Article by anonymous guest Author:
A little-addressed facet of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) equation is the status of educators with mental illness. Most schools offer support for students who struggle with mental illness; however, this is usually not the case for teachers, especially in International Schools.
As an educator with a chronic mental illness, my condition is successfully treated. I work closely with a psychiatrist and take responsibility by staying with my treatment plan. Even so, I have faced discrimination although I do my job well.
I am not alone! A study funded by the Nuffield Foundation has been studying the mental health of teachers in England for more than 3 decades. Based on data collected from over 20,000 educators, 5% are today suffering long-lasting mental health problems. This figure is up from 1% in the 1990s. An increase in prescribed antidepressants has gone hand-in-hand with these statistics.
Public schools are ahead of the curve when it comes to teachers’ mental health issues, implementing support measures for faculty and staff. This is not so in the majority of International Schools. Attitudes such as the following on the part of school admin usually lead to negative outcomes for educators with mental illnesses in International Schools:
“Honestly, you’re one of the best teachers we’ve ever had, but if the community found out…….?”
“I see you’re dating another staff member. Shouldn’t people like you stay out of relationships?”
“We found out about your condition when we took a look at your health insurance claims.”
I am eager to be able to disclose my illness and work with administration to plan for any issue that might arise. No issues are yet to arise. Unfortunately, disclosure or discovery has led to Contract non-renewal for colleagues.
Please consider the following:
If you are an educator taking personal and professional responsibility for your mental health condition, what do you suggest?
As an educator or administrator in an International School, how comfortable are you working with a colleague with a known and successfully treated chronic mental illness?
A significant percentage of the population struggles with mental illness at one time or another. How can we make International education a safe place for effective educators with mental illnesses?
Sincerely,
Anonymous Guest Author
Comments? Please scroll down to participate in this ISR Discussion
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In my career I have encountered a few teachers with mental illness. If a teacher is proactive in dealing with their mental health issues then all can be good. But the consequences of a teacher being in denial – and then having a mental health crisis – can be devastating for the school community. I think the question of whether to hire a teacher with mental health issues comes down to the nature of the mental health issue and the track record of the teacher working at other schools. As an administrator, I would recommend hiring on the “basis of probability” in relation to using an educator’s past employment record as a predictor for any future problems.
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In my career I have encountered a few teachers with mental illness. If a teacher is proactive in dealing with their mental health issues then all can be good. But the consequences of a teacher being in denial – and then having a mental health crisis – can be devastating for the school community. I think the question of whether to hire a teacher with mental health issues comes down to the nature of the mental health issue and the track record of the teacher working at other schools. As an administrator, I would recommend hiring on the “basis of probability” in relation to using an educator’s past employment record as a predictor for any future problems.
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I hired a teacher with undisclosed mental health issues for my school
In China. He was an outstanding teacher! The students loved him.
When he went off the rails, I went to the hospital to hold his hand. And then , again. And yet, again. And then he went back to Australia, mid semester.
His credentials and his interview skills were spectacular! I’d hire him
Again! I wish I’d known how to support him from his first day in Beijing. 😒
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Have a written policy to make it safe to disclose. Then have a support process, that encourages disclosure. It’s important for the person with an illness to be proactive and take responsibility – to keep up with treatments and doctor visits, and to disclose signs that things are not going well. If the teacher is a professional, they should be willing to be told to take sick leave (and see their doctor during leave) to get back on track. My guess is, from what happens in other professions, if it’s safe to disclose and the teacher (or administrator) has a say in setting the boundaries, it’s doubtful leave may be necessary. Employees who don’t take responsibility for their illness shouldn’t receive special treatment. But those who are sometimes called the “Silently Successful” shouldn’t have to remain silent – it increases the chance for success for everyone.
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Honestly, you’re one of the best teachers we’ve ever had, but if the community found out…….?”
“I see you’re dating another staff member. Shouldn’t people like you stay out of relationships?”
“We found out about your condition when we took a look at your health insurance claims.”
Hello,
I have not read all of the comments here, but firstly I want to say to the anonymous guest writer, I am sorry for your pain and that you have had to experience any type of *emotional bullying* even if whoever said the above comments — Honestly you’re one of the best teachers…I see you are dating another member of staff – ? Seriously? How rude, how unbelievably rude, ‘We found out about your condition…*
I am not so certain you have to disclose ALL of these personal details, your conversations, discussions, treatments are between you and your doctor. Patient Confidentiality, and why would you put yourself into an educational scenario, if you were *high risk*, you wouldn’t do that. Having a mental challenge doesn’t mean you cannot do your job. This is what often happens, as humans, we *distract*, but we do not get to the root of the issue until we focus on deeper therapy with a professional who can open the floodgates and provide respite.
