If you have experienced job loss following a brain injury, whether due to termination, non-renewal of a contract, or challenges in returning to your previous role, this resource provides guidance for you and your support network.
The information is particularly relevant if you are seeking employment and aiming to navigate the workforce with consideration for your brain injury status (RVA status).The content is divided into two sections:
👉By clicking on the question, you can access details tailored to your circumstances.
💡Please be aware: The website contains comprehensive information. Not all details may be immediately relevant to you. Feel free to revisit for further insights at a later time.
You are not alone. Many professionals can help you: each with their own expertise.
🤝Together: these people need each other to walk the right path with you and find a good solution together.
🚧Challenge: it can be unclear who exactly takes on what role or what you can turn to whom for.
💪Opportunity: Key Players in the Return-to-Work Process:
Initiate a 'return-to-work process' through your health insurance provider by arranging an initial meeting with a return-to-work coordinator.This coordinator can assist you in identifying suitable resources to facilitate your reintegration into the workforce.
💡Tip: Visit your health insurance fund's website to schedule an appointment and address any inquiries.
💡Prepare for your return to work with these suggestions:
🤝Collaboration: Consider having a companion accompany you to significant meetings, such as those with your employer or occupational doctor. Don't hesitate to seek assistance when needed. Your healthcare provider or loved one can support you by preparing for discussions and attending appointments with you. Having someone who understands and acknowledges your challenges can boost your confidence. Their awareness of how your brain injury impacts your employment process can be beneficial in communicating effectively with others. Effective support ensures that the outcomes of discussions align better with your unique circumstances.
If you aspire to return to work, it's important to recognize that this may not happen naturally.
🚧Challenge: The effects of a brain injury, such as impacting your work speed or quality, can present obstacles.Commencing work directly in a real work setting can be challenging. However, starting in a simulated work environment or one with adjusted working hours or tasks can ease this transition.
🤝Collaboration: Specialized Team Mediation (GTB) mediators can assist you in navigating this process.
💪Opportunity:
🔀Various avenues for entering the workforce include:
Yes.
Returning to work, due to the invisible effects of a brain injury, is often a complex process.
🤝Together:
If you experience difficulty finding work because of your brain injury, you can seek support from VDAB.
You can get specialised help to support you in your job search, such as GTB.
GTB, Specialised Team Mediation, supports jobseekers with a disability or health problem to find and keep suitable work.
The GTB mediator takes your brain injury into account and identifies your options.
How can you turn to GTB?
The health insurance fund's advisory doctor undertakes various responsibilities, including evaluation, education, and guidance.
The advisory doctor evaluates your eligibility for incapacity benefits by assessing if you meet the criteria for incapacity for work.
Legislation: The return-to-work process is governed by specific regulations to facilitate a smooth transition back to work.
If you are an unemployed person starting work in a part-time job, you can get an additional benefit from the National Employment Office (NEO) on top of your part-time net wage under certain conditions. This is called an income guarantee benefit.
💰Benefit: If you suffer a brain injury as a jobseeker, it is best to apply for disability benefits from your health insurance fund. Otherwise, the VDAB will call you for job applications. If you have such an occupational disability benefit through your health insurance fund, you can receive a part-time net wage on top of this part-time benefit. You are entitled to unemployment benefit if, in the period before you became unemployed, you worked a certain number of working days as an employee. The amount of unemployment benefit depends on the wages you earned when you worked. your family situation (living alone, cohabiting with/without family). your professional history. Fully unemployed people receive 65% of their last earned wages during the first three months of unemployment. During the next nine months, they receive 60% of their last earned wages. In principle, your benefit is determined for an unlimited duration.
⚠️Note: Benefits are subject to withholding tax.
It is important to think about whether you will disclose that you have a brain injury prior to the job interview, how it will affect your functioning and how they can support you.
🚧Challenge: if your brain injury has no visible effects, your new employer may not be able to immediately deduce whether you have a brain injury.
💪Opportunity: we recommend explaining succinctly what the brain injury entails and, above all, dwelling on why that work is appropriate for you and you are a suitable candidate.
🤝Together: mediators from GTB can guide you through this. When you name invisible consequences, you create support among your employer, your manager and your colleagues. You create understanding for the difficulties you experience. A downside could be that this negatively affects your chances of employment.
💰Support: if, because of the brain injury, you are entitled to employment support measures or are co-followed by a GTB mediator, you can share this on your CV or cover letter. Then keep in mind that the employer will ask a question about this. You may indicate when you have questions about your health condition that you prefer to discuss it with the employment doctor.
💡Tip: go through this VDAB brochure before you go on a job interview.
It is important to think about this beforehand, before effectively returning to the workplace.
Each brain injury has unique consequences and can make itself felt differently in the workplace.
You are under no obligation to talk about your health or illness history. For example, you should not tell people you have a brain injury.
Sharing information about your brain injury with your colleagues can help you understand why you have to work half-days, for example, or why you eat alone in a low-pressure environment in the afternoon instead of together with colleagues.
🚧Challenge: in theory it sounds easy, but in practice it is often a fine line between what you do and don't say.
💪Opportunity: it is best to talk these changes through thoroughly.
Therefore, think carefully beforehand about what exactly you want to share, with whom you want to share it and how you want to share it.
For example, explain verbally to your immediate colleague that you have a brain injury, what impact it has on you and on your work, and how your colleague can support you. Your direct colleague is thus your confidant or your colleague mentor in the workplace.
You can also send a less detailed e-mail to your colleagues writing that you are back and what tasks you will pick up.
🚧Challenge: some individuals with a brain injury have impaired disease insight and therefore have a poorer view themselves of what has changed and is more difficult for them.
This can create tensions with colleagues and often requires support in the workplace.
💪Opportunity: professionals can support you
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