NAMI of HENNEPIN
COUNTY POSITION PAPER*
Re: EMPLOYMENT
NAMI of HENNEPIN COUNTY BELIEVES THAT employment should be considered a universal right, and a universal expectation, of persons with mental illness. We reject the idea that those with mental illness cannot or should not work, and consider unacceptable an unemployment rate among persons with mental illness which significantly exceeds the rate among the general population.
Employment is a basic life-function and a basic expectation for citizens between the ages of 20 and 65. There are short-term exceptions, e.g., raising children, studying, but mental illness does not justify prolonged unemployment. Life-styles devoid of employment or employment-like activity are met with suspicion, and the abnormality of permanent unemployment contributes to the stigmatization of mental illness.
Meaningful employment is a critical factor contributing to recovery from mental illness. Many recovered persons identify employment as the most important factor in their recovery. The idea that those with mental illness need to postpone seeking employment until their recovery from mental illness is complete, is archaic.
Employment opens a variety of opportunities, not the least of which is increased income, and the empowerment and status which increased income confers. Countless studies, in a broad variety of settings and over many decades, show that employment consistently ranks among the top priorities of persons with mental illness.
AND YET, most adults with serious mental illness are unemployed (estimates range from 80 to 85%), and many of the employed are under-employed. Poverty is so strongly associated with serious mental illness that it often appears to be a symptom of the illness itself. We believe that poverty is, in fact, an indication of an ineffective mental health system.
This problem has multiple causes:
Re: EMPLOYMENT
NAMI of HENNEPIN COUNTY BELIEVES THAT employment should be considered a universal right, and a universal expectation, of persons with mental illness. We reject the idea that those with mental illness cannot or should not work, and consider unacceptable an unemployment rate among persons with mental illness which significantly exceeds the rate among the general population.
Employment is a basic life-function and a basic expectation for citizens between the ages of 20 and 65. There are short-term exceptions, e.g., raising children, studying, but mental illness does not justify prolonged unemployment. Life-styles devoid of employment or employment-like activity are met with suspicion, and the abnormality of permanent unemployment contributes to the stigmatization of mental illness.
Meaningful employment is a critical factor contributing to recovery from mental illness. Many recovered persons identify employment as the most important factor in their recovery. The idea that those with mental illness need to postpone seeking employment until their recovery from mental illness is complete, is archaic.
Employment opens a variety of opportunities, not the least of which is increased income, and the empowerment and status which increased income confers. Countless studies, in a broad variety of settings and over many decades, show that employment consistently ranks among the top priorities of persons with mental illness.
AND YET, most adults with serious mental illness are unemployed (estimates range from 80 to 85%), and many of the employed are under-employed. Poverty is so strongly associated with serious mental illness that it often appears to be a symptom of the illness itself. We believe that poverty is, in fact, an indication of an ineffective mental health system.
This problem has multiple causes:
- Our society is currently organized in ways that sometimes causes a
person to lose benefits as a result of employment. We believe that the fear of
such events are worse than the reality, but there is much fear nevertheless;
- Many adults with serious mental illness have had limited opportunities
to develop work histories, marketable skills, good work habits, and realistic
expectations regarding employment; and
- Employers, with a distorted view of mental illness, may believe that
hiring a person with mental illness involves unmanageable risks.
NAMI of HENNEPIN COUNTY RECOMMENDS THAT:
1. Strategies for closing the “employment gap” between persons with mental illness and the general population should be among the absolute top priorities for our mental health system, for state and local government, and also for the business community.
2. All adult mental health programs, initiatives, services, funding-streams, etc., should include a meaningful component addressing employment, and all programs, initiatives, services, funding-streams, etc, should be routinely evaluated with respect to their impact on employment.
3. Any and all economic disincentives which currently exist within the (broadly-defined) mental health system should be eliminated and/or reversed.
4. Our “mental health culture” needs to change with respect to employment.
We need to stop accepting absurdly high unemployment rates, employment disincentives, and lack of employment outcomes from our mental health system.
* This Position Paper represents the opinions of the Board of Directors of NAMI of Hennepin County, and only the opinions of the Board of Directors of NAMI of Hennepin County. This Position Paper was adopted by the Board of Directors of NAMI of Hennepin County on June 8, 2015, and is subject to revision by the Board of Directors of NAMI of Hennepin County. This Position Paper represents the opinions of NAMI of Hennepin County with respect to broad public policy, and is not intended as, and should not be relied upon, as advice or guidance to any specific individual, in any specific situation, at any specific time or place.
