09232022

About 10 years ago, I got rather deep into the hiring process. I got as far as the security clearance (which if I passed that, meant ATC school acceptance) before I realized that anyone who had ever sought care for mental health, even if it is not a mental illness, would receive and automatic DQ. I had received therapy for about six months a few years prior. I had heard from other applicants that I could just lie and it's likely that they won't check my insurance records and I'd be fine. But it's also a felony if you get caught and they want to make an example of you. I decided to withdraw my application.

I'm now disqualified from future hiring because I withdrew so late in the hiring process, but with the rise of mental health awareness in the country, along with the fact that many people seek therapy for things that aren't necessarily related to mental illness (mine was just mentally reconciling a break up), is seeking therapy still an automatic DQ within the FAA?

I wish it was like that back then! I was so excited to join the FAA. My father, grandfather, and his father were all air traffic controllers and they were so proud when I passed the entrance exam. I think my father's heart was broken when I told him I withdrew.

But I never would have met my husband if I had gotten on that plane to Oklahoma, so there's that. Maybe in an alternate timeline I'm an air traffic controller making bank.