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11 May
Feeling like a burden : in the world of employment, what might follow from others' difficult feelings 'as a result of telling them about your suicidal feelings' ?
The charity SANE (@CharitySANE) no doubt means well by urging such messages on us - as if talking is just talking, and without risks, and a disclosure can be 'unknown' afterwards by those who hear or read it :
Talking about suicide is hard, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Find support here: https://t.co/rcwhu31rld #itsokaytotalk pic.twitter.com/Th4eKyleii— SANE (@CharitySANE) May 11, 2017
Sadly, knowledge always has the potential to be power, and - whether or not they consciously intend to view you, and what they are now aware of about you, as weakness - colleagues can subtly start treating you as other [the writer talks from the perspective of having had this exact experience in employment by an LMA*] :
Fine to say so, but ever tried doing it, in a job ? :— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) May 11, 2017
Your colleagues suddenly feel that they have a licence 'to be concerned' about you. https://t.co/ku7QeksXpP
As if they are different from you, as if they need to wonder about you, what you are doing and The S Question, when you are unavoidably and / or unexpectedly out of sight...
They knew nothing of suicidal ideation or behaviour before - but now they assume the worst, if anything happens, prioritizing their anxiety. https://t.co/ZDLP1Z3jP8— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) May 11, 2017
As if, frankly, you have become a liability, irrespective of your previous years of service (when they did not know) !
Today we want to share our research on suicide. Fact: Stopping it starts with talking. https://t.co/CIG3Fge0ii pic.twitter.com/h8w2aGTzx6— SANE (@CharitySANE) March 30, 2017
@jshipley2103 @CharitySANE Not that you are wrong, but quoting a figure for the whole world, and letting it seem as if it might be 0.8m people in the UK, distorts it ?— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) May 12, 2017
@CharitySANE Thanks, @CharitySANE, for agreeing (tacitly) that you were previously using a huge, global figure, but without actually saying so...— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) May 14, 2017
Being employed by a charity, not even a mental-health charity*, is any protection against the effects of what they now know - and never [let you] forget !
@CharitySANE Fact : Especially when you are in a job, some people start privileging their own meaningless 'concern' about you :https://t.co/XUz8X2y2O6— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) May 12, 2017
Or reflect ? :— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) June 11, 2017
Previously OK work colleagues now think there's reason 'to be concerned about you' whenever you're delayed, and won't forget https://t.co/fNcttvFdAY
End-notes :
¹ Usually set up as companies limited by guarantee, regional mental-health charities affiliate to Mind (and become Local Mind Associations, or LMAs), and, although they largely 'run their own show', they are allowed to use the Mind name².
There is no perfect way to talk about #suicide. But it's important that you start: https://t.co/jnnMBK13cp pic.twitter.com/f4p5SeDY68— SANE (@CharitySANE) May 14, 2017
Really !— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) May 14, 2017
Bad enough, having vomited up the tablets, that a client declared #suicide 'the coward's way out', let alone as words of advice ? https://t.co/pNp2TLsLQJ
² There is, in fact, no such thing as the national Mind charity per se (@MindCharity), and the name 'Mind' (not an acronym, so it should not be rendered MIND) is just a trading-name : The National Association for Mental Health, which is what Mind is really called, just started using it decades ago, and, when it caught on, never looked back.
Question : Nothing is for ever, not even trademarks, or trading-names, so have we reached the point in time when anyone could start using the name Mind... ?
Nothing's for ever, not even trademarks / trading-names, so have we reached the point in time when anyone could start using the name Mind ?— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) May 12, 2017
A history of @MindCharity and starting to use that name [instead of The National Association for Mental Health] :https://t.co/vMhI5gEkJl https://t.co/ozZWXnXX2A— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) May 12, 2017
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Unless stated otherwise, all films reviewed were screened at Festival Central (Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge)
