A recent article in Coping with Cancer magazine by CancerCare’s Director of Education and Training, Carolyn Messner, DSW, explores ways people affected by cancer can cope with returning to work after treatment.

Studies show that returning to work may contribute to cancer survivors’ emotional, social, and financial well-being, as it serves as a reminder of life outside of cancer and treatment. Planning your return will help you feel more prepared about your transition back to the workplace.

A few of the tips provided in Messner’s article (co-authored by Jessica Puma) include:

• Talk to your healthcare team about returning to work, discussing the specific type of work you do, your workload, and your work hours.
•  Learn about the Americans with Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, state laws, and human rights law.
•  Rehearse what you plan to say to colleagues when asked how you are feeling. Brief, accurate information is likely to make them more comfortable and help dispel myths about cancer.

Read the full article for more tips.

Messner answered questions related to cancer in the workplace in a past “Ask CancerCare” feature. Visit “Ask CancerCare” to learn more about this topic.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 18th, 2011 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Coping with Cancer, Survivorship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.