Comprehensive Job Loss Workbook
Caring for your income, health, housing, and wellbeing through job loss and transition.
Your worth isn't your job title.
Everything you write here stays on your device. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, stored on a server, or seen by the Black Girl Health Collective or anyone else. Your answers are saved only in this browser so you can come back to them, and you can erase them at any time from My workbook.
Call or text 988 for immediate, confidential support, anytime.
Call or Text 988How to move through the pages
- If this just happened, start at chapter one and stop whenever you need to. The first chapter asks almost nothing of you.
- Otherwise, go straight to what is most pressing. Money, legal deadlines, health coverage, and mental health each have their own chapter.
- Nothing here has to be done in order, or in one sitting.
What is in here
- Right now. The first hours, your separation paperwork, and the records to secure while you still can.
- Money and rights. A survival budget that adds itself up, unemployment, EEOC deadlines, and how to talk to a lawyer.
- Health and healing. Coverage and medication, food and housing support, reflection prompts, and finding a therapist.
- Looking ahead. Documentation tools, the job search, and a closing chapter for whenever you get there.
Keep this on your phone
You can save this workbook to your home screen and open it like an app, with or without a signal.
- iPhone or iPad: in Safari, tap the Share button at the bottom of the screen, then choose Add to Home Screen.
- Android: in Chrome, tap the menu button in the top corner, then choose Add to Home screen or Install app.
A home screen icon is visible to anyone who picks up your phone. If that is not safe for you right now, a private browser bookmark or a saved PDF keeps this just as close without the icon.
Your worth is not defined by your job. You deserve care, support, and stability, regardless of your employment status.
If This Just Happened Today
Before you do anything else, take a moment for yourself. The very first steps are about your immediate well-being.
Immediate Steps
You do not have to do everything at once. Focus on the immediate steps first. Be kind to yourself.
Reflection
First 24 to 48 Hours
In the first day or two, your focus is on gathering essential information and securing your records.
Action Checklist
Severance Tracker
If you suspect discrimination or retaliation, write down a detailed timeline of events (dates, meetings, emails) while your memory is fresh. Note the deadline to sign and any revocation window. Consider using that time to get legal advice, especially if asked to release "all claims forever" or sign a non-disparagement (NDA).
Little-Known Hacks: Ask If They Will
- Extend employer-paid health, life, or disability coverage for an extra month.
- Provide outplacement services (resume support, coaching, job-search tools) through a third-party firm.
Unemployment & Cash Flow
Applying for unemployment is a crucial step, and a benefit you have earned.
Rental aid, utility help, emergency cash. 211.org
Legal Rights & EEOC Timelines
If you suspect discrimination, retaliation, or wrongful termination, swift and informed action can significantly impact your case. These deadlines are strict.
EEOC Filing Timelines
From the date the discrimination took place.
If a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting the same type of discrimination.
You must contact an EEO Counselor within 45 days of the discriminatory act.
Finding Your State's Protections
Search terms: "[Your State] Department of Labor Employee Rights" or "[Your State] Fair Employment Practices Agency."
Key issues to check: wage-theft laws, final-pay timing requirements, and "at-will" employment exceptions in your state.
Supplemental: Advocacy & System Navigation
If state systems (unemployment, benefits, insurance) create unnecessary barriers, your local elected officials can often file a "legislative inquiry" to move a stuck case forward.
Have your claim ID and a timeline of your contact attempts ready.
Find & Pitch a Lawyer
Securing legal representation can be a crucial step. Here is how to find and effectively communicate with potential attorneys.
Finding Representation
National Employment Lawyers Association, plaintiff-side attorneys. nela.org
Your city/state Bar's "Lawyer Referral Service" for local recommendations.
If low-income, search your local Legal Aid Society for pro bono or reduced-cost help.
Speaking With Attorneys: Be Concise
- The "Why": the legal reason for your concern (e.g., "I was fired two days after reporting harassment").
- The Evidence: mention your "receipts": emails, reviews, texts, witnesses. Even a detailed journal helps.
- The Goal: settlement, reinstatement, a neutral reference, or simply to understand your options.
Lead with the legal "why," mention your documentation, and be direct about any signing deadline or revocation window at the very start of the call.
Worksheet: Pitching Your Case
Survival Budget Planner
Create a bare-bones survival budget. Enter your new planned monthly cost for each category. Totals update automatically.
