RE: Mental Health Awareness Week, Oct 2-8
October 12, 2011 at 12:41 am
(This post was last modified: October 12, 2011 at 12:41 am by Faith No More.)
(October 11, 2011 at 7:25 pm)I_Blaspheme Wrote: I consider myself lucky. It became obvious to me almost 3 years ago that I couldn't keep my illness a secret at work - and as I result, I informed management of my condition. I figured that my days of employment were numbered.
To my surprise, my employer has been very supportive and has stuck with me through two unexpected leaves of absence. They're also understanding the few times a year I have a change in meds and am not quite my normal self for a few weeks.
I strongly suspect that I'm in the minority when it comes to having understanding employers - and that needs to change.
I was even luckier as my illness was nearly impossible to hide, but my employer was not only compassionate and understanding, he was my father-in-law. At that point he had no experience whatsoever with people with mental illness, and I'm sure he had all kinds of negative preconceived notions about it. With me, however, he saw a person that he cared about and finally said to me one day, "I see now that this truly is a health issue and that you need to take care of yourself just as anyone else who is sick would."
He was great at giving me leeway when I wasn't feeling well, and I actually got to know him on a much deeper level while dealing with these issues with him as employer and employee.
I have had one other employer who was understanding, and another one who was not. Unfortunately it's like you said, the understanding ones are the minority.
(October 12, 2011 at 12:17 am)Cinjin Wrote: I just kinda thought everybody was a little fucked up in some way or another.
Some of us much more than others.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
