I teach high school students (and I'm a year level coordinator) and one of my students has been displaying extremely erratic behaviour, aggression and anger in his classes across the board.

I had a 1:1 with him last week where he told me he is on an SSRI and has not seen his psychiatrist for ages. He did not disclose his diagnosis.

Due to a number of incidents last week, I rang mum today to request she comes into the school for a meeting on Thursday.

She had a complete breakdown on the phone to me and said she is at a loss. The mother told me she has bipolar and she suspects her son has it too. But he can't get an official diagnosis until he is 16 (just the way it works in Australia).

So currently he's on an SSRI for general anxiety. I told her he needs a med review.

In the interim .... what strategies can I put in place and relay to his teachers in order to support him?

My first strategy is, to issue him with a 'coordinator's pass' (time out card) so if he feels that he is about to snap he can come straight to my office and see me or another year level coordinator.

But I don't feel this is enough. Those of you with diagnosed bipolar, what would have helped you at school. Something your teachers could have done to support you, but never did?

I'd like to be able to offer some concrete suggestions.

Disclaimer: As the student has not officially been diagnosed, and the mother 'suspects' he has a mood disorder, I have decided to post this here. I'm absolutely no medical professional what so ever so I can't diagnose him either. But I see the writing on the wall (I'm bipolar too ) <- not that the mum knows that!!!!