Rehabilitation for persons with coeliac disease

Rehabilitation for persons with coeliac disease is intended for adults who have been diagnosed with coeliac disease. The rehabilitation course is offered in the form of remote group rehabilitation.

The rehabilitation course is free of charge.

Who is the rehabilitation course for?

Rehabilitation for persons with coeliac disease is suited for adults aged 18 or over who have been diagnosed with coeliac disease and struggle with one of the following:

• Observing a gluten-free diet is difficult for them.
• Their symptoms persist despite a gluten-free diet.
• Treatment of another condition makes it difficult for them to observe a gluten-free diet.

Aim of rehabilitation

This rehabilitation course will help you adapt to the changes and new reality brought on by your condition. The aim of rehabilitation is to

• secure and improve your capacity for work and study and your functional capacity
• support the self-treatment of your condition
• improve your life management skills and help you find ways to continue to live a full and independent life to the best extent possible despite your condition.

The rehabilitation course also offers you the opportunity to get support from your peers and share your experiences with others.

How rehabilitation works

The rehabilitation course is fully remote. You can do the online rehabilitation tasks at your own pace. Professionals will give you guidance during the online rehabilitation and give you feedback on completed tasks.

The rehabilitation course includes the following video calls:

• introduction to remote rehabilitation
• an individual starting session
• 2 individual video calls
• 4 group video calls led by a professional
• a group video call led by a professional after the rehabilitation course.

The individual video calls are about 45 minutes and the group video calls about 60–90 minutes each.

You do not need to have special computer skills to participate in remote rehabilitation.

The rehabilitation needs and goals of each participant are taken into account.

The rehabilitation course is offered in Finnish. If you speak Swedish or one of the Sámi languages, Kela will provide an interpreter for you.

The experts involved in your rehabilitation

The following experts will plan and manage your rehabilitation programme:

• a specialist in gastroenterology or internal medicine
• a nutritional therapist
• a psychologist.

How to apply

You need a medical statement that says when and how you were diagnosed with coeliac disease to apply for rehabilitation for persons with coeliac disease. For example, you can submit a copy of your medical history (sairauskertomus). It does not matter when the medical statement was issued.

Once you have the medical statement, do as follows:

1. Complete the application form for discretionary rehabilitation KU 132 (PDF, in Finnish).

   • Save the blank form to your device. Do not fill in the form directly in the browser because some of the information may not be saved that way.
   • Open the form with Adobe Reader and fill it in.
   • Tell us in the application which service provider’s rehabilitation you want to participate in. You can use Kela’s rehabilitation course search (in Finnish and Swedish only) to look up service providers. Type keliakia (coeliac disease) in the search field.
   • Save the completed application form on your device. Note that the application must be in PDF format.
2. Send the application in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish).

   • Log in to OmaKela and select Tee hakemus (File an application).
   • First select Sairastaminen ja kuntoutus (Sickness and rehabilitation). Then select Kuntoutus – tee hakemus (Rehabilitation – Submit an application). Finally, select Harkinnanvarainen kuntoutus (Discretionary rehabilitation).
   • If you send your application to Kela in OmaKela, you do not need to sign it.
3. If you have supporting documents, send them via OmaKela after you have submitted your application. If they are paper documents, you can photograph them.

   • Send us a copy of your medical statement as a supporting document with your application.
4. Visit OmaKela to see if Kela has made a decision on your application. You will also get a decision by post if you have not given up paper mail. We will also send the decision notice to the rehabilitation service provider. This tells the service provider that Kela will pay for your rehabilitation, and the service provider will reserve a place for you on the rehabilitation course.

If you cannot use OmaKela, mail your application to Kela. Save the form to your device and fill it in after saving it. Print out the completed form and send it and any supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.

Let us know if you cannot attend rehabilitation

Remember to tell Kela immediately if you cannot participate in the rehabilitation course. Let us know that you have to cancel by sending a message to us in the OmaKela e-service or by calling our customer service number for rehabilitation clients.

We recommend that you also contact the service provider to let them know you have to cancel.