[BadNews4321]

I'm someone who choses to disclose my bipolar disorder when the appropriate time comes. It works out for me most of the time and its good to gauge what how people really feel about mental health.

Even though I have a thick skin, I have recently found myself in a position where it's worn me down and I realize I have no coping mechanism for this. I'm feeling upset about an ongoing issue.

A place where I volunteer had an incident and the coordinators are acting like guards instead of guides. It's not just myself who's going through this, it looks like it's anyone who disclosed mental health issues are being profiled.

It's been a few weeks since this started, and some of the coordinators will not make eye contact or say good morning like they used to. There's obviously been a change in policy after there was a heated argument between 2 other volunteers.

I'm not taking it personally. I actually asked for a letter of reference from them, and not only got one, but it was much better than I expected. But the change in atmosphere is dragging me down some, and I'm starting to think of donating my time to another organization, which I really don't want to do. I like the work and the cause.

It's making me tired when people are looking at me with that unpleasant body language and I can't even enter a discussion as to what's going on. It's gotten quite toxic.

[Wander]

That is a difficult position to be in. Maybe it will blow over in time and people will become less vigilant, judgement and cautious. Or maybe the incident will have changed them more permanently. It is hard to tell whether you should stay or not but the uncomfortable environment must be difficult and stressful for you and that can impact on your mental health. You could either confront a person you feel safest with to ask why their behaviour towards you has changed or if that's not an option wait a week or so and if their behaviour hasn't changed consider leaving. You have to look after yourself first so do whats best for you.

[Nammu]

Maybe you should have a frank talk with the coordinators and tell them that the recent changes are making you think of volunteering else where? I bet that might make a huge difference since they obviously do value you per the reference.