Working Post-concussion
 

Friends,

I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am probably never going to teach again. It actually has nothing to do with my injury... I have faith that I will eventually be healed enough that I can be a good teacher... it's that my former employer is clearly out to do everything they can to ruin my life. They laid me off in May, citing budget problems in the school system (after I had been there for seven years). I interviewed for a job that sounded more than promising last Friday, found out Monday that they called my references (so clearly they liked me) and then got a call today that the chose another candidate, which makes me think my old boss probably threw me under the bus somehow.

Anyway, we are finally almost through our last week at my current job before winter break, and I plan to take as much time to rest as I can, not only for my injured brain, but also so that I can rejuvenate and hopefully regain some of my energy for finding more work. I can't keep working 11-12 hour days that are as unpredictable as what I'm doing now (substitute teaching and working in an after school enrichment program with at-risk students who tend to thrive on misbehaving), and I can't keep going through this vicious cycle of getting my hopes up just to get rejected by every job I interview for.

I can't NOT work. I know that would be best in terms of healing, but the best I can do is take advantage of the forced two week break that this time of year has given me and move forward... I cannot afford to not work. I really can't afford to keep doing what I'm doing, but it's marginally better than nothing. I don't qualify for any kind of aid because my husband's job makes us look far better off financially than we really are, but we are very close to losing our home, among other things, and that stress and the guilt I'm feeling for thinking this is my fault for not being good enough to find more work is killing me.

So here's my question: if I'm going to try my hand in other career fields, is there anything that you recommend as being a fairly good industry to be in with a healing brain? I need to be making at least $30,000/year... I would be making $50,000 if I was teaching right now. :( My current symptoms do seem to be improving from a few weeks ago, however. My headaches have become fairly manageable (still present, just not as intense). Honestly, the worst symptom I still see most frequently is the brain fatigue, and I'm hoping that resting for the next couple of weeks will help for that.

I'm extremely depressed right now. I had my hopes up that this job would be my ticket back to my sanity, maybe even to a chance to start planning to have kids in the near future. I've been wanting kids for years... seven years to be exact... and we were going to start trying when I found out I was losing my job. These people have taken pretty much everything away from me, and I need to overcome this somehow. Starting to think there's some reason why I just don't deserve to be happy anymore... really hating life right now. I can't stand this.

Sorry to be so depressing.

work
 

Hi Courtney,

Sorry to hear of your struggles. I am working and still have some issues with my PCS.

Anyhow, I don't know if tutoring is a way for you to go. I don't know if 30K is possible, but perhaps you could look into those places that offer students help like Huntingtons or --- I can't think of the other names there are.

Or, could you set yourself up as a tutor? If you are any good at math or science esp. middle school and high school math and science, you may have skills that are in demand.

Right now these are my best ideas.

Good luck and let us know what pans out.

poetrymom

Thanks :) I had set myself up as a tutor through an online company that serves as a point of contact for tutors and students, but there weren't enough leads for potential work for me to be able to make a living with it. I may try Sylvan, Huntington's, etc... just to see what else is out there. I'm not very strong with math and science, but I can understand lower-level (think 9th and 10th grade) math well enough to help students. My specialty is actually literature... so I'm much better with helping students with their writing than with the numbers.

I may just try putting myself back out there immediately after winter break and see what I can come up with. I wouldn't mind doing the subbing or the after school program if I could do tutoring instead of one of those... it's just both of them together is too much for my healing brain to handle. There have been several days where I have come home and pretty much shut down due to the brain fatigue.

I hate that feeling, especially since I know my poor husband doesn't really understand me when I feel that way. He does a great job of pretending and being supportive, but it's hard to feel like even the other person in my own house can't relate to what I'm dealing with here.

Anyways, thanks again. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted!

I've been unable to work like I could before I sustained the concussion that completely altered my life over 3.5 years ago. I only make about 60% of what I did and I was offered a better job within a week or two of the accident which would have paid me a LOT more.

It's very frustrating!!

I've been unable to function like I used to too. I used to LOVE what I do, but now it's very difficult and it makes me feel like less of a person, it wears on my self esteem.

The good news is that I'm getting better and I'm able to do more at work and it's not as difficult as it was before I started taking the supplemental hormones. So before I make a career change I want to see where I "end up" on the functioning spectrum.

My point is that I totally understand how heart breaking this is for you.

Anyway, I assume you work for a public school? Private schools usually pay less than public schools but have more openings available. Are there any private schools in your area?

Can you have a friend call your current boss pretending to be a prospective employer to see what he says? He is not really allowed to say more than when you worked there - he is opening up his district to liability if he "throws you under a bus" and he is really breaking the law if he makes any reference to any of your medical history.

I was also going to make a tutor recommendation. And there are a lot of classes offered online now, that would allow you to teach at your own pace.

Do you have a MA? If so, you may be eligible to teach at a community college in your area.

You also may be able to teach how to teach?

And there are a lot of things that need to be taught. You could use your skills as a teacher to teach executives how to ____________ fill in the blank here. Maybe there is a product that needs a teacher.

And if you are a literature teacher, you could write for companies somehow. You could be a text editor? A website editor?

As a literature teacher you have a lot of valuable skills that could be utilized elsewhere. :)