Long-term unemployment among young people with mental health problems has long been thought to be the main cause of their mental health difficulties. In reality, however, the stigmatization shown by employers is sometimes the reason why young people with mental health problems fail to integrate into the labour market. They identify with discrimination and as a result, often feel helpless and excluded from society. Fear of stigma and rejection by the community and prospective employers are factors that can seriously undermine the confidence of young people with mental health problems. They often come to see themselves as unemployable and stop looking for and taking interest in different career opportunities. However, after a long period of unemployment, integration into the labour market and building effective work habits seem even more difficult, but not impossible.
Research shows that youth with mental health problems are willing and able to work. If companies and organizations, together with the employers who manage them, direct efforts and resources to help young people acquire knowledge and develop skills, it would certainly increase their career achievements. While for many employers the idea of funding training programs to motivate young people to develop may not sound worthwhile, it can improve their performance and be presented to the organization accordingly. The development of work skills and competencies can not only lead to higher results for the organization but also increase confidence and self-esteem and motivate young people to take further actions in the direction of their professional realization and better and effective coping with work duties and commitments.
To successfully integrate into the labour market and achieve permanent employment, in addition to improving complex work skills, young people must acquire resilience, and personal skills to deal with potential problems, as well as to build confidence in themselves and their strengths. This will help them not to be afraid of the rejection they face from companies that are not able or willing to work with them. In addition, they must develop the understanding that they will not always achieve the same successes as their colleagues, but they must nevertheless continue to move forward, even with small but steady steps, and emphasize their strengths. Perhaps one of the most important work-related habits that youth with mental health problems must acquire is not to compare themselves to others and not to become demotivated or give up when faced with difficulties. What there are and some training are supported by the state, it is good for young people to try to acquire different skills through them, especially if their future workplace does not offer such training. It is also important to educate young people that it would be good for them to accept help – be it from the state, the organization or the professionals who will guide them on how to do optimally in the workplace. Another important step is the creation of structure in the working day by the organization or by the young people themselves, without which they will wander in ambiguity and lose a large part of their time and energy in this – clear conditions and tasks from the first day would have a positive effect on some youths
Of course, creating work habits among young people with mental disorders is far from the only thing that can guarantee their integration into the labour market. The extent to which young people will be able to realize themselves also depends on the organizations and their managers. Attracting people with mental health problems as a workforce is one of the main features of advanced economies and civilized societies. However, still, a very small percentage of organizations provide sufficient skills to build an appropriate organizational culture that is sufficient to support young people with mental health problems and their psycho-social recovery. To ensure this, managers first need to reduce stigma and the manifestation of discriminatory attitudes on the part of other employees. It is necessary for colleagues to be with these young people to be aware of the specifics of their difficulties that affect their performance in the work environment and communication with others, with all the work of everyone to go in the best possible way and maintain positive collegial relations. It would be beneficial for companies to prepare their employees for working with people with mental health problems even before they are hired so that they can better understand how to deal with their new colleagues who will be different from them.
Creating positive work habits among long-term unemployed youth with mental health problems is of utmost importance both for their success and retention in employment and for their initiation. However, not only they but also their employers are responsible for their success at the workplace.