About 3 years ago, as a part of some kind of change in status and re-organisation of the school, all teachers were asked to re-apply for their jobs to continue employment at that school. Each teacher would be hired based on the new requirements. My client was not re-hired, nor was she given an explanation as to why, she was simply told that her job was no longer needed as of tomorrow. No redundancy payment was offered. 

That would be a dramatic shock for most of us. Lack of appreciation, feedback and thanks would make anyone angry, likely followed by sadness at having the job and career you love crudely removed with no further contact. From May to September of that year she did not feel well, she lost interest and enthusiasm for life, but tried to regain this by taking up a role as a volunteer in a local charity shop. 

At a similar time, her father died during Covid and this seemed to tip her over the edge into mental illness, specifically severe depression combined with anxiety. Her father also suffered from depression and anxiety. She stated that she remembers shaking uncontrollably at the loss of her father, and perhaps to this day has not yet come to terms with this loss through the normal grieving process. 

Certainly, we can debate if how she lost her job was according to the law? That is not the purpose of this blog and therefore we will avoid going down that route. The client is now on four medications for anxiety and depression, some of which are also negatively affecting hair growth, leading to an increase in hair loss. In addition, she is putting on weight, both of which negatively impact how she feels about herself. Her quality of sleep is poor due to twitching caused by one of the medications she is taking. 

To aid sleep she has been subscribed Zopiclone, a common sleep medication which can cause drowsiness during the day. In her own words, she “has no reason to get out of bed and most of the time feels blank and tense,” therefore can spend the whole day in bed sleeping with no desire to get out of bed. In order to end this cycle, she tried to commit suicide. Luckily, she was not successful. She had her gall bladder removed approximately 10 years ago and despite this has no difficulty in digesting most foods. However, looking at this energetically, the gall bladder – “How can you have the gall to……?” is a representation of rage, extreme anger that has been suppressed within the body, ultimately damaging the functioning of the gall bladder until such time as it has to be surgically removed. 

This is an example of how suppressed negative emotions manifest on the physical level to show us what it is we need to deal with. Does removal of the gall bladder mean we have dealt with these negative emotions, or do they still remain in the body as the person’s behavioural pattern remains the same? She is under the guidance of the mental health team in her area, but at best is staying numb to life, at worst is not living. After several years of guidance from this team, she and her husband, whose life has also been tipped upside down, decided to try something different and on recommendation from one of their friends who was treated successfully for similar conditions, have sought a health consultation with me. 

The main goals for treatment are: 

• To get better from severe depression and anxiety to live her life as before. 
• To improve her quality of life and reduce medications. 

This gives you the background of this client. Now look at this situation from a leadership perspective and answer the following questions: 

1. How did this person end up with severe depression and anxiety when previously she was a capable, active woman who up until losing her job we can assume was able to take responsibility and get things done? 
2. What role did the school management team/leadership play in what this lady is today? 
3. What could have been done differently from those responsible to lessen the emotional impact on this individual anticipating that redundancy for anyone is often a shock? 
4. Why is thoughtful, nurturing leadership of others so very important? 
5. How can leaders balance a nurturing style of leadership with accomplishment of organisation goals? (A school is also an organisation) 
6. What are the key things for the leadership team to learn from this case? 
7. What have you learned from this case about how you address difficult, possibly life changing situations from this case.