Issues of mental health disability in tertiary institutions : the personal observations of a lecturer in voice

The nature of self disclosure of a mental health disability by a student to a Tertiary institution is well documented in this country. Bathurst and Grove have published findings electronically in a dissertation Damned if you don’t published by the University of New South Wales. This paper addresses the wider implications of whether disclosure by the Tertiary institution to individual staff members of student pathologies is appropriate. There are wider implications of non disclosure in terms of duty of care and health and safety, were the lecturer exposed to personal assault. There is also involved the issue of identification of conditions not formally disclosed to the institution and whether referral or confrontation is appropriate, or indeed necessary, in the confines of a non therapeutic environment.The paper also discusses the issues of whether disclosure of personal pathologies of staff members to students is appropriate, where these conditions may also adversely effect students.