Department of Mental Health
E. Douglas Varney, Commissioner

Employment Services

Within the Division of Recovery Services and Planning is the Office of Employment Planning and Development. This office is responsible for overseeing the creation, implementation, and regulation of programs that help communities in developing services that assist individuals diagnosed with mental illness or co-occurring disorders who want to work.

Throughout Tennessee we see the impact of the lack of employment opportunities for persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders – increased homelessness, prison enrollment, and hospitalization. In particular, the mental health consumer often tries to live on $623 a month, the average monthly payment from Social Security Administration Supplemental Security Income. They are often afraid to venture out into the job market because of fears of losing consistent SSI and health insurance, as well as the fear of not being able to keep a job or not fitting in at the workplace.

Employment is an important source of dignity and purpose and is an opportunity for a person who is diagnosed with a mental illness or co-occurring disorder to develop independence.

Service research has demonstrated that people with mental illness increasingly relate their quality of life with job satisfaction. The reasons they give for the desire to work mirrors those given by people without mental illness. Employment provides:

• money
  
• structure
  
• a sense of purpose and identity
  
• facilitates a positive self-image as one contributes to the larger society.

People with serious mental illness or co-occurring disorders receive some benefits from employment that other workers do not. When mental health consumers work, over time they become less stigmatized and less isolated. As they participate in normative activities, persons with mental illness and co-occurring disorders report that they are subject to less stigma from others as well as the stigma that they may place upon themselves. At the same time, consumers report less involvement with symptoms when they are on the job. When mental health consumers are employed and receiving the support they need fewer crisis services and hospitalizations are needed.