Supporting recovery and return to work: Recovery coaching

This article presents an innovative approach to recovery support designed for individuals facing chronic illness or life events that lead to a deterioration in health and a reduced capacity to envisage a return to work. In response to public health challenges associated with the growing prevalence of chronic conditions and their social, professional, and psychological consequences, recovery coaching is positioned as a complementary intervention to medical care, aimed at strengthening individuals’ adaptive capacities, vitality, and autonomy.

This approach is grounded in a holistic perspective on health and draws on the contributions of therapeutic patient education and coaching. It combines health-related intentions with professional objectives, thereby supporting both personal reconstruction and return-to-work processes. The methodology is organized around six interconnected thematic axes—analyzing, integrating, resourcing, communicating, anticipating, and planning ahead—which structure a process designed to provide concrete support to individuals in restoring their confidence, their capacity to act, and their ability to project themselves sustainably into a meaningful personal and professional life. Recovery coaching is presented as a structured, reproducible, and transferable intervention that can be mobilized by coaches and support professionals within the continuity of care and during phases of return to or maintenance in work. The article outlines its theoretical foundations and modalities of implementation, showing how this approach can contribute to supporting recovery trajectories in their personal, social, and professional dimensions.