I think you should just carry on doing what you do best. Admin? Yes, the wheel that makes everything turn in a school, but seeing an external practitioner to supplement your mental health and wellbeing regularly will ease matters for you.
Don’t give out too much information. We are there as teachers to help others, and of course, to keep ourselves in check too – but not so much that it jeopardises who we are as humans, a job which takes all the time from unsupportive and narrow-minded managers/principals, is probably not the right workplace for you. Find a school which does care. Look at their values, their beliefs, their attitudes. It’s pretty certain that every person knows someone who has been touched by a mental illness in some capacity, as we all experience trauma. Try reading about Dr. Gabor Maté, he is wonderful, quite brilliant when helping others who have suffered trauma.
Good luck.
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I love the compassionate responses from other educators here and especially the advice from Omgarsenal. It is such a difficult issue.
Firstly…are we talking acute or chronic illness, or disability? If we consider physical, rather than mental, analogies…are we talking about a teacher with cancer that has a high chance of being entirely cured but may require some time out while they get treatment, or cope with side effects of treatment; a teacher with Type 1 diabetes, or a paraplegic teacher? I will also add deaf to the mix with the caveat that we can consider some so called disabilities to be different abilities instead, but that in a hearing school, the teacher may need accommodations much like someone who is paraplegic.
In all these cases, the school can be principled – do what they can to support extra time off for a cancer patient, ensure their diabetic teacher is supported on joining the school with finding good medical support for insulin supplies etc, ensuring wheelchair access to all buildings, toilets etc., etc. In some cases, and some countries, there might not be the support required and it would be helpful for the teacher to know this in advance. And if the school really embraces diversity, what a wonderful opportunity for students to be immersed in a world that educates them through their lived experience of diversity. Obviously there are some barriers which cannot be traversed. If the deaf teacher cannot hear with the use of hearing aids, there may be a safe guarding risk in a science lab, for example. But otherwise, in terms of best practices in eduction this is all good.
But when we consider the equivalent mental illnesses and / or disabilities, the stigma changes everything. Imagine the support for someone who gets ill with depression compared to cancer. Will they get a standing ovation when they return to school in better health, happy and recovered? Will the school hire someone with autism if declared in the job application, who may need certain accommodations to function like attending large meetings remotely or using noise cancelling headphones when working in a shared office?
The sad thing to me is that the students struggle with a wide range of mental health issues, and they never meet adults who can say, oh yeah, i struggle with that too, but I have these accommodations and its okay! I have ADHD, and am treated, but I know what it felt like not to be, and all the shame that goes along with it which exacerbates the anxiety. My experience of disclosing this to my school was very bad, and I left. They declined my contract renewal though prior to my diagnosis, my feedback on my work had been exemplary, and then, when unable to replace me with anyone suitable, offered it back to me again but of course, I declined. So many of my students had ADHD. Even I recoil to think about sharing my diagnosis with them, but that is from shame and stigma. Would a deaf teacher not connect with a deaf student and be a benefit to them?
I think as others have said, it comes down to perception and stigma of the school board, and/or the parents which will be a reflection of societal bias and prejudice. All we can do is keep advocating for reducing shame and stigma around mental health. On an international scale, that will be slow work indeed.
As a final caveat, there are physical and mental differences and disorders that make it impossible to teach, just as there are limits for any job. Those limits are not prejudices, but job requisites. Child safety is paramount but mental health is not necessarily a predictor of a teacher’s ability to ensure child safeguarding.
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Wow. this is a deep topic but one that is becoming increasingly common in international schools. where admin. don’t recognise and do not want to deal with mental health issues. The first concern is for students and if a teacher’s behavior will impact them and will parents complain and of course, can the teacher do the job! With mental health issues, teaching usually suffers and it is students and colleagues who pick up on something wrong. I have seen this on several occasions. In China, an American teacher that was paranoid, kept imagining people ‘were out to get her’ and came into her apartment when she was at school and ate her food. When a security camera was installed, it mysteriously didn’t work. She refused to admit to mental health issues and caused a lot of problems ending up in her sueing the school for unfair dismissal and winning financially but lost much more professionally. She never got help. In other situations, usually admin. simply don’t renew a contract as not a problem they want or can deal with. Overseas, it may not be possible to find a psychiatrist and in many Asian countries it is a great stigma and local admin will be horrified in countries such as Vietnam and the teacher will just get fired.
