Education
The classroom can wait. The story about who you are usually cannot.
SAMHSA’s industry report put educational services at the low end of the labor market: 5.5% past-year substance use disorder among full-time workers aged 18–64, and some of the lowest illicit-drug rates. That is the opposite of a scare headline. It is also why a teacher in trouble feels so alone. The building assumes you are the stable adult in the room.
What the same data and later education reporting do show is alcohol as the more common pattern, and stress as the usual story people tell themselves about it. A leave for residential care is public in a small district in a way a construction layoff is not. Certification, a union contract, and who covers third period are the real logistics.
If this is your work
Ask a program about length of stay in school-year terms, not brochure terms. Ask whether they have treated licensed educators. Ask your HR or union, not an admissions call center, what FMLA and sick-bank rules actually say. A summer stay is a calendar choice, not a clinical one — if risk is high now, waiting for June is not a plan.
If this is your family
Sunday-night dread, empty bottles after grading, or a person who is beloved at school and unreachable at home are more useful than a lecture about role models. Read the family guide before anyone calls a program that wants a same-day flight.
Sources: Bush & Lipari, SAMHSA CBHSQ Report, 16 April 2015 (educational services 5.5% SUD). Education reporting on teacher stress and alcohol should be read as context, not as a new prevalence study. Educational only.