NCDA Webinar Series
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Transcript NCDA Webinar Series
David Blustein, Ph.D.
Professor
Lynch School of
Education
Boston College
Agenda:
Introductions
Review the relationship between unemployment
and psychological functioning
Strategies for self-care
Strategies for a reinvigorated job search
Setting the stage
Introductions and expectations for presentation
What do you hope to achieve by participating in this
workshop?
Guiding Questions
What can research tell us about the relationships
between unemployment and mental health that can
help you manage with unemployment,
underemployment, and the job search process?
What are the most effective self-care strategies that we
can use to help ourselves get back to work and restore
our mental health?
What are the best job search strategies that have been
identified by research and best practices?
Where can we find
answers?
Narratives and memoirs of the unemployed:
Staying in touch with the real lived experience
Research:
Creating the foundation for evidence-based practice
Best practices from career counseling and
psychotherapy
Vignettes from the
Unemployed:
“Everything gets touched,” said Colleen Klemm, 51, of North
Lake, Wis., who lost her job as a manager at a landscaping
company last November. “All your relationships are touched
by it. You’re never your normal happy-go-lucky person. Your
countenance, your self-esteem goes. You think, ‘I’m not
employable.
New York Times, 12/14/09
Vignettes from the
Unemployed
“Every time I think about money, I shut down because
there is none. I get major panic attacks. I just don’t know
what we’re going to do.”
“After struggling and struggling and not being able to pay
my house payments or my other bills, I finally sucked up
my pride; I got food stamps just to help feed my daughter.”
New York Times, 12/14/09
Vignettes from the
Unemployed
‘I would say the part I’ve reached now is my career’s
over, that’s the part I feel I’ve reached now; and now,
you know, it’s over so I just take whatever is around
really. You know, I’ve had my chances in employment,
I’ve done as well as anyone could, anyhow in what I’ve
had to face.’
Narrative from Gabriel et al. (Organizational Studies)
Unemployment and Mental
Health:
What does the research tell us?
Marie Jahoda proposed that work provides us with five
important life needs:
Time structure
Social contact
Collective purpose
Status
Activity
Paul and Moser’s
Meta-Analysis
The meta-analysis:
Integrated results of 237 studies
with nearly half a million
participants.
Results included the following:
People who lost their jobs
experienced an increase in
mental health problems
Once people became
reemployed, their mental
health improved
Journal of Vocational Behavior,
2009
Paul and Moser’s
Meta-Analysis
Mental health problems
exist in 16% of the
general population and
34% of the unemployed.
Paul and Moser’s
Meta-Analysis
Mental health problems
are more pronounced
among
Men
blue-collar workers
long-term unemployed
William Julius Wilson:
When Work Disappears
Wilson studied urban Chicago to understand the impact
of the loss of employment.
The loss of work was associated with increases in
family problems, the breakdown of communities
(increased crime, substance abuse, etc.)
Work creates the link to the greater social community.
People suffer individually without work.
Communities suffer as well, creating a cycle of poverty
and despair
Wilson’s Conclusion
“In the absence of regular employment, a person
lacks not only a place in which to work and the
receipt of regular income but also a coherent
organization of the present – that is a concrete
system of expectations and goals. Regular
employment provides the anchor for the spatial
and temporal aspects of daily life.”
A Contextual Caveat
Focusing on the mental health of the unemployed may function to
avoid active consideration of the root causes of unemployed.
Review and critique the Downward Drift Hypothesis
Paul and Moser’s work counters this view.
Fryer argues that we need to actively consider that “which is
implicitly responsible for the unemployed person’s plight — the
social institution of unemployment — as impoverishing, restricting,
baffling, discouraging and disenabling.’ (Fryer 1992: 114)”.
A Contextual Caveat
We need to consider the big picture.
Rich Feller’s remark is telling…
“The best career counselor is an expanding economy”
Shoring Ourselves Up:
Effective Self-Care Strategies
Assessing Ourselves
Self-Care Strategies
Accessing Relational Support
Reinvigorating the Job Search
Assessing Ourselves
Assess your current level of functioning.
How are you feeling overall?
What sort of changes have you noticed in your life since
you experienced the major work-based transition?
Assessing Ourselves
At times, the best intervention is to seek out some
professional support…
Assessing Ourselves
Recall the results from Paul and Moser
Unemployment of more than 6 months is associated
with marked increases in mental health problems.
The loss of work is often akin to bereavement
Self-Care Strategies
Identify support in your communities.
Learn about and nurture support groups in your
community
One-stop career centers
Public libraries
Networking groups
Self-Care Strategies
Stress management
Mindfulness to manage the ongoing anxiety and
ruminations about the loss of work
Letting thoughts and feeling flow through us
Develop a compassionate relationship to ourselves and others
Meditation
Exercise
Other adaptive forms of distraction
Mindfulness and the Present
Kabat-Zinn—”Wherever you go you are there”
Our ordinary waking state is severely limited
The essence of being alive is in appreciating the present
moment
Being in the present moment takes practice and
discipline
A Brief Mindfulness Excursion
You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf…
Emotional regulation…
Think of an issue that you are struggling with.
Imagine it and get in touch with the feelings.
Observe it from a distance—do not repress it or disavow.
Let it exist, but see it as a cloud in the sky
Mindfulness
Empirical research supports mindfulness-based
interventions.
