Getting a doctor certificate for a mental health day off

We are living in highly uncertain times. Although life has returned more or less to normal, COVID-19 cases all across the country are still appearing in the tens of thousands and with the future so unclear, it can be easy to fall victim to depressive thoughts and anxiety. In fact, the pandemic saw the mental health of Australians take a nosedive with one in every five Australians reporting high levels of psychological distress. Although the easing of lockdowns helped many people recover, other Australians who were hit particularly hard by the pandemic have found it hard to bounce back.

The pandemic has brought to the forefront the importance of good mental health to function efficiently in our day to day lives. With more and more people now becoming more attuned to both their physical and mental health, the question comes into mind: “What if I need to take a sick day off for my mental health?”

It’s very common to have a one-off day where the idea of getting up and going to work—especially if you work in a high-stress environment or have a highly demanding job—can seem like an impossible chore. Unfortunately, even if you decide to persevere and make it through the day, chances are your productivity levels are going to be low and you’re not going to get much work done. In other cases, for people undergoing long periods of stress, these one-off days can start piling up, eventually leading to a breakdown which may require longer time off work. So how do you go about getting a doctor certificate for sick leave if you don’t have any physical illness?

Getting a Doctor Certificate For Sick Leave

For many physical illnesses where your symptoms may be apparent to any doctor seeing you, the process of getting a doctor certificate is very straightforward. You may book an appointment with your local GP, drive down to the clinic on the appointed time and wait a little before seeing your doctor. Your doctor will talk to you about your symptoms, assess your condition, maybe perform a physical examination and write you your sick leave certificate. But the case may not be as different when it comes to getting a doctor certificate for sick leave if the issue is your mental health.

Because the symptoms of poor mental health and stress are often not visible on the outside, many people make the mistake of believing that no doctor will be willing to write them a leave certificate if they can’t see anything physically wrong with them. In reality, most doctors acknowledge that poor mental health can take a toll on a person and may even manifest itself in psychosomatic symptoms like hypertension, insomnia and headaches, gastrointestinal disturbances and more. Even in the absence of psychosomatic symptoms, struggling with your mental health for a certain period of time is enough reason for a doctor to write you a certificate for sick leave.

How can I get a doctor certificate online?

The process is much the same. You book an appointment with your local GP (this may even be a telehealth appointment with an online doctor!) and wait for the time of your appointment. In the case of a physical appointment, you may have to drive down to the clinic for your appointment and spend some time in the waiting room, but for an online appointment, this step can be eliminated. Then you can expect the online doctor to talk to you about your general health and ask you some questions pertaining to your mental health. Once satisfied, your doctor will write you a medical certificate for sick leave. In the case of an online appointment, your certificate may be emailed to you.

Can an employer challenge a medical certifcate for mental health?

Although it is absolutely possible for an employer to refute a doctor certificate in case they have sufficient proof to show that the details on the certificate don’t add up, most employers rarely make that effort. This is because in such cases, the onus is on the employer to provide sufficient proof to show that the employee has produced a fake medical certificate, which can be quite difficult to produce. Production of a medical certificate is usually considered irrefutable proof that the employee was deemed unfit for work by a professional during the stated time period.

In case you do not want your employer to know why you’re taking time off work or the details of your illness, you can simply request your doctor to leave this information out of your doctor certificate. All your certificate needs to include are the following details:

• The name and address of the medical practitioner issuing the certificate

• The name of the patient

• The date the medical practitioner saw the patient (or spoke to them in case of an online consultation). This can also be dated for after the sick leave has already started.

• The date the patient was considered unfit for work and their expected return to work date

• The date on which the certificate was issued. Again, it is acceptable for this date to be after the sick leave has already started.