My brother has been out of work for 7 years. Because he quit his job he can’t claim benefits and has been living off his savings. I believe he has mental health issues and depression. He’s very fragile emotionally and I doubt he could currently hold down any job at the moment. His savings are running out now so something has to give before he loses his flat.
He refuses see his GP. I’ve tried to help him by cleaning his flat (in a shocking state) and trying to give him some routine to his life. Next step was going to small daily tasks, practice concentrating again (he hasn’t had to do that in years and struggles now) followed by some retraining on modern apps like Teams.
It’s not going well. He struggles with the smallest, simplest of tasks. Everything is done super slowly if at all. He complains that I’m not helping him enough but I don’t know what else to do, and the time I can give him is limited, given my own responsibilities and work. If he moves in with me or with our parents he’ll never leave, and/or come to blows as he’s difficult to get on with. Plus it won’t help the underlying problem, which is that he won’t work. He says I need to be slower and more patient with him, but he’s had 7 years to get a job, and time (and money) is running out, so that is a luxury he no longer has. But I can’t face the prospect of him being on the streets.
Practical suggestions on how to help him really welcomed as I am out of ideas and hate seeing him like this.