ABSTRACT
The best way for the author to answer that question is to explain her journey through the mental health system and the ways in which that journey has been linked with work. When she entered the mental health system in the late 1970s, she was in full-time paid work in London as a market research executive for a well-known manufacturer of breakfast cereals. The author applied for a market research executive job in Swindon and after a successful interview, she was sent a letter offering her the job and asking her to attend a routine medical. The author attended the medical and was open about her past mental health problems. The next part of the author's journey still involved volunteering but now it was helping Mind, the national mental health voluntary organisation, to establish Mindlink, the user voice within the organisation.
