Support to negotiate a positive return to work!

Rosette had experienced severe occupational stress leading to physical and mental burnout.  She was advised by her therapist to contact Twining Enterprise for some employment support in negotiating a return to work, on her terms.  This is when she met Sandra, one of our West London Works Employment Specialists who supported her throughout this process.  Here Rosette tells us about her experience of using our employment support service, in her own words…

Earlier this year, in June most precisely, I decided to take a forced break from work due to occupational burnout. Work pressure and expectations had been immensely demanding over the past couple of years and the unreasonable workload and demands left me with no option than to go on sick leave. The cumulative stress has had a detrimental effect on my health in general.

I was referred by my GP to Brent therapy services and that is how I found out about Twining Enterprise. Despite being on sick leave, I still experienced pressure to begin Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) from my employer. I did not feel supported and realised that I needed some solid employment advice on how to negotiate demands from my employer.

I decided to call Twining for support and had a call back from Sandra. We went through an initial assessment to enable her to build an understanding of my current situation. I was rather surprised by how supportive she was, and has been, all throughout this process. Her support and advice have been instrumental in renegotiating my return to work under new conditions. She guided me all throughout the process on how to return to work under conditions that were most suited to my needs and not just my employer’s, with emphasis on creating a more healthy work-life balance.

She ensured that we had regular catch-up meetings and even till now she is supporting me with finding employment in the sector I wish to transition to. I cannot say that my return to work was smooth sailing, and I experienced several setbacks, but with Sandra’s support and a more positive attitude, I managed to reach the objectives I had set myself in terms of how I wanted my workscope/schedule to work for me.

I feel very grateful to have met Sandra and she deserves a huge credit for the commendable job she does. I would never be able to thank you enough for her support and advice.