Occupational Health Appt

pickwickpapers25

I've been a member since July but haven't ever felt the need to post before.

I have been off work with stress and post-viral infection since mid November. I'm a teacher and have tried going back twice. Both times I've ended up being signed off again.

All of last term was a huge struggle and I have reached the point where I don't feel I can do the job anymore. (I am a Head of Maths in a secondary school).

I asked for an appt with OH because I wanted to 'cover my back' and the appt is tomorrow. I'm not sure what to expect or what, if anything I am meant to do.

My doctor has signed me off until Thurs but did say I might need longer. It's just that I'm conscious I've been off a lot recently - about 5 weeks in total - and know that all the time I'm off someone else is having to do my work for me. On the other hand, I don't feel in the slightest bit able to stand in front of a class or lead a large dept.

My head has said I can have a phased return, which I suppose tomorrow's appt can help with, but I'm really in a quandry. This can't go on indefinitely.

Not sure how to convey this to OH tomorrow without it sounding like I'm a shirker.

ILW

Sorry to be blunt, but if there are no external factors, it does sound like you are in the wrong job.

Emmzi

do you know what the long term option you are looking for is?

is it severe stress or i it worse just now due to virus?

pickwickpapers25

ILW wrote: »

Sorry to be blunt, but if there are no external factors, it does sound like you are in the wrong job.

Thanks ILW. Blunt is fine!
There are some external factors, but bottom line it is work that is the major issue. I've battled for a few years with it, so this isn't just a blip.

I do agree and have reached the point of thinking I need to do something else. I just haven't found something yet, so in the meantime need to somehow get myself back on my feet with the job I've got.

pickwickpapers25

Emmzi wrote: »

do you know what the long term option you are looking for is?

is it severe stress or i it worse just now due to virus?

I think I'd feel like this without the virus TBH. Long term, I want to find a different job. I've been in management for years and until I got this job had enjoyed it. It's not a case of a different school would be better (though that's true to some degree) as at the moment I don't feel I have anything to to give.

Apart from finding a different job, I just want to find a way to get back to work properly (and hopefully short term til i find something else).

ILW

pickwickpapers25 wrote: »

Thanks ILW. Blunt is fine!
There are some external factors, but bottom line it is work that is the major issue. I've battled for a few years with it, so this isn't just a blip.

I do agree and have reached the point of thinking I need to do something else. I just haven't found something yet, so in the meantime need to somehow get myself back on my feet with the job I've got.

Can you not resign as head of dept and just go back to the teaching bit?

pickwickpapers25

ILW wrote: »

Can you not resign as head of dept and just go back to the teaching bit?

I would do that, yes. Overstaffing issues mean that is unlikely to be possible, but it's something I'd ask about if circumstances were to change. At the moment though, I don't even feel up to that.

LL30

I had an OH appt a few years back and I had got myself in a state over it. I'd had a diagnosis from a doctor, but I was convinced that the OH doctor would diagnose something else! Mine took place at a normal doctors surgery and by the time I walked into the OH's office, I was in tears...She was absolutely lovely. I had taken some paperwork with me so she could read what had been going on (long boring story, also involving working in a school and me being used as the sacrificial lamb in an employment tribunal). She also asked me some questions, but she was very sensitive and didn't interrogate me (as I'd convinced myself she would). Anyway, after sending me home under strict instructions to have a cup of tea (how very British) she wrote a report to the school which told them basically to bog off and leave me alone. She concurred with my doctor's diagnosis also, so that helped my case.

Just be honest with them. I guess it's luck of the draw with regards to what type of person you get - but you yourself recognise that the situation can't continue. They will ask you what you want the school to do, so have a think about that (my answer was for them to p1ss off and leave me alone, oh so very mature and practical!). I'm sure it will be fine and well done for accepting that you don't want to teach any more, I know that can't have been an easy conclusion to come to x

pickwickpapers25

Thanks LL30. You're right. I've been teaching for a long time and it's sad to feel that I've no longer got it in me. I want to leave but I also want to do it honorably and not mess around my school. Thanks for your advice. I'll have a think in the bath later about what the school can do to help me. Can you say things to OH in confidence or does it all get fed back to the school? There are some things that I'd like to be able to explain but which I wouldn't want getting back to the Head!

LL30

I think confidentiality goes out the window at these things, but I'm not entirely sure what the rules are. Ask them tomorrow and see what they say, if they are bound to report everything, is there anyway of expressing your concerns without it potentially causing problems? (Not sure I'm making sense!) It sounds as if you are doing all the right things anyway, and that you are mindful about how your absence is affecting the school (don't be too mindful though, think of yourself). I sobbed for around a month after leaving teaching, but I have had a fantastic career since! I've been lucky to work a number of different contracts and now I'm hoping to do my MA. There is life after teaching, and although I do miss it, I wouldn't go back to it. Good luck, let us know how you get on x

Notmyrealname

pickwickpapers25 wrote: »

Thanks LL30. You're right. I've been teaching for a long time and it's sad to feel that I've no longer got it in me. I want to leave but I also want to do it honorably and not mess around my school. Thanks for your advice. I'll have a think in the bath later about what the school can do to help me. Can you say things to OH in confidence or does it all get fed back to the school? There are some things that I'd like to be able to explain but which I wouldn't want getting back to the Head!

I don't think its sad you've no longer got it in you, its just natural progression. Its not natural for us to be doing the same thing in perpetuity. The smart people are the ones who know when its time to move, the rest carry on in misery hammering another nail in their coffin.

If you leave following the correct procedures and not dropping anyone in it, you can leave with your head held high, take a deep breath and look forward to the next career with no baggage from the old. I think this will improve your health no end.