Work, both paid and voluntary, has countless positive benefits for people’s wellbeing. These benefits are especially directed towards mental health and emotional wellbeing. Research has suggested that undertaking work may actually be good for you. While receiving a steady income is nice, it’s the other factors that come with meaningful employment that improve overall life satisfaction and wellbeing. This post explores the benefits of working on mental health and emotional wellbeing, and how working helps those with mental health issues work towards mental health recovery.
Psychological benefits to working
Many of these benefits are psychological. Self-efficacy (that feeling of competence and sense of achievement you get when you become good at what you do and confident in your abilities); meaning and purpose (that feeling of being a valuable contributor to an overall, shared goal); and social inclusiveness (as social creatures, we all benefit from regular social contact with others, and this in turn improves our physical and mental health).
Many job positions involve working within a team, whether directly or indirectly, which not only encourages the aforementioned social contact, but also creates a sense of mutual progress towards shared goal achievement. Such by-products of work can help to improve mood, cognition, and perceptions of the self, which in turn, can give us that much-needed boost on our journeys. In addition, regular work provides us with structure and routine, promoting our independence and improving general life skills such as time management and problem-solving.
Working towards mental health recovery for those with a psychosocial disability
These benefits also extend to those individuals working with a psychosocial disability, who are working towards mental health recovery. For individuals with mental health conditions, employment can offer the above psychological benefits (and more!) to aid on the road to recovery. For those in mental health recovery who may be experiencing significant impairments to their psychological wellbeing, receiving these benefits are arguably even more important, and work can provide a much-needed step towards recovery.
The more independent you become, the more accomplished and confident you will feel about yourself. The sense of meaning and purpose that can be derived by contributing towards a shared goal is invaluable for emotional wellbeing – and knowing you are making a difference can make all the difference in mental health recovery.