Category: Self-Disclosure

Counterpoint to Disclosure

July is Disability Pride Month. In coming blog entries I’ll talk about this theme in more detail.

Today I will offer a counterpoint to disclosure that examines the issue from the other side.

The reality is we have a way to go to get to the day when having a mental illness is something others accept as an ordinary part of the package we present to them.

My literary agent told me that maybe I should archive one of my blogs while I continue to rev up getting Working Assets published.

Counter-intuitively five days later I decided to keep writing those blog entries. My Left of the Dial blog is crafted with my love for music and fashion and other things I’m passionate about.

Would I recommend keeping a blog and being open and honest in it? Employers will read your blog and use what you write to decide whether to make you a job offer.

That’s reality even though it’s 2021.

While I’m an optimist I’m also a realist. You must adhere to a professional code of conduct. Ideally you can conform to the rules at the same time you can express your identity.

Should that not be an option the solution is to find a job or career that is off the beaten track. Where you can dress in a creative uniform and use your brilliant mind to execute phenomenal work for the company—or for your clients if you’re self-employed.

In coming blog entries I will talk more about finding this work and life equilibrium. The environment where you can be yourself and produce results for your employer is the sweet spot.

Yet sometimes a bulldozer is needed to succeed on the job. More about disrupting the status quo in future blog entries too.

Expressing All of Us on Our Jobs

The John Legend song “All of Me” talks about romance. About bringing all of each other to the table when you’re in love.

Yet the lyrics apart from the love angle testify to not living in hiding in any kind of closet.

Giving all of ourselves—to each other; to our recovery; to a work project—is the way to go.

This is where acting true to yourself comes into play. For a long time I’ve had empathy for gay people who have been told to submit to conversion therapy.

The more I turned around in my head the beauty of appropriate self-disclosure I saw the benefit in living life on full-tilt as the one and only you.

The full truth: I’m a quirky artist who thinks differently and sees things differently. My unusual approach has allowed me to help people craft resumes that get them job interviews that have led to job offers.

As a professional librarian with a career services niche I’ve been more intrigued lately about how and whether a person should bring all of yourself into the equation when interacting with others on a job.

Alas there is a hierarchy of disabilities. Bipolar and schizophrenia spook people. Often they Stand Back 500 Feet after you disclose to them.

It comes down this is: do you equate your illness as being part of your identity. Do you think others should accept your diagnosis as a normal part of your life or of who you are. Do you want to be outspoken in every arena of your life about having a disability.

July is Disability Pride Month. In early July I will talk in greater detail about this.

In ways what I think runs counter to what a lot of Disability Rights Advocates believe.

The last blog entry for this month will unpack the reality of how and when to disclose.

It could sound like I’m asking readers to do as I say and not as I do.

Taking up blogging on any topic carries a risk when you’re searching for a job.

The intent in celebrating that you have a disability is to empower yourself in a world where individuals with disabilities are seen as different or to be pitied.

No way to pity. Way to deciding for yourself whether you want to disclose on a job.

Self-Disclosure on a Job

In reading the book Dress Your Best Life author Dawnn Karen gives the best strategy for self-disclosure on the job. She is a therapist with a focus on fashion psychology. Karen also teaches at FIT.

Though she is a therapist I think her professional ethic as regards disclosure should hold true in every workplace.

Disclosing personal information depends on “the content of the disclosure…the rationale for the disclosure…the personality traits of the client…and the specific circumstances surrounding the disclosure” according to Zoe D. Peterson writing in Psychotherapy: Theory Research Practice Training.

Credentialing lived experience is predicated on the peer specialist acting with the utmost professionalism.

A paid peer specialist doesn’t have a license to practice medicine so cannot advise a person to stop medication or tell them how to wean themselves off medication.

A paid peer specialist can “hold up a mirror” to their client by disclosing. Yet the act of disclosing should not take the focus away from the client’s feelings and needs.

What you disclose should be directly related to the issue the client is expressing.

Disclosing your mental health issue on a job is a matter of personal preference when you’re not a paid peer specialist.

I recommend reading Dress Your Best Life because it is a one-of-its-kind deep dive into how you dress affects your mood presentation and success.

Self-Disclosure: Boon or Bust?

After reading an autobiography I’ve changed my mind about self-disclosure. Is self-disclosure a boon or bust?

Some food for thought on the pros and cons of telling others about your mental health history:

You must decide in the context of your own life what makes sense. In my view other people can feel burdened when you dump on them the details of your diagnosis as a matter of course. In the workplace it adds a layer between you and the other person.

On the other hand having a mental health challenge might give a person the reliability, consistency, and persistence to carry out their work and life goals on and off the job.

Stereotypes exist about people diagnosed with schizophrenia. This is why I make the case that a peer’s identity should not be defined by our symptoms. It places us in a diagnostic box that is hard to get out of. Unless you have a job in an evolved workplace where people are open-minded.

Seeing beyond diagnosis to the person inside is the goal as I see it. To “smash the stereotype” peers should act true to ourselves as individuals.

Like the leaders in The Queer Advantage it comes down to the fact that those of us who have struggled are often able to persist despite the hardship.

The skills, abilities, and strengths we use in recovery are the traits that give us the ability to succeed on the job.

My LinkedIn Profile refers to my memoir Left of the Dial. My story is out in the open this way on LinkedIn the professional networking site.

The trend going on now is for peers to tell our stories. I ask you though: does everyone in the world need to know every detail of our symptoms and illness? In my memoir I only gave readers what I talked about in the poem on the first page: some of me.

In this regard I was a fan of Brene Brown and her work on vulnerability. You need to trust the person you disclose to.

How will they use this information after you give it to them? My friend Robin was denied a promotion when a coworker he disclosed to tattled the diagnosis to a supervisor.

This is the reality in the often shark-tank world of corporate business.

On the other hand like said there can be an advantage to having a disability. Maybe a book should be titled The Mental Health Advantage.

Mental illness should not remain a taboo subject to talk about. A friend referenced me in giving a talk on a show about Italian culture. Referring to how I have come out about my experience in the way LGBTQ+ individuals are boldly talking about their lives.

The bottom line: our diagnosis does not define us. We need to define ourselves–or someone else will do this for us.

Who is Christina Bruni? I’m a Girl on the Left living her life Left of the Dial. My favorite color is green. I’m gregarious and down-to-earth.

Who are you? The world needs you and your gifts. Be not afraid to act true to yourself.

It’s your choice whether you disclose and what you tell people.

The Italian American writers’ group I belong to has a quote that sums this up well:

Only silence is shame.

Until mental health becomes a front-porch topic talked about over a glass of lemonade the secrecy will continue to breed fear and ignorance about what it’s like to live with a mental illness.