'Dream job made me cry my eyes out every night'

When Jade landed her dream job almost immediately after leaving university in 2019, she was overjoyed – she couldn't have asked for a more perfect start to her marketing career.

The graduate, from Kesgrave, in Suffolk, quickly rose through the ranks, being promoted to team leader by the time she had turned 24, a moment which she said "felt incredible".

But with greater responsibility came more expectation – an unrelenting pressure to secure sales and deliver results, which gradually consumed Jade and pushed her to breaking point.

"I would go home every night for months and just cry, and some mornings I would feel really sick and even throw up," the 27-year-old told the BBC.

"It made me feel anxious and made me feel on edge – my heart would be pounding, and sometimes I would just get into work and be absolutely crying my eyes out.

"I knew I had to get out because I had sort of gone beyond the point of feeling sane."

But, having dedicated so much time and energy to securing her dream job, the idea of walking away from it was initially unimaginable.

Then, in 2023, having wrestled with an inner conflict over whether or not to leave for nearly two years, she decided enough was enough.

"I stayed in the industry for literally as long as I could before I had like a full-on mental breakdown, but I didn't want to let my family down, my partner down, and my friends down," she said.

"But I was being triggered by falling into depression, so that's when I envisioned what my life was going to look like if I stayed in marketing and how bad it was going to get.

"I knew nothing would be worse than staying and feeling so low and anxious – I could literally leave and have nothing, and it would still be better than how I would've ended up feeling."

Lost, low, and with a cloud of uncertainty looming over her future, Jade sought the help of Mind's Suffolk Work Well service, which supports people suffering from work-related mental health challenges.

In 2024, Suffolk Mind's helpline received more than 33,000 requests for support, it said.

Like many of those using that service, Jade, too, was searching for guidance, for reassurance – someone to tell her everything would be okay.

"I felt hopeless because I had no structure, didn't have an income anymore, and I had no idea what I wanted to do next, so I was basically a shell of myself," she said.

"The main thing that I needed was someone who would be my cheerleader, who would push me to try things and make me not afraid to fail, because when I was working in marketing, I was always so scared to fail."

It was then that she was introduced to case worker Nikki Bush, who encouraged her to pursue a career that would complement her love of animals and being creative.

She spent time volunteering at a Blue Cross rehoming centre, which helped her to gradually rebuild her confidence and adopt a clearer idea of exactly what she wanted to do with her life.

Ms Bush said: "It's been such a privilege to see how much she's grown and how amazing she is doing right now, and I couldn't be more proud.

"I just love the fact that the service that we work on can provide such an incredible space for someone to grow and where someone can talk about anything."

Jade has since secured a job at a cattery and now also runs her own pet sitting and animal content creation businesses.

Her life, she said, has never been better.

She told the BBC: "I just needed that fire in my belly again, and I think without Suffolk Work Well, I'd have lived in my own thoughts for a lot longer.

"I dread to think where I'd have ended up because, while I was not acting on it, I was at a point where I was really not wanting to live my life – I was scared."

The 13-week Suffolk Work Well programme has people referred to it every day and, at its most in demand, had a waiting list of 200 people.

Nationally, a record 3.8 million people were treated by England's NHS mental health services between 2023 and 2024.

Mind said its Suffolk Work Well Service was doing its bit, "working hard" to help as many people as possible overcome mental health struggles rooted in the world of work.

• If you have been affected by this story, you can find organisations which offer help, support and information at the BBC Action Line.

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