to feel quite shocked that DH has PTSD from teaching?

[FunnysInLaJardin]

Its feels pretty awful tbh. He has just today received this diagnosis and has been referred for priority EMDR.

He has taught for 25 years in a secondary school, and got out last year due to clinically diagnosed burn out.

I knew it was bad, but I never realised it was this bad.

How can this be allowed to happen?

20 years ago, I was one of many Australian teachers who went to teach in the UK.

I loved the UK itself, but teaching in UK schools was an appalling experience. I’m now back in Aus with my British husband, and he knows that if we move back, I will never, ever teach in a UK school again. I’d rather do literally anything else.

My heart goes out to you and your husband, OP. I wish you both well as you deal with this.

It’s nothing to do with being weak

indeed.

This is so sad, to take a career to teach the next generation for everyones future and for all teachers by reading this post seem to feel the same. What a sad state of affairs for their mental health to be so extremely affected. Parents need to change parenting style and the education system needs to change back slightly.
my middle son has autism and attends a main stream school. He was being badly behaved, my son was in the wrong it was not to do with his autism but a bad attitude towards education, I told the school well you need to discipline him as I would at home and take away the things he enjoys and tell him x activity is a privilege, I was told that we do not use words like discipline or tell children that anything is a privilege with in school (I was talking about a computing class he dose at lunch twice a week)
this is not the teachers fault or really the head teacher, but words that have an impact like discipline should be used, this gives the child the realisation that they are infact in the wrong and need to earn trust back, the same things which should be at home. Same as praising good behaviour. But the ignoring or “gentle” approach isn’t always the way children will push boundaries all the time that is what they all do, but they do need guided when they are falling on to the wrong track

Edit:- This is for differentstarts - I don't know what happened with the multi quote.

I disagree with you entirely.

I was a high performer with Hewlett Packard for many years before I took VR. I then started a degree at 36 yrs old, passed with a first class, did a teaching degree then went onto gain a Ph.D (a Ph.D is one of the hardest things you can do with massive drop out rates). While finishing my Ph.D I spent two years teaching - it nearly broke me - two weeks off with burnout - I've never experienced that before in my career. I'm now at a private sector company (on nearly twice the money) and I'm absolutely flying - got promoted within 8 weeks of starting.

Teaching breaks many very strong people. To say a teacher that is struggling would struggle in any other career is categorically false. Teachers that leave the profession absolutely smash it in their new careers - you'll struggle to find any other worker that is as resilient as a teacher (emergency services excepted). When the government tried bumping teacher numbers up by recruiting and fast tracking from industry, 60% quit within the first two years.

Well that is exactly what I thought until teachers repeatedly wrote on this thread that I was offending them someone called me a twat, someone corrected my spelling and someone told everyone not to talk to me. I'm glad you put your health first and got out before your mh got any worse and that your now thriving and happy. Posts like this is exactly what needs to be shared you can leave, you can improve your life and you can be happy. Well done you did the right thing.

I agree with so much of this.* *

He was being badly behaved, my son was in the wrong

There needs to be more parents like you. It would make such a difference!

Mental illness - or even “just” struggling emotionally - doesn’t ever mean anyone is weak. Quite the opposite.

This 👏👏👏 people iv seen pull themselves out of a mental health crisis are some of the strongest people I know

‘Pull themselves out of a mental health crisis’ - this sort of language doesn’t help.

Unfortunately this is the reality no-one is coming to save you. Mental health services in this country are not fit for purpose. It's like addiction their are services but it's you as the individual who is doing it.

I don’t doubt the state of mental health services but people being told to pull themselves out of it is a really unhelpful comment.

Pull yourself together is an unhelpful comment but unfortunately the reality is if your in an episode it's you doing the work to get out of it

I corrected your spelling and I am not a teacher

Why did you feel the need to do that on an online platform ?

Can you please stop now Different.

Stop what exactly? Replying to others that are addressing me or are you trying to say you don't want me positing on mumsnet.

because you were being an arse

You do realise the only thing iv actually said is put your health before any job. Which I think 99% of people would agree with so I don't know why that means I'm being an arse. Aren't we all a little bit old for the name calling though it's not necessary when having an adult conversation with someone or do you regularly talk to other people like this.

Unwatching this thread because Differentstarts has completely derailed and ruined it 🙄

I attended a rough high school 20 years ago and I still feel traumatized by the experience. Constant disruption, violence, bullying and sexual harassment from fellow pupils and some teachers. High schools can be brutal places and many teens act like total animals and always have. I have a lot of sympathy for teachers, I couldn't and wouldn't want to do what they do, I did my time there and I want a nice life now!

A few weeks ago I had a teacher in my clinic say that she was relieved that she had cancer (early stage and v treatable btw) because it meant that she had a legitimate reason to go,off sick.

She has been coming in regularly for chemo so we've had plenty of opportunities to have a chat and she's told me, and our nurses, all about how the kids in her current teaching job riot, throw things around the classroom ( she's a science teacher), throw flour over her, throw her belongings out of the window....swear at her, threaten her and hit her with their trainers....and when she tried to get SLT to remove them, no one would arrive. One the occasion when someone did she often heard the staff member and kid laughing outside the classroom and joking about how useless she was at discipline. In her meetings with her department head she is told that she is the problem and she must have wound the kids up. She said that just before she went off sick she was facing capability process with the view to be sacked.
She now has the head of department phoning her up in the middle of a gruelling chemo course and accusing her of pretending to be ill, demanding she return in September and demanding that she set cover for her classes in sept - apparently because she has been off since June she doesn't even know what classes she has in September.

This is whilst dealing with being diagnosed with cancer and going through chemo with no support because she's single and family are all in another country.

Exactly.

It’s bad enough for kids to be bullying her but her colleagues too 😲This entire story is horrendous. I don’t know which part is worse from beginning to end

The fact it’s got to the stage where a woman is relieved for getting cancer as a way to have a break for work or the bosses hassling her while she’s having chemo 😣 what do they mean “pretending to be ill”?

Are they saying she’s made the whole cancer story up or she’s “just” lying about attending chemo? Neither is OK for them to accuse her of. They sound so inhumane 😐

None of that can be helping with her recovery.

@Potsnpotz both. They don't believe she's ill and don't believe she's having chemo. I've seen the formal letter they sent her asking for proof and sent back, with her permission, an overview of her condition, treatment and prognosis. It stinks.