The Disclosure Trap

There’s a poster in the break room. “We support mental health in the workplace.” A hotline number. A stock photo of someone looking supported.

The poster says: tell us. The institution says: we care. HR says: everything is confidential.

And it is confidential. In the same way a court record is sealed — present, accessible to the right people, never truly gone.

The person who disclosed is now “the one who disclosed.” In every meeting about their future, there’s a parenthetical. The parenthetical is never written down. It doesn’t have to be. Everyone in the room knows.

The break room poster is a recruitment tool for a file that doesn’t officially exist.