If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, call the Maine Crisis Hotline at 888-568-1112.
A Waterville English teacher is “so ashamed” of her April social media post calling for President Donald Trump and his allies to be killed.
JoAnna St. Germain, who has taught English for seven years at Waterville Senior High School, told the Morning Sentinel that she was suffering from insomnia and a mental breakdown at the time.
“I can’t explain to you how devastated I am. I didn’t hurt anybody, but I did hurt a lot of people. My words have consequences. I’m truly sorry for that,” St. Germain, 37, told the Sentinel.
It’s her first public comment on the firestorm that erupted after her April 29 post on Facebook.
In the post, St. Germain said that Americans need to recognize the emergence of a “fascist dictatorship” and to take a stand against it. She went on to write that Americans are “counting on” the Secret Service and military to defend them.
“If I had the skill set required, I would take them out myself,” she wrote. “I’m making this post public for a reason, I promise you. Don’t waste time wondering if I’m okay. I’m not. If you’re okay, you’re lying to yourself.”
St. Germain told the Sentinel that her sleep trouble began in late December and early January, with her sleeping sometimes just two hours. That compounded her depression and post-traumatic stress, eventually culminating in her social media posts.
After her sisters saw the posts, they brought St. Germain to the emergency room, where she got help and her condition improved, according to the newspaper, which interviewed St. Germain after her hospital stay.
District officials have largely declined to comment, saying they are focused on everyone’s safety. And the Waterville Police Department has declined to comment on “open matters.”
St. Germain told the Sentinel that she will be speaking with the Secret Service this week and intends to own what happened.
“I’ve been teaching 12 years. I’ve always told my students, be very careful about what you put online. It’s there forever. I’m looking at what I did from the outside of it, from a more stable place and how I allowed myself to do it,” St. Germain told the newspaper.
