Employability of people with mental illness and substance use problems: Field realities

BACKGROUND: There has always been a strong association between mental illness and work-related disability. According to the “World Health Organization,” of all disabilities, severe mental illness is associated with the highest rates of unemployment. People with mental illness and problems with substance use have especially low employment rates. AIM: To identify the employability factors among people with mental illness and substance use problems. OBJECTIVES: To assess the barriers and to identify various strategies to overcome barriers to employment for persons with mental illness and substance use problems and to identify instructors’ responses about the functionality of the person who works in the vocational training center, to assess the social support experienced by the respondents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a qualitative study used the purposive sampling method to conduct the study on 15 respondents (five people with mental illness, five caregivers, five instructors) from Department of Psychiatric and Neuro Rehabilitation, NIMHANS, Bengaluru. RESULTS: Various themes have identified to assess the barriers, aiding factors, and strategies to employment. Barriers to employment have categorized into individual factors, interpersonal factors, employment factors, and social factors. Health, communication, family support, treatment, and training are strategies to improve employability. Proper treatment and continuous adherence to medication, emotional support by family members and colleagues are the employment aiding factors. CONCLUSION: Identification of barriers and facilitators in the Indian context will help us to address the employability of persons with mental illness and substance use problems.