving on in a good headspace to a more ideal job that fit my aspirations better. I know that if I had come straight into the job I have now, I wouldn't have had such a clean start. I needed my 'rebound job' to clear my head before getting here. 

    I would strongly recommend working in higher education administration. There are loads of jobs across the country and there are multiple levels within that. You can have more student-facing roles or more behind the scenes roles. There are also large variations in responsibility but I find the management structure can be well set out (at least compared to healthcare which is where I had worked before). 

    You can find higher education administrative jobs at jobs.ac.uk (https://www.jobs.ac.uk/) and there are lots of filters for administrative then location, pay etc. 

    There are large variations across institutions but I have found that they can have strong focuses on personal development and wellbeing, and alternative working (e.g. hybrid working where you work part at home and part in the office; flexible working where you work non-standard hours) compared to other industries. There is also opportunity to get involved in other areas to help people if that is something you want to pursue. For example, once settled you could look at helping students with tutoring in English skills.

    I hope this helps - I'm happy to talk more if you have any questions or thoughts!

  • in reply to PetitePip

    Thank you for this, this is a very well thought out and helpful response.

    You're right, getting out of my current situation is the more vital of the two at the moment. I'm lucky in that I don't have to have a job to go to right away thanks to my husband's job, so I can take some time then to get a bit more balanced and also deal with my current mental health issues.

    The suggestion of administrative work for higher education is also a sound idea, I'd like to stay education adjacent so that works. I'll look into the roles available when I have the headspace, thank you.

  • in reply to BeckyThump

    Hi BeckyThump, I'm glad that you've found this helpful! I've had a look through your other comments and saw you were off sick at the moment. I hope that you start to feel better very, very soon.I have been signed off sick before for stress and although our experiences won't be exactly the same, I know it can be really stressful and anxiety inducing. On reflection now, being off sick was exactly where I needed to be at that point in my life and it really did help me to get into a better headspace and make positive changes. Please remember to be kind to yourself throughout this process. 

Reply
  • in reply to BeckyThump

    Hi BeckyThump, I'm glad that you've found this helpful! I've had a look through your other comments and saw you were off sick at the moment. I hope that you start to feel better very, very soon.I have been signed off sick before for stress and although our experiences won't be exactly the same, I know it can be really stressful and anxiety inducing. On reflection now, being off sick was exactly where I needed to be at that point in my life and it really did help me to get into a better headspace and make positive changes. Please remember to be kind to yourself throughout this process. 

Children
  • in reply to PetitePip

    I think I've finally got my medication right, there's been a fair few changes with it this year to try to get the balance sorted but we're there now it seems. Now that I am starting to feel better I have enough headspace to think about my current job so that's the next step, hopefully I'll be able to work through that in the next few weeks.