While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence by Meg Kissinger

While You Were Out is a poignant story of a family facing a common, yet rarely, openly discussed problem: severe mental illness. 

Investigative journalist, Meg Kissinger, examines her family's brush with mental illness with acuity and grace. 

The memoir discusses suicide, two of her siblings committed suicide. Part of the memoir focuses on how her family coped with trauma with smart alecky humor. The real problem, mental illness, was taboo and could not be discussed.

The next part of the memoir focuses on how Meg devoted her life to mental health reporting. Meg investigated the terrible housing conditions that most mentally ill patients face. In 2013, she won the George Polk Award for medical writing. 

Help Students Find Their Voice and Power

                                                                Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Osamu Dazai who wrote fiction in the 1930s and 1940s, felt completely alienated and disconnected.

He wrote, "I lived so carefully, thinking someone was watching. But the stage was empty, the audience never came." 

No one--neither children nor adults- want to feel this way. 

The teacher's job is to invite students to learn. Students come to class with different interests, abilities, preconceived notions, and challenges.  

The one thing they have in common is that they want to belong. They want to be affirmed and validated. They want their perspective to be valued.

 They want to believe that what they learn is useful and has purpose. 

They want to believe they can create change.

The teacher can do this by helping students find their voice and their power.