Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to Career chat. My name is Ali, and I am the Career Planner for Ostara Australia. This week’s topic will cover disclosure of mental illness in job interviews and workplace. The topic will cover possible solutions on how to manage disclosing mental illness in the workplace, and provide real life scenarios where this has been effective.
From the clients that I have worked with, I have noticed that disclosure of a health condition can be very stressful for many people, as they are worried that disclosing will cause a potential employer to lose interest in a job interview, or that it could cause a change in response from an employer once they find out. Today we will break down disclosure, and how to effectively disclose your condition to an employer. As a general rule, I believe that if you decide to disclose a particular condition, you need to also provide the management plan that you are utilising to manage that condition. We will use the example of a person who has been diagnosed with Anxiety and Depression. Disclosure should cover the following points:
- Disclosing the Anxiety and Depression to the employer/ colleagues
- Educating the employer about the lived experience of the condition, and how the condition impacts the person on a daily basis
- Explaining your management plan, such as: Seeing a Psychologist/ Psychiatrist, attending support group, taking medication, focusing on diet and exercise, following mindfulness plan set by psychologist etc. This shows the employer that you are managing you conditions well, and that the impact at work should be limited
I have noticed that proper disclosure can be the difference between a client being successful at an interview or not. If you do not explain your management plan for your condition, this could cause the employer to feel that you may be an unreliable employee.
We had a particular client who was looking for warehousing type work, but had been to approximately 10 interviews, and was unsuccessful. He was simply saying “I have Anxiety and Depression”, and leaving it at that.
Once he worked on his proper disclosure plan, he was successful and is now working fulltime!
I’d like to hear your experiences of disclosure, and your opinions of proper disclosure.
