You may now be thinking about work. Either getting back to your pre-injury job, starting a new job or maybe you weren’t working before your injury.
Returning to work is a big step. You are more likely to succeed if you take time to plan and prepare. Talk to your rehab team and follow their advice.
Factors that affect work
Factors that affect whether you are ready for work include the:
- severity of your brain injury
- things you now have difficulty with
- type of work you do
- support you have in place.
Have realistic expectations
It is common after a brain injury to have unrealistic expectations about being ready for work. You may feel you are ready to start working, but your family or rehab team may think you are not ready. You may feel pressured to work because of financial difficulties or social beliefs.
Understand your changes
People with a brain injury who started working against the advice of their rehab team reported they had difficulties at work and made mistakes. They didn’t fully understand the changes from their brain injury until they were at work and having problems with work tasks. They reported it felt like a step backward. Returning to work too early can result in feeling more fatigued and overwhelmed.
Understanding the changes from your brain injury and your expected recovery will help you know when you are ready for work. Try not to rush your recovery.
Preparation activities
Your rehab team can suggest activities you can do that will help you be ready for work.
- Practise physical activities. This can be any common activity, such as mowing the lawn, shopping, cleaning the house or exercising.
- Practise activities that involve planning and organising, such as shopping, cooking a meal and organising a social occasion.
- Practise concentrating, such as playing computer games, watching films, reading books, making something or doing crosswords.
- Practise working at a computer and concentrating for as long as you will need to at work.
- Practise taking notes when using the telephone.
- Practise time management by sticking to appointment times.
- Go to bed and get up at the times you will need to when you go back to work.
- Practise going to and from work at the times you will need to do so.