Sickline for returning to work after maternity

[Lynnestevens]

I work in a stressful government job and am due back to work soon but im struggling a lot mentally to leave my baby as well as family stress. My father has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. My baby is breast fed to sleep and won't take a bottle. He will be 11 months when I go back. I'm asking my GP for some support with CBT therapy to help with my anxiety but this hasn't started yet. I am hoping to get a sickline/sick note from the GP to enable me to get sick pay at the end of maternity for a month or two while I get my CBT therapy and adjust. Has anyone had any experience with this? How did it go?

Once you finish mat leave you are entitled to sick leave under your employers usual terms and conditions. If you don't know what these are contact them.

Just add you might need a bit more of an active plan than waiting on some CBT. I would start addressing your baby's reliance on breast feeding as a priority. Lots of other posts/info online about ways to go about this. You might also need to source some private therapy. NHS waiting lists are usually very long for non-urgent cases which yours probably would be.

I went from maternity leave to sick leave. I had already given notice that I was taking the full 12 months. I was in hospital when this finished so the ward issued me with a sicknote. After a month I started a phase return over a further 2 sicknotes issues by my GP.

My head boss took me to one side on my first day to say that they wanted me back well and not quickly which was reassuring and whilst I was doing a phased return they would cover my full wage even though my sick pay would have finished. I was off work for severe pnd

Have you used the annual leave you have accrued during ml yet? Financially that may be better for you than sick leave. Have you already given notice of a return date?

Yes used all AL up and taken a month unpaid also, I've got a return to work date but don't feel I am mentally ready yet

Speak to work and your GP.
Do you think do a phased return would be an option I started with 2 days a week for two weeks then 3 days a week for 4 weeks then 2 weeks of 4 days a week. I switched to 4 days a week permanently at this point using annual leave for the first month as I needed to give a months notice to change my hours.
The main benefit I had for using sick leave instead of annual leave was I still had my annual leave after my sick leave and used that to work some 3 days weeks when I was more run down or family stuff was getting on top of me.

What support do you have with returning to work at home and at work? Do you know how supportive your employer would be? I had the advantage of having a preexisting condition so I knew how they handled MH conditions.

Sorry you are dealing with so much.

Waitlists for MH support can be long. Do you have an Employee Assistance Programme or Healthcare plan that would offer CBT?

I had similar- a really really awful time. It’s 3 years on and I still struggle with even looking at pictures of the kids from that period.

My then workplace were supportive on a surface level, as in I never had to fight for my statutory entitlements and I never felt my job was at risk (I wouldn’t have cared anyway).

However, I work in HR and I know the conversations that would’ve been going on in the background bemoaning the situation, but again I didn’t care.

Discuss things with your doctor and see if they would provide you with a line. I wouldn’t mention the issues with baby not taking a bottle to them- your mental health struggles are more relevant.