Following the breakdown

After my nervous breakdown of 07/11/19, which I hold the head to be responsible for, I was on sick leave for a long time. Far longer that needed as it would turn out, again due to the head making it difficult for me to return. Not because I was too ill, but because it was apparently so challenging for her to find time in her busy schedule to organise the back to work meetings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost as if she did not want me back... This can be discussed at a later date.

On 04/12/19, I was invited for an Occupational Health Consultation - here is the report:

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH CONSULTATION REPORT

Background

Thank you for your management referral. I met with Mr Alex Gwinnett in clinic (...) on Wednesday, 4 December 2019. He attended alone and gave consent to the consultation. I spoke to the Head Teacher pre-consultation (...). No post-consultation phone call for reasons I explained on the phone to the Head Teacher.

Current Issues

I note the contents of your referral. The Head Teacher also stated that Mr Gwinnett had been on a monitoring programme for the last year for performance issues.

Mr Gwinnett confirms going on sick leave on 5 November 2019 due to worsening anxiety and depression secondary solely to work-related issues. He does have a history of anxiety and depression but had been stable on a low dose of medication for some years. However, in the last academic year, with increasing stressors at work, his condition had been deteriorating leading to dose of medication being increased more than once.

Broadly, he has described his stressors in the workplace are to do with the attitudes of senior management and senior management having unrealistic expectations.

He went on sick leave after receiving an e-mail from the Head Teacher and I believe you would be aware of this. His anxiety worsened to such a degree, he struggled to speak and his concentration deteriorated further. His GP has added more medication to help with anxiety and suggested a type of medication to help with sleep. His anxiety remains significant and his mood low despite medication. He has been referred for psychological therapy and is waiting for an assessment phone call. His GP has warned him of the long waiting times.

His anxiety and depression have resulted in poor concentration and headaches as well.

OH Opinion 

Mr Gwinnett was very stressed and anxious when discussing work-related issues. His mood was low though he has good insight.

He describes symptoms consistent with his diagnosis. I have also advised that he inform his GP of the headaches in case stress has raised his blood pressure which is not uncommon. Average waiting times for psychological therapy on the NHS is around 12 weeks though many have waited longer. Mr Gwinnett continues to see his GP regularly for review.

Given the cause of the deterioration in his anxiety and deterioration is solely work-related issues, should these remain unresolved, he is only likely to worsen despite medication and/or psychological therapy.

Management Advice

In response to the questions which you posed in your referral letter:

What is the employee's current fitness for work?

He is unfit for work.

*****

Subsequently, I was invited to a meeting at school with the head to take place on 18/12/19:

held under Capability Procedure… talk about kicking a man while he is down... Below is a paraphrased version of the letter (of 19/12/19) I received detailing the minutes from the meeting, with my footnotes and written response.

*****

Informal Meeting (Review Absence)

The head began by clarifying that it was an informal meeting and accepted the request from my union case worker to remove any reference to it being held under stage 1 (informal) of the School's Capability Absence Procedure[1].

The main points of the discussion were:

I was currently not well enough to return to work and had been prescribed with a high dose of anti-depressant medication. I had had also been referred for psychological therapy. I was clear that I wanted to return to my teaching role and had hoped that this would return in the new term as I had missed teaching the children and wished to get back to having some structure and routine. I asked for clarification regarding a detail contained within the Occupational Health report, stating that I had been "on a monitoring programme for the last year". The head alleged that this was incorrect and was down to a miscommunication with the Occupational Health Advisor[2].

I told her that I felt undervalued and criticised despite working very hard and stated that my class children had made progress. I considered that the email of 05/11/19 had listed targets that were not SMART[3] and that she had sent this negative communication without due regard to my health. I said the impact of the communication had led me to have a "clinical breakdown".

The head then stated that all teachers are: required to be working at a minimum level that meet national Teaching Standards, and work consistently within school policies[4]. She added that the school had recently adopted a coaching and mentoring model for its monitoring and evaluation cycle, and that prior to my absence I had meetings with her to support me on a one to one basis in addition to the support provided by other members of the leadership team[5]. She explained that the email was following areas for development identified from external consultants and specifically from peer review feedback received about my performance[6] and that she had then undertaken a "drop in observation" of my teaching lesson in line with school policy. Due to time restraints, she had followed this observation up in writing to detail the areas for improvement[7]. Apparently, it had always been her intention to then arrange a follow up one to one meeting to agree a plan with SMART targets[8]. She stated that she had no prior medical evidence as to my current medical condition or evidence of the existence of any Health & Safety Risk Assessment and had been assured by me that I was well enough to be in work[9]. She assured me that she would from that point on discuss all feedback in person before any written feedback was provided as would all the leadership team.

She also offered private counselling via [an organisation] to be paid for by the school[10].

She ended the letter by stating that she hoped that my health would improve and that I understood that I was a valued member of the teaching team - missed by the children and my work colleagues[11].

*****

Extracts from my response of 03.01.20

I would like to make several points in response which I can also send in hard copy if required.

    o I believe that I have been working to (national Teaching) standards throughout my teaching career.

    o The meetings you had with me were about my subject leadership not regarding any presumed support needs for my teaching. I had spent a significant amount of time on computing because I had reason to believe this took precedence over MFL. When you expressed concern about MFL, I took immediate steps to complete my action plan targets.

    o None of the peer review feedback was shared with me. At no point before your 'drop-in' was I informed of anything being remiss in my teaching practice. Surely, this goes against the principles of the 'coaching and mentoring model for our monitoring and evaluation cycle' that you have adopted.

    o I had clearly expressed on more than one occasion in meetings with you that I had been struggling with work-related anxiety and depression which was triggered by the lack of time to carry out additional activity beyond teaching my class. Before the e-mail of 05/11/19, you had even suggested that I take time off (in your e-mail to me of 31/10/19 you said "if you need time at home then I am sure we can support this") although I still do not see how this suggestion takes account of my repeatedly expressed concerns about not having enough time to complete the extra-curricular tasks.

    o   I note your offer of confidential individual counselling (not mentioned in our meeting) but in the first instance I prefer to pursue the full range of support options available to me that exist outside the school's budget.

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[1] This meeting had originally been touted as just that: a clearly aggressive strategy to ‘show me the door, to use the head’s parlance.

[2] Upon arriving at my Occupational Health appointment of 06/07/19, the doctor informed me that she had been told to call the school. At that stage, I was in a terrible state mentally, I could hear the head’s voice from the phone conversation which was triggering to say the least. The doctor herself was visibly embarrassed and apologetic about this most unprofessional request.

[3] See previous post: The Nervous Breakdown (May 8) – the document was as unSMART as unSMART could be.

[4] I did both.

[5] This support was only linked to leadership and was not helpful: merely trying to make me do her bidding or worse to set me up for failure.

[6] Why was this not shared with me prior to the ‘drop-in’ – surely the least a professional head would do, particularly if adopting a mentoring philosophy. Rather than trying to ‘catch me out’.

[7] The email was vast and would have taken a much longer time to type than to relate in a groovy coaching way, Also, either you adopt a ‘coaching and mentoring approach’ where all feedback is verbal or you do not…

[8] How terribly convenient.

[9] On several occasions, I had mentioned my issues with mental health (see document below). On one occasion the previous year (to be blogged about at a later date), I had confronted her about how her gaslighting behaviour had worsened my anxiety, she had claimed it was not her fault. Nice…

[10] Sorry – but how patronising and hypocritical.

[11] At least she was honest and did not include herself here…