Losing a job is one of the hardest things you can go through. I’m not being dramatic.
Research in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology consistently finds that involuntary job loss is among the most significant stressors a person can experience. Researchers even put it in the same bracket as a bereavement.
So if you feel like the ground’s vanished from under you, there’s a reason. You’re not being soft and you’re not overreacting. You’ve lost your income, routine and a chunk of how you see yourself, all at once.
You don’t have to get through this on your own. And you don’t have to wait until you’re at breaking point to ask for help.
If you’re having thoughts of self-harm or suicide, please reach out now.
Start with your GP. They’re the front door to most of the subsidised mental health support in Australia, so this is the first call to make.
Ask about a Mental Health Treatment Plan. It’s Medicare-funded, covering up to 10 rebated sessions a year with a registered psychologist and costing you a fraction of paying privately.
For most people, it’s the most useful thing they can do, and you can get one whether you’re working or not.
| Support | Contact | What they offer |
|---|---|---|
| Mental Health Treatment Plan | Via your GP | Up to 10 Medicare-rebated psychology sessions per year |
| Employee Assistance Program (EAP) | Your former employer’s EAP provider | 3–6 free sessions, often open for a while after you leave. Worth checking. |
| Headspace | headspace.org.au | Free mental health support for ages 12–25 |
| Beyond Blue Online | beyondblue.org.au | Free chat and email counselling |
| Open Arms | openarms.gov.au | Free confidential counselling for veterans and families |
| SANE Australia | sane.org | Support for complex mental health issues |
| Relationships Australia | nt.relationships.org.au/tips-guide/dealing-job-loss | Practical emotional support around job loss |
About your EAP: if the role you just left had an Employee Assistance Program, call the provider directly. A lot of EAPs stay open to you for a little while after you’ve gone. And if your partner or immediate family member has access to EAP through their employer, you may be able to use theirs too. Always worth a phone call.
Losing work often kicks off something that feels a lot like grief, and that’s exactly what it is. You’re grieving the loss of income, structure, the people you saw every day, and maybe even a version of yourself you’ve spent years building.
Researchers like William Bridges have written about this extensively in the context of professional transitions. So here’s what actually helps, going by the evidence rather than the platitudes:
Get up at a regular time, get dressed, and give yourself one thing worth doing each day. It sounds almost too simple, but your nervous system runs on rhythm, and days with no shape to them tend to make everything feel worse.
Going quiet and shutting people out makes it heavier every time. You don’t need to put on a brave face to tell someone you’re struggling.
Two or three hours of proper, focused searching will get you further than eight hours of doom-scrolling Seek, and it won’t leave you frayed for the rest of the day.
Easier said than done, especially when you’ve built a real career and people have always known you by it. But you were never just your job title, even on the days it felt that way.
A 20-minute walk genuinely takes the edge off the cortisol and anxiety; this is your actual body chemistry, not a wellness slogan. The national activity guidelines suggest at least minutes a day of moderate to vigorous exercise.
LinkedIn groups, local meetups, communities like Professionals in Transition – talking to others going through it takes a surprising amount of weight off.
Keep half an eye on how you come across through all this, because it carries into what comes next. Your reputation is one of the most durable things you’ve got, and it’s worth looking after even while everything else feels up in the air.
The urge to send an honest email (to your team, your manager, to anyone who’ll receive it) is understandable. But nine times out of ten, it’s worth resisting.
Grievances and complaints belong in formal channels, handled with specifics and documentation. Everything else tends to do more damage to you than to anyone else.
Businesses make hard calls. The people delivering the news are often not the people who made it, and they’re rarely having a good day either.
Treating others well on your way out is still within your control. Be kind and respectful, no matter how much you disagree or how you feel you’ve been treated.
People are watching, and the professional world is smaller than it looks. Your former manager may become a referee, a client, or a colleague again.
The exit interview, your final handover, and your social media are all part of the record you leave behind.
Do it properly. Share more than you have to, leave notes that will actually help whoever picks up your work. Walking out with your head held high starts with the work you do in the last two weeks, not just the last conversation.
