Darren Long thought he was coping well with the transition from his induction to second year of teaching.
The 30-year-old geography teacher, who works in a large secondary school in the North West of England, said he was “bumbling along merrily” getting on with his work until one day he became dizzy in a lesson and felt close to collapse.
“I asked one of the pupils to get help while I sat with my head between my knees,” he said. “I felt ridiculous and the pupils just stared at me not knowing what to do.”
A visit to his GP revealed Darren was suffering from stress: “I don’t know how I hadn’t realised it but I suppose it just caught up with me. The day I had my episode I had agreed to help out with an end-of-year concert, and this was on top of two other extra-curricular activities I was already doing. Unconsciously my body must have said ‘enough is enough’.
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