Preparing for company doctor appointment for mental sick leave

Hi All,

Aplogies upfront for writing a long story but it will give a better context.

I have moved to the Netherlands one year ago as highly skilled immigrant, and to be honest I was slightly burned out before even coming here for some personal reasons and for work reasons as well. So during the past year I was not at my top performance and to add to the problem I faced a lot of challenges adjusting here to the country, culture, weather and workplace. So a couple of months ago I started feeling totally non-functional specially that the current role I am at is higher than my capabilities ( they litterall are giving me tasks that matches a higher profile) and the culture here at work is no ask no tell. So if you don't know exactly what you need to ask probably no one will offer help and you will get lost. I talked to my manager about it and he seemed really not to care he started blaming me for not having the required knowledge after one year and simply asked me to take any other concern with the team. He didn't even give me any advice on how to deal with my work problems (even if the problems are out of some deficiencies I have, I suppose his role is to help me point out those things)

So I talked to the HR that I need a sick leave for mental health for personal reasons and work stress as well and she was very compassionate and got me company dr appointment for next Monday.

A few days ago things started slightly get more clear at work as I started to get some picture from asking other teams and also I got some colleagues in my team started understanding my problems. But only understanding nothing more. still facing same challenges to resolve them.

So my question here: if I took the sick leave now while I started to have some picture of how things go at work, will this affect me and my performance? Specially that some people told me there is unspoken rule that people who take long sick leaves they tend to fall out of company merit increase or any pormotion and things like that. It will be very sad after all this effort I put working on a job that is "according to the job description" higher than my current official position. That work should can help me explain that I deserve a pormotion at some point. I am very confused and afraid to lose what I started to establish and the confidence I started to gain at work. On the other hand since the work load will not change I am also afraid that I will quickly fall back again.

The second question: how I prepare myself for the company doctor appointment? in the sense that some company doctors might push you to work and might be biased to the company, What is expected from this session and what is your opinion about the sick leave duration, how long should I ask for? Knowing that I have a pychologist appointment next Tuesday and will keep following up with her even if I got back to work. (probably will follow up every 2 weeks or whatever the psychologist will suggest)

I am really lost and I tried as much as I can to put every detail needed for you to make a fair judgment. If you reached this far in the post I thank you for the time you took to read and help :)