Opening up over mental health battle
EX-TEACHER’S STRUGGLE TO COPE WITH ILLNESS
A FORMER teacher has opened up about how living with bipolar disorder made every day a struggle at work.
Renee Cuthbertson, 44, believes her mental health struggle started when she was in her late teens, but she dismissed the symptoms as “just stress” for many years.
But, by the time she was 30, her symptoms had deteriorated to the point where she was struggling to even get out of bed in the morning.
Renee, from Fenham, Newcastle, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after eventually going to see her doctor in 2001.
“It was something I’d buried in my head for a while, but when I told my doctor I felt suicidal, he said: ‘That’s not just stress.’”
A secondary school English teacher at the time, she found that the symptoms made her role incredibly stressful, and was eventually signed off work.
“Once I had acknowledged there was a problem, things settled down a bit.
“I was getting back to normal but, in 2003, things started getting even worse than before. I felt really aggressive, and really angry all the time.
“I found I was losing my temper at the slightest little thing – with my husband, with the students and staff.
“Managing my symptoms in the workplace became particularly difficult and, even with the support I received from the school, I just couldn’t cope with the stress on top of the illness.”
According to national campaign Time to Change, mental ill-health is the leading cause of sickness absence in the UK, with almost one in three people having experienced mental health problems while in employment.
In 2011, Renee was plunged into deeper despair when her mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and took voluntary redundancy from her teaching role a year later to care for her mum full-time.
Several years on, and a change of career has helped give Renee the selfconfidence she needed.
In 2016, she successfully applied for her first full-time finance role with national charity and housing provider, Home Group.
She said: “When I found out I had the job I was really nervous. I had no confidence, my self-esteem was really low and I just felt like I couldn’t do it.
“I eventually confided in my line manager about my illness and she was really supportive. She suggested I take breaks out of the office if things got on top of me, even taking a quick walk outside in the fresh air to re-charge every now and then, which was really helpful.
“It can be difficult to talk about mental health in the workplace but I find the best thing is to be open with your colleagues if you are struggling.
“To know that people were understanding and didn’t treat me like some kind of leper made all the difference in the world.”