Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Support Group
Find support with others who have gone through a traumatic experience. Whether you have chronic or acute PTSD, we are here for you.
Today at 1pm I have my meeting with my department Chair, college VP,
and HR head about my request for an accommmodation in my teaching
load from overload to normal because of my PTSD diagnosis. If you have
the time and the inclination, please send good thoughts or a prayer. I'm
nervous about having my PTSD issues discussed in this way at work.
Hoping we all communicate well, especially me as I obviously, get tongue
tied in PTSD anxiety in moments like this, something to be expected.
Support welcome.
-
It's been some time since my last post...sorry. I've been going through a challenging time with the sale of my home, purchase of a condo and my adult asperger son that lives with me. I've had days where I couldn't get out of bed, days where I stayed in my pj's and days where all I managed to do was eat, drink fluids and take care of my Sweet Mia kitty. Sweet Mia came to me from a shelter about...
-
If I come to DS and it won't do anything when I click "Login", I go to a post, click and then click "Leave a Reply". Then it will let me log in.Of course, sometimes DS just goes to "Error 504". Then I can't log in.
And can you have index cards with your key words and key points on them, in front of you? Like flash cards? y big issue is I forget my point.
In any case, puma power to you. Big kitty purrs, too.
sending so much love to surround yourself with, you are not alone with this.
My Chair is my immediate college supervisor, and she'd been distant toward me this week since I made the ADA accommodation request. That worried me, because she's the best boss I've ever had.
Today at 11am before the 1pm meeting she asked me into her office and closed the door. There, she apologized to me for being distant! What followed was a really great talk letting my hair down, so to speak, that prepped me from 11am to noon for a whole hour, totally calming my fears before the 1pm meeting.
In fact, I did something in her office behind closed doors I don't allow myself to do often enough: I cried. I don't like being unable to be a tough guy who can work an overload any more, I don't like having to teach just a normal load. I'm proud, I'll admit it. I'm so glad she made me feel safe enough to show my emotions.
I am SO grateful to her for having the guts to apologize like that, reach out, and calm me down in such a timely manner. The VP and the HR head were formal in the meeting, but my Chair wasn't, and union rep wasn't, either, so evened things up. My union rep not only backed me up in the meeting; he offered to be a substitute teacher to take my place in the class I need to drop teaching so there'd be no reason to refuse my request!! Is that support or what!?!?! :-)
So my VP and the HR head tried to drop a different class or work around my request. My Chair and my union rep, though, insisted that I knew which class was too much for me. They said not to drop just any class from my schedule the VP or the HR head chose to drop, but to drop the one I said to drop because I knew best. I was thankful, because I said to the VP and HR head that if we did it right the first time, I wouldn't have to come back and ask again.
I let them know I wished it didn't have to be early retirement, but that I was being realistic and making good plans about it instead of resenting my health didn't allow me to work more years than that. By the end of the meeting I was cracking jokes and inviting everybody to visit me in Mexico when I take early retirement in 3 years.
I told them you all were supporting me, and they asked if once I retired in Mexico if I'd stay with DS PTSD. Heck yeah, I said. THANK YOU all for this support today. It's a milestone in my life, a turn for the better. I'm grateful, truly.