Return to Work
Resources
for Workers

Welcome

These resources have been developed to help people who are returning to work after dealing with depression and/or anxiety. They were written by Dr Megan Woods and Dr Kelly Broughton (with help from Dr Michael Quinn)-and digitally created by Mr Mark Thompson - at the University of Tasmania, with funding from the WorkCover Board Tasmania. 

The resources have been developed to help you safely and successfully return to work. They cover processes such as: 

• Working out a safe return-to-work date,  
• Understanding which work areas have been affected by your health and how to change this for your safe return to work.
• How to speak with managers, other workers, and human resources (HR) staff to access workplace support that will help you.  
• Creating a Return to Work (RTW) plan to support your return to work 
• Carefully looking at how the changes made at work can continue to help you on your return-to-work journey. 

The resources include activities to help you work through these processes with whoever is supporting your return to work, which may be your supervisor, your human resources manager or your return-to-work coordinator.

To create a resource that is relevant and useful to you, we have interviewed Tasmanians with lived experience of returning to work after managing anxiety and depression. We've included their examples and quotes through the resources to show you the different ways people approach returning to work. We've made sure these resources address the issues and challenges they said were important for supporting a safe and successful return to work. We've also used insights from managers, mental health professionals and other researchers, to make sure the help we've provided is the best it can be.

As you prepare for returning to work, you may find it helpful to document your needs and preferences, as well as the advice and input from support sources (such as your GP, counsellor, family, or legal support). You can do this on your own or using the worksheets we have provided. 

These resources aim to inform and empower you throughout this journey. Take what you need when you need it and remember to prioritise self-care throughout this process. As a guide, we suggest you allow about 15-30 minutes to work through each section, but things will probably take a bit longer if you are also working through the workbook activities as well.

Contents

This set of online resources has been developed to help you develop your knowledge, skills, and confidence about returning to work safely and successfully after time off to deal with depression and/ or anxiety. Specifically, they will help you understand, and work through, the processes and stages of developing a formal return to work plan, which we guide you through by exploring Topics 1 to 6:

In Topic 6 you can apply what you have learned about return-to-work to develop a draft return to work plan. You can develop one for your own job, or you can use one of the 4 fictional case studies of return-to-work situations that we have provided. Each situation features people with different mental health situations, support needs and job requirements. So you might find it useful to review them and see what ideas they might give you about the support you could find beneficial.