Reply to Taking a semester off for mental health reasons

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I did this. Went to community college. Did NOT work. The last thing I personally needed was to see myself as a failure who was doomed to an hourly position forever. I needed hope. YMMV there, of course.

I would insist on therapy. My parents didn't, and while I did go back and finish my degree, I would have been happier after some intensive mental health help.[/quote]

Just want to clarify, I would insist my kid work if they failed out for partying and never going to class. But I don't think someone should be punished for having a mental illness by being forced to wait tables or work retail.[/quote]

It’s not punishment. It’s honest work. Having a tough, grubby hourly job did more for my son’s depression than therapy did (maybe not more than meds, but I think as much). Years and years of therapy didn’t pull him out of depression but working did. It feels good to make money, to know you can rely on yourself, to be around people who have different experiences and expectations for life.

Honestly, the attitude that a job like this is a punishment is part of why kids like ours have problems. It reinforces the stifling idea that white collar work at the “right” kind of employer is the only acceptable path through life, and if you fail at it, life is over.[/quote]

There's a difference between grubby and minimum-wage service work.

- aircraft mechanic [/quote]

And there is nothing wrong with either of them.

- human[/quote]

If a kid has depression and isn't doing well in school, forcing to them to clean vomit from a McDonalds floor isn't going to help.[/quote]

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