Has anyone tried an Atelier Conseil with France Travail?
I've lived in France for 20 years and speak fluent French. For the past decade or so, I've been working as a freelance journalist/writer, with autoentrepreneur status. Unfortunately, over the past few years, financial issues for some clients and AI in general have decimated my clientele base (an issue I know is sadly common among fellow writers right now). The money I earned was a second income for our family, and I'm struggling to find something within my skillset that's flexible enough to be compatible with my other role as a parent and homemaker (my son's school has been going on strike on the regular this year, for instance, meaning if I didn't work from home, I'd be taking a lot of personal days, something not all employers/jobs would be okay with). I'm also dealing with a bit of depression due to the collapse of what used to be a rewarding career that worked so well with my life.
I'm not currently collecting unemployment, since I have a very small trickle of money still coming in, but I will need to make a move and try to find another career path soon.
I was thinking about trying to see a career counseler/psychologist through Better Help, using their financial aid programs and some money I've set aside. But my husband pointed out that France Travail has counselors who might be able to help me choose a new career path and give me advice for free.
I've had a look at France Travail's website and it seems like what I'm looking for is an Atelier Conseil. My question is, has anyone had any experience with these? Again, I speak fluent French, so that shouldn't be an issue, but I'm concerned about the approach. I'm looking for something where my strengths AND weaknesses can be taken into account, as well as my personal needs and issues (strong preference for fully remote work, flexibility, etc.) and where counsellors listen and advise, and don't just give out rote or systematic advice. Is this something that would really be better to deal with in terms of seeing a career counselor privately, or could France Travail help me with truly finding a new career path that could work for me?
If you've done an Atelier Conseil or otherwise used France Travail to help you, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