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This is a a very hard one. I have always believed that the less an employer and colleagues know about your personal life the better your workplace will be. After all you are an employee and work is NOT a “therapy session”, “friend group”, or “family”. To people suffering from mental illness, my heart goes out to you because this is a problem you did not cause, did not want, and certainly don’t deserve. The other consideration is the severity and frequency of the illness and the treatment/attitdues available in the host country.If the illness is something you can keep hidden and it does not impact your job performance then I would say consider international. However the significant stressors found in international life and at international schools can overwhelm even a seasoned traveler due to the duration and complexity so that can exacerbate many types of illnesses including mental illness. In international circles we all know each other usually within a degree of 3 or less so whatever happens or is told in secret quickly becomes public knowledge and can have a terribly negative impact on you career and future jobs unlike in home countries where you can move away and escape. Example: an unmarried couple who were engaged arrived the school I was working at. Within a short period of time one hooked up with a local, dumped expat partner and the two of them had to continue working together at the same campus until one moved away. It was terrible and everyone knew. In the dumped teacher’s moments of greatest grief there wasn’t even the luxury of going to work and having work be normal. At another school a teacher joined and soon was discovered to be a very big alcoholic. They lost their sobriety after years of sobriety but sadly now their reputation was destroyed. At yet another school one of the teachers had a severe bipolar episode because they had been unable to obtain their customary medication in the host country. The recovering alcoholic teacher and bipolar teacher were sadly both fired. It is a cruel, cruel world in which we are demanded to continuously demonstrate extreme compassion for our students, work like dogs for our schools, and yet when a teacher has a problem they are tossed out like yesterday’s garbage. It makes the international schools hypocrites but as they are mostly about making profit–reputation is KING so as teachers closely guard your own reputation at all costs. It is what it is and no amount of wishing will change the reality.
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How many international schools offer a health insurance package that covers mental health treatment? Although my school in Thailand offers a wellbeing package that covers some work based stress therapy sessions I think that the lack of coverage for treatment and medication helps reinforce the stigma attached to mental health issues. I would be worried about the professional repercussions of ever disclosing an issue. This should not be the case and hopefully as mental health awareness continues to improve, and discussions like this are opened up, the situation will improve.
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In China, there is little understand of, or concern for, mental illness by the general public. I knew of a teacher couple (local Qingaoese) who had a son with Downs Syndrome, a well know genetic condition. They hid their son at a small private school. The rational was “we could lose our jobs if parents of our students found about about our son. They would ask how we can be trusted with their children when we made ours like this.” When I naturally asked “why would they think that? It’s genetic.” The response I got was “they would not understand that or care.”
My advice is that if you have a serious mental condition, avoid Tier II and III China altogether. I can’t speak for other places as I’ve only ever taught in China and the US.
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It is like that in some parts of Mexico and in some areas of the Middle East from my direct experience. my wife and I tried to open a school in Mexico and wanted to have up to 25% of the student population with free tuition and with handicaps but were told that parents’ of “normal” children wouldn’t send their kids to a school where they might “catch” the poorer students’ disabilities and lesser social status. Rather medieval attitudes!
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Mental health issues, like physical health issues, provided they are professionally addressed, and remediated, should not be taken into account. That said, there are certain illnesses, even if “treated”, like pedophilia and sexual abuse behaviours, which automatically and permanently exclude an educator from working with children. Other than that, IF the educator gets the green light to work in a school, given by his or her therapist, then why not? Here are some suggestions on how to deal with this issue and administrators:
1) One can hide any issue from admin. and hope that it doesn’t become known, but that is playing with fire,
2) One can openly discuss the MH issue with administration and hope for understanding, support and sympathy,
3) One can base one’s career decision on how open to employing a person with well-managed MH issues the school is. If you get the kind of attitudes like:
“Honestly, you’re one of the best teachers we’ve ever had, but if the community found out…….?”
“I see you’re dating another staff member. Shouldn’t people like you stay out of relationships?”
“We found out about your condition when we took a look at your health insurance claims.”
then steer clear of these employers as they won’t back you when the s**t hits the fan. When talking to potential schools, be up front, clear and very specific about how you’re managing your MHealth and ask them for support, tolerance and empathy….if they can’t give a commitment to those needs, then move on.
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