The people who recover well from redundancy (and the evidence on this is consistent) are the ones who are seen to handle it with composure, not the ones who got the last word.
How do you talk to people about this? What on earth do you say when someone you haven’t seen in months asks how work’s going?
People will say the wrong thing sometimes. It’s not to be unkind; they just don’t know what you’re supposed to say to someone who’s lost their job. Knowing it’s coming takes most of the sting out.
You don’t owe anyone the full story. ‘I’m between roles and actively looking – would love to catch up and hear what you’ve been up to’ is a complete, professional answer, and it moves the conversation right along.
On social media, be choosy about what you share. If you want your network to know you’re looking, keep it level: ‘I’ve recently wrapped up at [X] and I’m exploring opportunities in [Y] – I’d love to reconnect’ reads as someone on the move, not someone in freefall.
Most Australians who lose a job involuntarily are back in work within three to six months. The first stretch is genuinely rough. It’s also, for almost everyone, genuinely temporary.
This chapter isn’t the whole story.
How do I look after my mental health after being made redundant?
Start with the practical: book an appointment with your GP and ask about a Mental Health Treatment Plan, which provides access to subsidised psychology sessions under Medicare.
Beyond that, maintaining a daily structure, limiting your job search to a few focused hours, and staying connected with people who know what you’re going through all have a measurable effect on how you recover.
It’s also worth checking whether your former employer offers EAP (Employee Assistance Program) access – many provide free counselling sessions for a period after you leave.
Is it normal to feel grief after losing your job?
Yes. Job loss triggers a documented grief response – one that’s comparable in psychological impact to divorce or bereavement.
Fear, anger, shame, and relief can all hit at once, and none of them is a sign that something’s wrong with you. The response is proportionate to what you’ve lost: income, identity, structure, and community, often all at the same time.
What free mental health support is available in Australia after redundancy?
Several options are available at no cost. Beyond Blue offers online chat and email counselling. A GP referral can unlock up to 10 subsidised psychology sessions per year via a Mental Health Treatment Plan under Medicare.
If you were recently employed, check whether your former employer’s EAP program is still accessible. SANE Australia provides support for complex mental health situations, and Lifeline (13 11 14) operates 24/7 for crisis support.
Should I post about my redundancy on LinkedIn?
A brief, factual post letting your network know you’re available can be useful. Keep it forward-facing and specific about what you’re looking for.
Avoid details about the circumstances of your departure, any criticism of your former employer, or anything written in the heat of the moment. What you post now is visible to future hiring managers and potential referees.
How do I handle the exit interview after a redundancy?
Keep it professional and specific. If you have genuine concerns about a process or situation, name them factually and avoid the personal.
The exit interview isn’t the place to settle scores. Anything that could be read as a bridge-burning statement may end up on your record. Most HR professionals remember how people behave on the way out, and you don’t want to be flagged as ‘do not rehire’ in any organisation’s HR system.
Why is it so hard to separate your identity from your job after redundancy?
For most high-achieving professionals, the job is where a significant amount of identity, structure, and social connection has been concentrated for many years.
When that goes, the loss isn’t just financial. It’s a loss of role, routine, and often community. Recognising that the difficulty is structural, not personal, is usually where the recovery starts.
This post is part of the Career First Aid Kit – a practical guide for Australians navigating job loss, redundancy, and career crisis.
Disclaimer: This guide is intended as general information only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Last reviewed June 2026.
Founder & Managing Director, The Sorbetto Group
I spent over two decades in change management and organisational consulting across government, financial services, defence, and resources before I started paying closer attention to a pattern I kept seeing everywhere.
Talented, capable professionals hitting a wall in their careers and having no real framework for what to do next. Not because they lacked ambition or ability but because the gap between wanting to move and knowing how to move is wider than most people expect, and almost nobody is addressing with any real rigour.
That gap is what I built The Sorbetto Group to close.
At The Sorbetto Group, we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging and celebrate the stories, culture and traditions of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who also work and live on this land.
