Disrupting Rehabilitation 1
Series 1: Re-Thrive with work — how to manage return to life and work expectations after cancer.
Have you ever know a colleague, a family member or a friend who has recovered from their cancer and have returned to work? If you, like me, who have been fortunate enough to be part of their recovery journey, in bouncing forward to life and work after their cancer treatment, you would know that the process isn’t necessarily smooth, easy or without its challenges.
Work is an important part of life for many people. Aside from income, work can provide satisfaction, a sense of normality, a means of maintaining self-esteem, and a chance to socialize and reconnect with your circle of networks.
For some though, breaking through their own internal and external sound barrier of “wait till you are completely normal” before returning to life and work might be the constant message people living with cancer hear.
What is normal anyway? Finding a new normal is probably something we hear a lot but don’t practice enough especially after a period of serious illness like cancer. It gets a whole lot more unclear and uneasy when you put it in the workplace context.
Research shows that cancer has a negative impact on employment patterns, with studies estimating that between 10% and 38% of patients do not return to work after successful treatment for cancer*. With the poor return to work outcomes come poor health outcomes for those who survive cancer. They miss having the opportunity to thrive with their life — and adjust to the new normal, with the support of doing purposeful work and reconnecting with their circles.
What can you do as a person living with cancer or post-cancer? What can businesses and employers do to help their employees to Re-Thrive at work?
Vocational rehabilitation is a service that is comprehensive and it is an individualized process with decisions driven by client choice. Its function is to develop or restore functional capacity and the outcome goals are functional independence and gainful employment 1. Vocational rehabilitation support for those with medical illness/disability is recognised by the United Nation as a basic human right. With that in mind, vocational rehabilitation is one of the key tools to help those who are living with post-cancer recovery, to assess, design, plan, coordinate and action their return to work as part of their recovery goals. The approach is often multi-disciplinary (involving more than one health professional such as a GP, an Occupational Therapist, and an Exercise Physiologist) with a bio-psycho-social focus and the services being delivered in their own environment (the workplace).
Let me share a story. Emma, a mother of two young children, a 45 years old, Executive Manager of a large corporation, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Emma knows that she has a good chance to survive this cancer and she did. Following surgery and chemotherapy, she was clear of cancer but the journey was not without its price — post-cancer fatigue, loss of identity and unable to return to work.
Her employer, with the best intention, believed it might be best to let Emma “take her time” and “left her alone” to ease her burden. This has actually created more uncertainty and fear for Emma than support. It was her oncologist who recognizes the importance of returning to work was going to help Emma’s health and recovery and to help find her “new normal”. Her oncologist encouraged Emma to speak with her employer for help.
The employer, having no experience or understanding how to best support this valuable and respectable employee, has sought help from a rehabilitation provider for advice.
With the support and services of a vocational rehabilitation provider, Emma has contributed, to the design of her recovery and graded return to work plan. The employer and Emma were provided with guidance and advice on how to provide suitable tasks, duties and supportive by the Occupational Therapist; Emma was supported with the help of an Exercise Physiologist to help her rebuild her muscular strength, endurance, and pacing of activities to address her post-cancer fatigue. This coordinated approach, along with working with her GP, helped Emma returned to her life roles as a mother and her job as a people leader. She didn’t just survive but she was able to “Re-Thrive” her life and regain her purpose and identity which she valued most.
There are many resources available to help both employers and employees on how to navigate around return to work after cancer. Cancer Council Australia has many great resources on their website. To achieve a sustainable and personalised return to work program after cancer requires a precise and coordinated approach. This is where talking to your GP or your employer about getting support from an accredited rehabilitation provider would be a great starting point.
References:
Footnote: 1 Vocational Rehabilitation for People with Disabilities. Gloria Lee. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237395925_Vocational_Rehabilitation_for_People_with_Disabilities/related
Cancer Council Australia
*Return to work after cancer: a key health outcome
https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2019/6/return-to-work-after-cancer-a-key-health-outcome/
*Factors affecting cancer survivors’ employment and work ability.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17497311
*Employment and work related issues in cancer survivor.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20117019
Vocational rehabilitation — What works, for whom and when.