So, I answered openly and honestly about my mental health question. I have up until this point, fully complied with treatment and medication. My therapist put down in spite of this, that I have a condition that impairs my judgement and that my prognosis is uncertain. She told me, she would make it clear that I made improvements on my condition and that I have complied fully with all treatment thus far.
What I am worried about, is how the adjuciators will look at this. I am worried about this being on my permanent record if I try to apply for future clearances. Its making me consider halting the investigation process, and more or less just giving up on this. I am not sure what to do, my therapist wrote down things about me that just weren’t good and it makes me think my final clearance will be denied.
I was never hospitalized, put on a 72 hour hold, or on a court order forced to take thearpy. This was all voluntary. There was a need for an intervention when I confessed I was suicidal, but nothing bad or concrete ever came of that. It just sucks that me being in a dark place recently can be used against me like this
That means you most likely are not applying to IC.
Let it play out. The mental health portion is only one part of the whole person picture. Don’t let this get in your head, and my advice is do not stop the process…see where it goes.
Be prepared to talk about it, honestly and reinforce that you are following a treatment plan, and the progress you have made.
There is nothing you can do and nothing for you to proceed on other than being honest.
Mental Health in the eyes of adjudicators is the gift that keeps on giving. While DUIs, past crimes, and drug use are all mitigated by time, mental health problems are considered permanent. As correctly pointed out by others, if this is an intelligence career it will be a no go. They won’t disqualify you on mental health, they will either find some minor incident and blow it out of proportion, or steer you to fail you on your polygraph (more likely). Secret Service is notorious for doing this.
Good Luck. BTW, federal jobs are not what they used to be. They can’t even get good people to apply now, and this is unheard of.
The only thing on my record is very rare marijuana usage. I suppose they could use that against me. But that is it, my record is squeaky clean outside of that, not much to report.
I am 99 percent sure this is not IC, this was for an IT position with the DOD. Security Systems Engineer, up until this point. I have fully complied with treatment and have shown no signs of stopping. Is the latter considered mitigating to the adjudicators?
To be clear, you can mitigate mental health issues. Just look at SEAD 4 guideline I if you haven’t already. What may give pause is that the therapist marked that your condition may impair your judgment. But if you look at the guidelines, you ostensibly meet mitigating factors a) your care provider has identified a treatment plan and you’re sticking to it and b) you voluntarily sought treatment which suggests you’re working honestly to address it. You may meet mitigator c as well depending on what else your provider told the investigator.
Bottom line is there are ways to mitigate psychological conditions and anyone telling you otherwise is flat incorrect. There are many people employed with mental health issues and it is by no means an automatic disqualification. I wish you the best in the rest of your processing.
At this point, I recommend you do nothing. I have to assume you answered “yes” to the question on the SF86 about being diagnosed with one of the seven specified mental health conditions. I also have to assume that you asked and were told by your clinician how she responded to the “3-question” SF86 medical release you signed. If you were diagnosed with one of the 7 conditions, an adjudicator will focus on whether the condition can be adequately controlled with treatment and on your prognosis. If your clinician cannot give a strong positive prognosis because you haven’t been a patient of hers very long, don’t worry. Clearances with potential issues take a long time to process. Under these circumstances, the investigation can be expanded by obtaining a specific release from you that allows a more in depth review of your mental health condition and treatment. By the time your case is in final adjudication, your clinician may be willing to provide a positive prognosis. If the adjudicator is not satisfied, they can arrange for an independent psychological evaluation. For more information see my article on this subject posted at Psychological Conditions | FEDCAS
If mental health issues were actually an immediate disqualifier, 75% of NSA would be out of a job (I kid, I kid).
But for real OP, the things that actually can disqualify you are things like self-medicating with illegal drugs, not sticking to a treatment plan (or worse, not seeking treatment from a professional in the first place), if your condition involved becoming violent, and so on. Just having a mental health issue is absolutely not a disqualifier.
I’d like to add that its actually really sad to see that mental health more or less is treated with scorn and judgement. With all the talk about awareness around mental health, I really thought we were better than this and we were evolving on this issue. I guess I was wrong, people who geninunely need help and support just arent going to get it. All the things that I worked hard for are under threat from things that arent my fault.
Its honestly infuriating, I wish I didnt disclose.
I’ll do my best, at least I found work before the final decision came down. I decided to go forward with the investigation to its conclusion, but from what you make it sound. I dont stand a good chance
I agree that mental health issues have been (at times) unfairly stigmatized. It has come a LONG way. Over 2 decades in this business, and trust me, I’ve seen improvement in how mental health is handled.
We can only hope that it continues to evolve.
That’s why its important (in my humble opinion) to be honest and disclose your personal experience. Covering it up, lying about it (or not disclosing) does more to move the needle backwards.
