Studying with mental illness

[petrichor]

Hi.

I hope you're doing the best you can during this lockdown, even if it's like mine today with a hot chocolate and a big nothing. Chocolate is always good.

I have a question about study and I would like to hear others ideas, stories, suggestions.

A couple of years I tried TAFE first in person and then online. When I was there in person that disability coordinator didn't ring me back at all and the online disability coordinator stopped writing back when I ask he to reframe my plan as I couldn't keep up. She said I shouldn't have taken that course. Then I tried a short course at uni without support and didn't make it through the first class 😞

But I want to study. I've been through tertiary education, have a master and a long career, and I became sick. My concentration, attention span and short and long term memory are affected but I still want to study, even if I takes 10 years. I loved studying.

I just want to feel useful again.

Are there any services that actually are able to provide the help I need or should I just give up?

[Last-Lament]

I hear what you're saying @petrichor and can empathise. 

Might I suggest you work out, if you don't already know, what it is about what you've called 'studying' that you enjoy so much. You don't need to explain it here, just for yourself, things like is it the meeting people, or the learning (for me it's the new learning), or something else.

If it's the learning new stuff, perhaps there is another way to continue studying something you'd like to learn more about, without the burden of all that goes with formal education in the way of TAFE's and Uni's. 

When I could no longer undertake formal study due to brain malfunction, I had to fill that gap with a different method of gaining new learning. After raging against what had been taken from me; I still rage about it from time to time, other times I just seethe quietly, then there's resignation side by side with acceptance, which is when I can move forward again; I started with a variety of online courses through various commercial online education facilities. Trial and error taught me where to go next. I added  skills across a wide variety of activities that have enhanced my home life - cooking (bread making/ Thai food/ pizza making/ sushi making & more), improved my dressmaking & tailoring skills, gardening, even tried anime drawing. 

Hopefully, this will be a help in identifying a potential path for your future studying, @petrichor . 

[spicecgx]

Online classes might be an answer for you. I mean platforms like Skillshare that provide you with some classes, materials to learn, and so on, but there is no fixed schedule, and you can study in a mode that’s more comfortable for you. I think a regular college would not fit, and you might want to look for other opportunists. I would also advise you to contact miami.asa.edu. It’s an unconventional college, but it’s still accredited and your diploma will be valid in any institution you might want to work after. They have courses in criminal justice, network administration, psychology, and so on.