Workplace and Mental Health

I don't have the courage to be fully honest about my Mental Health issues, even if I am struggling to stay afloat. So good on she, for being able to admit to her Employer that she needs a Plan B. Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

@Appleblossom @FearofUnknown

I've done both at different times -- hid any sign of mental illness, and at other times let my manager (or HR) know that things were not OK.

I would actually be fine with someone bringing it up at a job interview now day - because I'd like to weed out early any employer/manager who isn't understanding of it! If they have prejudice to mental illness, then they're not the employer I want to be working with.

I have had a work colleague use the knowledge of my mental illness against me in the workplace - but my manager shut them down very quickly when they tried to use it as a prejudice despite being unrelated / non-impacting on the matter at hand. This is the manager who I had felt comfortable to let know when I was having difficulties coping with work situations (which initially was not due to my MH - it was workplace problems), and from her response to that I was later able to be "real" with her about how the workplace stressors were impacting my MH. She was fantastic. I remember one time saying to her "if possible, can I please not be assigned any work currently on the topic of xxx" - she did not question why, she just agreed unquestioningly. She could read the "why" without being told because she knew of my mental illness that was related to that piece of work topic and was at the time triggering for me to work on.

I have found disclosure very tricky. @AlwaysMyself @FearofUnknown in the workplace and in the general community. Mostly, (last 35 years) my workplace was self developed so I was the boss, I guess, and mostly it did not need to be brought up. It was not an environment where it would have been appropriate. Nowadays, I am letting go of the need to earn and be professional, and being more of the full authentic me. It has not been easy though. There is still a lot of stigma around, that manifests itself in many different ways.

@Appleblossom - insert non-working support button here.

You approach sounds wise - knowing the specific environment and whether there is any benefit and what risks to disclosing it. 😊

It was my own boss' vulnerability around the challenges she and her autistic daughter face every day (and what she has learned about how to do this!) that helped me assess that she would be a safe person to talk to about workplace problems. 😊 Sometimes you get a "feel" for people, yeah? Based on how they respond to 'small tests'.