For example, significant treatment gains were
endorsed among clients with generalized anxiety
disorder and panic disorder (Kabat-Zinn et al. 1992).
Awareness and Work
Learning to stop automatic thoughts can lead to
authentic self-exploration.
Training one’s capacity to concentrate can enhance
work performance and reduce attentional difficulties
The Present Moment
The present moment refers to fully focusing attention
to the present moment and the here-and-now. The
ability to experience the present moment as fully as
possible decreases worry and anxiety about the past
and future.
The Present Moment and Work
Paradox:
Focusing on the present in a clear manner helps to plan
for the future
Concentrating on the present moment provides
individuals with a way to ward off the stress of an
unstable work life.
Acceptance
Acceptance involves recognizing experience
without judgment, with a sense of interest and
curiosity and kindness toward the experiences and
the self.
Acceptance does not refer to a blind acceptance of
disparity or unstable work environments.
Mindfulness aims to help clients gain clarity, better
cope with stress, and reduce anxiety in order in
order to explore external options and make better
informed decisions.
Self-Care Strategies
Tell the story of your work history to your loved ones;
The process of creating the narrative is therapeutic.
While the events are often experienced in a deeply individualistic
way, the real story needs to include the context.
This can form a powerful reframe as well as a story that is
ultimately affirming
Self-Care Strategies
Recall Jahoda’s findings:
We need structure in our lives…..
Try to plan your day with job search activities, skill
building, stress reduction, and social connections
Try to experience new accomplishments and internalize
previous accomplishments
Work hard to actively engage in your lives, which can
help to reduce depressive symptoms
Accessing Relational Support
We know from extensive research that relational
support is critical in managing stress and painful
transitions.
Relational support works in multiple ways for
unemployed and underemployed individuals:
Emotional support
Instrumental support
Networking
Accessing Relational Support
Emotional Support:
The loss of connections at work needs to be understood
as a major source of psychic distress.
It is critical to feel connected to others while you are
looking for work.
Also, we need the emotional refueling to keep going
when faced with significant barriers in life
Maximize your time with your loved ones
Structure time with people you care about
Accessing Relational Support
Instrumental Support
Other people can help us in very tangible ways.
Feedback on job search strategies
Review emails, cover letters, and resumes
Giving us rides to interviews
Accessing Relational Support
Networking
Networking is a critical aspect of the job search.
It also provides relational support—it offers multiple
advantages.
A strategy:
Make a list of everyone you know and the kind of work
they do.
Begin the process of informational interviews with your
existing network
Accessing Relational Support
Expanding your networks:
Join a professional networking group at a One-Stop
Career Center
Explore other networking opportunities.
Join organizations related to your field
Attend professional meetings
Social networking:
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
The Power of Shared Experience
The Power of Shared
Experience
“Even when someone couldn’t help me out financially
or otherwise, just being a sounding board; being
someone who can give you psychological help. That
has been the biggest help that I have had. Knowing
that you’re in the same boat with a lot of other people.
Um, but that is, probably the most of what I’ve gotten.
Along with that, I know that if my back is to the wall,
that I know if they can they will, will help me out.”
(Boston College Unemployment Study Participant)
Job Search Strategies
The best predictor of a return to pre-unemployment
levels of mental health is…..
A new job!
Job Search Strategies
Supporting an active, engaged, and creative job search
Review latest approaches that are working
Networking
Assess transferable skills
Skills development…..Critical for the 21st century
Job-Search Interventions
A recent meta-analysis by Liu, Huang, and Wang
of job search interventions concluded the
following:
Job search interventions, in general, are effective in
helping people to obtain work.
Job search programs are particularly effective when they
blend skills development with motivational
interventions
Job Search Interventions
The effective interventions tended to include the
following:
Teaching job search skills
Improving self-presentation (includes in person
presentation as well as written materials)
Boosting self-efficacy
Encouraging proactivity
Promoting goal setting
Enlisting social support
Job-Search Interventions
Lui and colleagues also identified that job search
interventions are less effective for long-term
unemployed job seekers.
They suggest that the complex needs of the long-term
unemployed may require:
Occupational skills training
Interventions that focus on enhancing self-esteem
and healthy lifestyle may be an important addition to
traditional job search interventions.
The Jobs Program:
An Intervention Project
Price and Vinokur designed a structured reemployment
program that combined social support and specific job
search strategies.
Research evidence indicates the following:
The social support of the group is a critical ingredient.
The program worked better than self-help efforts (clients following
a printed reemployment guidebook).
In sum, people benefited from both instrumental and emotional
support
The groups helped people to find work and to reduce mental health
problems.
Unpacking the
Jobs Club Results
What seemed to help?
Social support
The experience of telling one’s story to an empathic and
concerned group.
Learning practical job search skills
Closing Comments
Let’s give an unemployed person an opportunity to
conclude….
“I never thought I’d be at this stage now because I, I
thought I’d throw in the towel, but I’ve always been
a fighter. I come from a strong family. I know strong
people and I can’t let myself down. Society has let
me down but I can’t let society define me. I can’t let
unemployment define me. “
(Boston College Unemployment Project participant)
Group Discussion
What new skills did you learn in this workshop that
you can implement immediately?
What other resources might be helpful to you in
advancing your job search and enhancing your overall
psychological functioning?
Questions
and Comments
Feel free to contact me….
[email protected]