Coming back to work following a long absence is what long-term patients have to face. The government would like to encourage them to resume their activity. But there are many brakes, and difficulties, especially physical ones.
Cinda is a mother of three children. In February 2019, at the age of 35, his life changed. “For a while you think you have a small cyst. For a lot of women it happens during menstruation. And then it turned out to be an overly aggressive 6 centimeter cancer. I was then announced that we had to stop there, because I left for 6 months of chemo for a mastectomy, for radiotherapy”, she says.
The doctors give him a 50% chance of recovering. In total, 11 months of treatment, medical appointments, then you have to rebuild yourself and think regarding your professional future.
“What is complicated is that throughout the treatment period, you have a minister’s agenda. You depend on the medical profession who tells you at that time, you have radiotherapy, at that time, you have chemo,… During treatment, many are in combat mode”, says Cinda. “And following that, it’s the landing, the big void… That’s what’s complicated.”
Monica worked in finance for 25 years. “When the ax falls and we see on the paper, that you are in burnout, you do not believe it”, she confides.
Here once more a strong testimony which demonstrates how difficult professional reintegration is. “There is a lot of anxiety that comes right away, since you wonder what will become of you… When will I be able to return to my work? When will I be better?”, she says.
In recent years, help has been put in place with, in particular, these return to work coordinators like Sophie. His job is to guide and prepare for recovery.
“You have to take it back little by little, sometimes by fairly simple steps, such as volunteering, to find social utility at first, to regain self-confidence and then be able to go to a job”, explains Sophie Hanssens, return to work coordinator at Mutualités Libres.
Monica and Cinda both decided to start coaching to help long-term patients get back to work. “For me, it makes sense. I’ve always wanted to do coaching training, people have always interested me”, Monica adds.
“Our life experience and our professional experience can allow us to accompany others. The return must be as harmonious as possible”, concludes Cinda.
470,000 people in Belgium are on long-term illness.
