"With sweaty palms and trembling knees, I asked him to grant me a one-month medical leave because my depression had become unbearable. I struggled to find the words. 'It's hard to explain,' I eventually said. 'I just don't have any energy. To do anything. I'm drained all the time, physically. And nothing feels good to me. I hate myself. I only get out of bed to come to work.'"
"A few months earlier, in the fall of 2016, I'd returned home to San Francisco after a disastrous stint in Panama, where I'd spent the past year trying to open a journalism school in a jungle eco-community. Instead, my mental illness reached a crescendo, and I wound up on a one-way flight back to the States at the advice of a kind stranger on the other end of a suicide hotline."
"Unemployed, unraveling, and uninsured, I enrolled in a state-sponsored health plan to begin treating my condition in earnest. But in-network mental health care for my crappy insurance amounted to long waits and limited providers. I needed a job that afforded me better coverage."
A 31-year-old editor at a major Bay Area tech company requested a one-month medical leave to address severe depression. After returning from an unsuccessful journalism project in Panama, the author's mental health deteriorated significantly, leading to suicidal ideation and a return to San Francisco. Unemployed and uninsured, the author sought employment specifically for health insurance coverage to access mental health treatment. Despite initial shame about disclosing depression to their boss, the request was granted compassionately. The experience highlights the struggle of managing mental illness while maintaining professional responsibilities and the critical role workplace health benefits play in accessing necessary mental health care.
Read at Business Insider
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