Do you tell your employer about your mental health condition?

[FirTree31]

Hi,
I have been employed in my first role since graduating with Masters since August 2018. The role is entry level, I work in higher education.
I have borderline personality disorder, diagnosed since December 2017 after seven years of mental health issues, including hospital admission after having my second child.
I am in the stirrings of another depressive / anxiet/paranoid /self harm cycle, my first big one since starting work. Work do not know about my condition, it is normal practice that all new starts complete OH referral, but I haven't and work know I haven't. I don't know what to do. I'm getting very anxious at work, feeling the urge to self harm, disassociating and crippling low self esteem. I am also fu**ing up a bit and being pulled up on it.

Do you tell your employer? Should I take time off, and just call it anxiety / depression?

Anyone?

Same sector here. My policy is always to disclose the absolute minimum necessary to managers - althought usually they have been kind, unstigmatising and very understanding about what I have said, I nevertheless want to keep work as work, and thereby to maintain that professional kind of boundary. I don't want ever to come to regard bosses or colleagues as potential sources of support. Regarding Occ Health: essentially, their role and their task is to protect the organisation and its insurance algorithms - not to help individuals. I tend to engage with them only as much as is needed. I would never seek out their support.

(Sorry - pressed send too early) So my suggestion would be that you seek out those sources of help that you'd seek if you weren't working - so the GP, CMHT, Crisis Team, IAPT etc. If you were to tell work you needed time off for depression and anxiety, you would absolutely be telling the truth - you are very anxious and depressed. And HE institutions are increasingly clued up and proactive about those kinds of MH issues, so your manager should be fine with it.

I had the same kind of job and disclosed about self-harm as I wanted to cover myself from any conversations they may feel the need to have with me as I had issues with a previous employer. They basically just put it on my file not to bring it up I think, to give them credit, they were excellent and never did bring it up and I was very happy in my short sleeve T-shirt's .

Thank you for your replies. I think I want to do an OH because at least then a third party will know, I can choose whether I want this disclosed, they might have some useful reasonable adjustments suggestions also.
Primarily though, I don't want support from work in an emotional sense, you're right there are other places I can get this elsewhere, also the times I have got emotional support from uni staff when doing degree for example I felt so ashamed after I came out of crisis. I want practical support and essentially some protection.

I am sorry you are in a bad place now firtrees.

Please be honest with your Employer and OH. They will not suppirt you clinically but may be able to put in place reasonable and permanent or temporary adjustments to support you. One's I know of (HR).

Adjysted hours to avoid rush hour.
Allowed headphones to cut out sensory overload
Adjusted absence triggers
Phased return
Hours adjusted to facilitate appointments

Notwithstanding many more but I have tried to note those that might help you. Your employer has to provide reasonable adjustments if you are considered tongave a disability in accordance with yhe equality act (2010).

In the short term do they have an EAP you can contact?

I contacted EAP last night and they listened, I didn't disclose self harm as they told me they would have to report as such. I also can't access their short term counselling as they deem me to require long term counselling and belive short term (4/5 sessions) would do more harm than good.

I work in HR also, there's been a lot of movement in the team, increased work load and I feel I can't tell anyone. My previous line manager knows about a bit of my anxiety, I told her because my performance at work slipped. I can be forgetful and when stressed I disassociate so I don't remember things.