Work, School or Volunteer?

Hi guys, I have a hard time deciding what to do in the immediate future. I was originally doing a master of finance last year, but couldn’t stand the stress and quit. Then I hurt my cat and now I am waiting on my court case to get resolved. Now I am left wondering what kind of jobs I can do if I do get a criminal record. Apparently even if there is no criminal record, there is also likely ways to find out you have been arrested. I am concerned over doing any more schooling because usually those jobs require clear criminal record check. I also have a hard time deciding what exactly I like to do. I do not have any previous work experience due to me falling ill with schizophrenia after graduating from my undergrad in finance. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I wouldn’t worry about anything beyond figuring out what makes you abuse animals and how to get better before it happens again or escalates. Work, schooling and volunteering are all distant seconds compared to that.

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Take the time off and go to therapy.

Yea, I had the opportunity to speak to another psychiatrist and he agreed to take me in as his patient. He also does psychotherapy. He mentions I seem to have an impulse control problem as opposed to being directly bipolar. I suppose this is just another one of my impulses to get back to studying or working. :frowning:

I should mention I am still in the process of switching to this new psychiatrist. In the mean time, I have nothing to do. I am just playing video games all day and it’s getting really boring. I have limited social contact with my friends. That’s why I wanted to do some volunteering but I have no idea how to search for volunteer positions.

Most volunteer positions require a clean criminal record. Get some mindfulness workbooks and start working on yourself. Don’t leave it all up to the new psychiatrist. There are always steps to take on your own. Join an anger management support group or something. Just sitting around or looking for unrelated ways to occupy your time, those are just ways to try to defer your responsibility.

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I would focus on you for now. It’s probably not a good idea for a violent schizophrenic to work give yourself a year of stability first. Maybe pick up a hobby. If you need the money you should work but without a lot of people around.

I’ve also had impulses and voices that tell me to hurt animals but I never did it thank god. Sorry you couldn’t control yourself

Volunteer work in circumstances that are non-triggering might be an option, but it would need to be something that your psychiatrist feels won’t set off your impulse control issues. You may also want to pursue therapy on your own. Paging @notmoses for a relevant link dump.

In terms of video games, strongly suggest avoiding anything with graphic violence (first person shooters). It is established that these games can be desensitizing for those who are prone to violence, which is something you have to worry about. It’s not a large leap from hurting an animal to hurting a person, so anything that can reinforce a violent worldview is a bad thing. I no longer play these types of games because I worry about how they affect my own worldview. There are lots of fun brain teaser and memory training games for my tablet and I play these instead now.

MIT offers tonnes of open course ware. You may want to study some of that to fill up your free time?

Cheers.

Pixel.

Yea I am thinking of volunteering at an office environment to build up my resume. Are those MIT courses actually certifiable in an employment context, that is do you put them on your resume and employers give them credibility?

I don’t really need the income, but it gives a sense of fufillment. I just don’t know what jobs I can do. I am really out of shape so those general labour jobs of heavy lifting of 50 pounds is out of the question. I do not have any skills either other than what I learned from my degree in finance.

You can probably use your mental illness an excuse for why you have a criminal record but I would say i wasn’t medicated at the time or something. Grocery stores and bagged jobs are really good jobs to have. If I go back to work I think I’ll do that.

Do you get a degree, no. Can you learn a valuable skill that makes you more marketable? Sure. I don’t have a degree in English, but I write faster and better than many English majors. A skill is a skill is a skill. Anything you can do well deserves to be listed on your resume.

Pixel.

I’d do volunarty work, its low stress

Do you have a volunteer centre in the local area? Or placements centre attached to your university?

My local one often has trustees and finance specialists to do everything from the yearly accounts+!

I’ve filled out several job applications where they ask if you ever been arrested. They application always says that being arrested does not bar you from being employed there. But I’m not sure how it really affects your chances of being hired there.

two words …HOUSE WORK.

I had to drop out management degree due to stress
Now I’m doing a bookkeeping and accounting course and enjoying
I also volunteer two mornings at charity shop
And I volunteer as admin at alcohol and drugs rehab centre . I am busy all week
Being busy is good I reckon

I currently enjoy a life of semi retirement at the age of 25, I get SSDI (or a physical injury I received while in Juvie after someone called the cops and accused me of a violent crime that I wasn’t even in the state to commit) But I also work as a suicide/breakdown help line operator. Its almost like volunteering, but I get paid to help people like myself. I only work three days a week though or I would make too much and lose some of my SSDI. I would not suggest you do what I do though if you are having trouble with impulse control.

Speaking as someone with an arrest record, yes it can get in the way of finding employment, but if you explain things to them, be up front about it, most employers will understand. For me I was accused a very heinous crime, and the arrest still shows up on a back ground check. The best thing you can do right now though is to find something you enjoy, I find a lot of stress relief by doing ‘play by post’ Role Play, where you post what your character does on a forum like this and other people reply with what their character does in response. its not just a way to act out scenarios you think about, it also helps you build relationships with the people you RP with, and provided you obey all the rules, its a fun environment. Plus if our character is Schizophrenic, it just makes them more interesting for other people to RP with.

I am finding it really difficult for myself to look for menial jobs, no offence. Granted no one would hire me because I have been out of the job market for so long, at least that’s what I think. I always wanted to work as a professional like lawyer, accountant, investment banker, etc. And I do have some educational background in all these areas, but then schizophrenia took place and I ended up not achieving anything past couple years…I agree the suicide/breakdown helpline wouldn’t be a good option for me, I am very strong willed in my own opinion.