Fred's reality - Humiliation and repeated threats of sanctions for trying to do the right thing

I am Fred and I live in Northern Ireland. I moved here from England a while ago. I have a history of addiction and have experienced bullying at work. I have been threatened with sanctions multiple times. It’s not a way to help people.

In my first appointment with a job coach, I was a few minutes late and the coach gleefully wrote me a letter threatening me with a sanction, they didn’t even ask why I was late. He went straight down the sanctions route; there was no trust. I then got a different coach and they said I had to apply for a job in a bar or I would get sanctioned. I have a history of addiction so refused to apply for bar work. This made me really angry but, luckily, I met another advisor and they listened to why I couldn’t do that job and removed the sanction. They should have looked at my background and realized it would not have been a suitable job for me.

I have anxiety and when it is bad I struggle to get upstairs. I was given an appointment on the third floor and when I got there, I felt I couldn’t go up. I spoke to a security guard asking for a ground floor appointment; he said I would get sanctioned if I didn’t. He was asked three times. So, I tried. After a floor and a half, I was so bad I had to crawl back down the stairs backwards. I was told before this that I didn’t have anxiety as I didn’t rock back and forwards in a chair, and it was clear they didn’t believe I had anxiety until I had to crawl down the stairs.