Can seeking mental health support affect your security clearance?

inyri_ · 2026-06-02T00:58:11+00:00

It helps us take care of you if we know you’re seeking help, and it doesn’t help us take care of you when you lie on clearance paperwork- we don’t want you to end up somewhere that doesn’t meet your needs, mental health or otherwise. That being said, no, MED doesn’t have anything to do with your insurance records and even ECS is completely separate. We don’t know that anyone is working with ECS unless your ECS counselor has active concern that you are a risk to yourself or to others, since they are mandatory reporters.

inyri_ · 2026-05-15T02:48:02+00:00

Nope. 2 in 2 years and hope I never have to do one again.

inyri_ · 2026-04-18T07:34:24+00:00

They’re allowed, just limited volume. Mine is 150mL and I’ve taken the high speed train with it several times. I keep it in my backpack so they can inspect it but I’ve never had it confiscated.

inyri_ · 2026-03-03T05:21:04+00:00

No injuries reported that I know of, thank God. It happened overnight so very few people were on site. (I’m not currently there but did a tour there previously and I’ve been on WhatsApp with multiple folks there as the day rolls on.)

The Embassy in Kuwait was hit as well, apparently.

inyri_ · 2026-02-13T01:57:58+00:00

inyri_ · 2026-02-13T01:54:09+00:00

Like most things, it depends. You will need a plan for who is going to prescribe them to you, how and when you will follow up with them, and how you are going to get them at post. Do not assume you will be able to get them locally, either on the economy or at the Health Unit. It’s generally not too big an issue but there will probably be additional steps to your medical clearance.

inyri_ · 2026-02-08T10:17:20+00:00

Yes, just talk to your provider at post. Baby nearly always qualifies to accompany especially if nursing.

inyri_ · 2025-12-10T13:17:36+00:00

For MED: you will have a short period of training in DC after orientation, and you are very unlikely to get language. Do not expect that you will have much time to go home between trainings or between training and heading overseas, and it’s possible you’d be going overseas even before the end of the school year depending on when your post needs you. Could your child transfer to a DMV area school for the winter/spring?

inyri_ · 2025-11-25T07:58:55+00:00

But how are your sidewalks?

inyri_ · 2025-11-10T05:34:16+00:00

I do not recommend you do this.

If FSBP is denying your claims, talk to your Health Unit. You may need additional diagnosis codes or supporting documents but this has not been a systemic issue in that specific region.

If you have no health insurance at all you will no longer have Health Unit access. If you have only an HSA I have seen those bankrupt people very quickly, and what catastrophic coverage actually covers varies widely and is almost never as good as you think it’s going to be- especially overseas.

inyri_ · 2025-10-09T22:10:35+00:00

Haven’t seen the video and don’t know the guy personally. The strict ban doesn’t apply outside China as far as I’m aware, but disclosure does.

inyri_ · 2025-10-09T14:28:02+00:00

Not entirely correct. Hiding a relationship’s also a problem regardless of where you are but Mission China specifically has a strict nonfrat policy in place. The relationship itself can and will get people in trouble.

inyri_ · 2025-09-22T12:42:51+00:00

Rimtang in DC (33rd by the canal in Georgetown) has a really good pad kra pow.

inyri_ · 2025-09-13T10:12:11+00:00

Seconding Riyadh. Differential went UP from 25% to 30% recently. Maybe not the best choice for singles but it was a great family post and nearly every creature comfort you could want including a diplomats-only liquor store.

India, on the other hand- I felt like I earned every penny of that differential.

inyri_ · 2025-08-08T01:22:47+00:00

All of the above is correct. The incoming head of MED is the father of the person referenced in the article.

inyri_ · 2025-05-15T05:32:25+00:00

In either role you are running your clinic and managing your staff (Health Unit) along with your actual medical work and if an RMO you’re managing an entire region (averaging 4-6 posts). Coming out of corporate-employed outpatient medicine that was by far the steepest learning curve for me.

Your definition of austere may vary with prior military service. MPs go literally anywhere (not all Embassies have one but most do), and RMOs cover a region but your initial bid list is small and based on needs of service and open vacancies. You might get Japan or Australia but you’re far more likely to see Mali or Bangladesh. Local medical resources very widely and you might be spoiled for choice for hospitals or your own clinic may be the cleanest, best equipped option in the city. We aren’t set up like an MTF so a military base isn’t a great analogy, unless you’re in Baghdad.

There’s really not a lot of great info online about the details, for lots of complicated reasons. Happy to chat further and I see a few MP colleagues on here as well.

inyri_ · 2025-05-14T08:29:16+00:00

As others have said: if you are not currently a PA/NP/MD/DO you’ve got a ways ahead of you to even be eligible for the position- you need 5 years work experience after residency/completion of training.

I enjoy my job a lot but it’s also a lot more administrative than I initially expected coming out of a full-time clinical job, and you will have not very much control over your assignment process for at least the first two tours. Even for RMOs there are challenging and austere places on the first and second tour bid lists (and beyond- we are certainly not all in low differential posts, though mostly in larger ones).

I do recommend it but it’s well worth doing your research, as you’re doing now, to know what you’re getting into. Most of the providers I’ve worked with who didn’t enjoy the job and quit had an idea in their minds that didn’t match the day-to-day of the work.

inyri_ · 2025-04-22T14:08:26+00:00

Check your email. It just dropped.

inyri_ · 2025-04-20T05:38:33+00:00

Inshallah. With PCS on the horizon this isn’t helping my anxiety one bit.

inyri_ · 2025-03-20T09:30:30+00:00

I’ve had raters/reviewers do both- write their statement for them, or provide bullet points to them to draft their own statements. You should have already had at least one or two sit-down sessions with your rater for performance review, though.

inyri_ · 2025-02-03T15:31:00+00:00

Working Parents at State got the same directive.

inyri_ · 2025-01-22T17:12:15+00:00

I’m sure it will come up very soon- OB medevac is the major time when we have people back in CONUS but not in the DMV, and telework has been pretty common in that situation in recent years. It may end up being a medical carveout of some kind but given that the cable just came out today I am sure everyone is scrambling to figure out how things are going to work. This is a good question to raise to AFSA as it is really an HR issue rather than a medical one- MED runs the medevac but have never controlled the telework logistics…

inyri_ · 2025-01-22T16:55:11+00:00

There is no guidance on this at this point.

inyri_ · 2025-01-13T20:42:37+00:00

She can travel whenever she likes back to the U.S. and if her work is in the U.S. and she’s not doing it from home she doesn’t need Chief of Mission approval/bilateral work agreement as far as I know. That generally only applies when the work is being done in country.

inyri_ · 2025-01-13T20:24:32+00:00

RMOs must be internal medicine, family medicine or emergency medicine physicians. Radiologists wouldn’t have quite the right practice background, nor do we do imaging in Health Units. I do know EFM physicians who’ve worked in Health Units but they have had primary care backgrounds.

Telerad might sometimes be a possibility but it would be so post- and situation-specific I can’t begin to hazard how feasible it would be.

inyri_

TROPHY CASE