med cert. - centerlink

[lucylastic]

yeah i know, i sorted it with centerlink . . . thanx. . . briggsys girl. .. sorrie for biting back . . . thank you for your sane thoughts on the matter

[Glamourcide]

Glad you got things sorted... I went through a similar thing when I was pg with DD - it's absolute crap that Centrelink expects a woman who is showing to apply for work, it's stressful and it's pretty bloody obvious nobody's going to hire you when it's you're not going to be around longer than a couple of months...
I got a medical cert from my doctor and then went to see the staff at the local Mental Health office and talked to a counsellor there - she agreed that after being fired from my job (purely for being pregnant, btw) and the stresses I was going through at the time added to being pregnant (financial and relationship worries, amongst other things), being forced to look for work and being rejected at every turn (which is pretty bloody hard on a person's self-esteem, therefore exacerbating the problem when you have a history of depression/anxiety) was not good for me or the baby and she also wrote a declaration stating that I should be exempted from job-seeking on medical grounds (so then I had a cert from my GP as well as from a 'mental health professional'). I then had to have an interview at Centrelink to review it, and then another phone interview where they 'ticked the boxes' to determine the severity of my condition, and it came back all good - I was exempted from looking for work.

Hope everything gets sorted out for you, I know how incredibly frustrating, exhausting and disheartening it can be when dealing with 'the system' sometimes... but yeah if all else fails try seeing a counsellor/psychiatrist and if they think your condition is severe enough to exempt you from looking for work/working, they will write a certificate for Centrelink stating so, and Centrelink will go from there.

[briggsy's girl]

FWIW - for ANYONE in this kind of situation thinking there is no work out there - go to a temp agency - they SPECIALISE in short term work assignments. mostly they're office type jobs (so low impact) and you can have a short term working relationship with them!

also govvie jobs if available in your area - no one SHOULD discriminate based on pregnancy (but we all know it happens) but i know for a fact govvie agencies will hire you. we had one girl work for 9 weeks before going on mat leave - she didn't get paid mat leave cos she didn't qualify, but her position was held for her for the maximum amount of time she was entitled to (a year from memory) and she came back. so please don't think pregnancy means unemployable - you might just have to look outside the fields you've worked in the past (retail etc) and look more for jobs that will be appropriate for a pregnant woman

[lucylastic]

i have thought about office work , and was acutally working for a temping agensie in qld. . . due to my illitracy ( if thats even a word) admin jobs kinda dont suit me , im a cleaner , and workshop assistant . . . i have only ever done jobs that are a lil hard for me to do now lols, i shoulda thought about it beofre lols