Struggling...

[alittleredhen]

Hi, I am desperate need of some advice.
In short, I am not coping. I'm due to leave at Easter but I'm not going to make it until Christmas at this rate. I can't even see beyond this week. I have been teaching for 15 years and in my current school for 3. I am so unhappy, it's making me physically sick. I am being bullied and ostracised, I have very little support. My union were not helpful as I had told them I was leaving so they said to just ride it out, but my anxiety levels are sky high and depression is rising. I have previously seen a GP regarding this. I'm worried that if if I am signed off sick, it will have an impact on my reference and future job applications but I honestly cannot cope. What can I do?

Sign off sick. It's not worth burning yourself out for. Hope you are ok

@Idontlikeyoghurt everybody around me keeps advising me to do so but I'm terrified of the impact it will have on me getting another job. I've never been signed off in my entire life.

Honestly, get signed off. I had a month off in the 2018/19 academic year due to a combination of work and home stress. I had exactly the same concerns about how it would look on my employment record, but I really wasn't fit to work. A month off did me the world of good - I hadn't realised just how much on the edge I was until I stopped.

Why are you sticking around until Easter? Can you not leave at Christmas?

I felt the same in my last job and just concentrated on teaching my classes and didn’t engage with anything else. I kept myself to myself and went home as early as possible every day. Or be signed off.

Sign off sick. I was signed off for about 6 weeks a few years ago. Like you I was worried about it impacting on me getting a new job. It didn't. Had a chat to the union at the time who were lovely and reassured me that it wouldn't impact on my employability. They were right.

I was signed off after the day, 10 years ago, on which I was calculating how fast I needed to hit the wall as I drove down the hill towards school. I've not only got and held another job since then (later the same academic year in fact), but I've also been promoted.
No one will look out for you except you.

Thanks all. I'm going to contact my union again. I was found crying in my classroom for the second day in a row today. I'm tired of going to sleep feeling sick, waking up feeling sick

@alittleredhen you need to see your gp and get yourself a break. Look after yourself.

Yup, I left a teaching job years ago as was in your kind of state, you maybe have to be a little careful about how you word future job applications - depending on the circumstances that have led to the current situation - but it has been fine.

My union rep negotiated for someone in the LEA to write me a reference instead of my bullying head! Despite the fact that I was, in all honesty, a failing teacher anyway.