Suggestions, please. Two in the team. Colleague, like me, has been under stress at work. (In a nutshell, our roles are belittled.) She's seen Occ Health who have advised immediate time off. I'm seeing OH next week for not disimilar reasons, but also becuase one of my DCs is very unwell (acutally he's under a section in hospital and is physically in a very poor state) and the worry, particularly about where he'll go from there, is all consuming. And I'm recovering from flu!
I support my colleague. But I was going to ask for (and perhaps the suggestion would have come from OH directly) some time off for caring duties - attending a ward review, going to a carers' event. Not much, but some. My line manager referred me to OH when I told her just a little about my situation.
I don't know how I'll cope if I have to take on all my colleague's work while she's away. Some of it I simply couldn't do - her expertise, not mine. I don't begrudge her, not at all, but I am deeply consious of the stress I'm already under and wonder how I'm going to cope. (In addition, as money is tight in our household & I've had to support this DC for months, I work two evenings a week).
It's the institution's problem, in the nicest possilbe way?