Debt & Bill Relief
Many lenders have hardship programs. Be proactive.
Health, Care & Medication Hacks
Your health comes first, always. Understand your coverage and take care of what you need.
Action Checklist
Prioritize Major Appointments
- Annual physicals, OB/GYN, pediatric appointments.
- Specialist follow-ups (cardiology, neurology, psychiatry).
- Imaging & procedures (MRI, CT, colonoscopy, endoscopy).
Medication Inventory
List each medication and how many days you have left.
GoodRx, manufacturer copay cards, in-house pharmacy discount programs, clinic samples.
Food, Housing & Local Support
Tap into community resources. There is strength in seeking and receiving support.
Action Checklist
My Local Support Network
Keep your contacts in one place.
Resources by Life Stage & Caregiving
Find resources tailored to your specific situation.
WIOA Youth programs, Job Corps, and local youth employment initiatives for training and placement. Community colleges offer career services too.
Short-term certificates to build on your skills. Tap professional associations and alumni networks for hidden opportunities.
AARP job boards for age-inclusive employers. State senior employment programs may offer subsidized wages or part-time roles.
Your state's Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agency for training and accommodations. Explore SSDI/SSI if your condition significantly limits work.
Your state's Parent Training & Information Center (PTI) for special education and benefits. Check whether your state lets family members be paid as caregivers, and review unemployment rules on part-time work and caregiving.
Mental Health, Identity & Daily Structure
Your mental well-being is as important as your physical health. A gentle routine can help.
Call or text 988 for immediate, confidential support, anytime.
Call or Text 988Action Checklist
Daily Anchor Plan
A simple structure to feel grounded today.
Reflection & Emotional Processing
There is no right or wrong way to use these. Move at your own pace and answer what calls to you.
The prompts in this chapter come from their Mental Health Resource Collection.
Identifying Emotions
Self-Worth
Identity
Looking Forward
Finding a Therapist: A Guide
Finding a clinician can be hard to start. It is okay to have preferences, so be picky. The right fit matters for your healing.
This guide comes from their Mental Health Resource Collection.
Therapist Preferences
Start Your Search
Psychology Today
Therapy for Black Girls
Headway · Alma
Your insurance's behavioral-health in-network provider list.
Three Clinicians I'm Interested In
Sample Inquiry Email
Consultation Questions to Ask
- Do you have experience with concerns similar to mine?
- What therapeutic approaches do you use?
- How long/often are sessions? In-person, virtual, or hybrid?
- What are your fees, and do you accept insurance?
- How soon could we begin?
Reflect After Each Consultation
Documentation & Planning Tools
Keeping your information organized can help reduce stress. Try to keep one centralized place for everything.
Keep Together
- Separation paperwork, unemployment letters, and benefit approvals.
- Bills, hardship-program approvals, and notes from lender calls.
- A job-search tracker for roles applied to and their status.
My Next-Step Tracker
Immediate actions completed:
Career & Job Search
When you feel ready to look ahead, prepare for your next opportunity at your own pace.
Action Checklist
CareerOneStop · American Job Center (local)
My Job Search Tracker
Additional Resources
Trusted tools and directories focused on economic security, career rebuilding, and personal wellbeing.
Black Girl Health Collective, with practical support and toolkits for Black women experiencing workforce displacement.
Data, resources, and community support for Black women navigating workforce transitions. thewomensfoundation.org
An annual report on the structural workforce conditions affecting Black women: pay equity, job security, workload, and access to leadership.
Your Journey Forward
If you are here, it means something shifted. Maybe unexpectedly. Maybe painfully. Maybe quietly over time.
However it happened, your experience is real, and it matters. Job loss, workplace harm, and professional disruption can shake more than income. They can touch identity, confidence, safety, and trust.
This workbook was not created to rush you forward or force a silver lining. It was created to help you stay steady, informed, and supported as you move through what comes next.
What happened to you does not erase your skills, your wisdom, or your worth. Your career is not over. Your story is not finished. This chapter is one moment in a much longer arc.
One small act of care
As you close this workbook, name one small thing you will do to care for yourself next: a call, a walk, updating a document, or simply pausing without guilt.
We see you. We believe you. And we are rooting for what comes next.
In Community,
The Black Girl Health Collective ✿
My workbook
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