EAP Professionals and Alcoholism

New EA professionals come from a variety of backgrounds, and there was a time when it absolutely unconscienable to consider hiring a person as an employee assistance professional who did not have an extensive background in alcoholism treatment or substance abuse knowledge. But there is something I have discovered that could arguably be considered worse: Employee assistance professionals experienced in alcoholism, but completely misguided by false beliefs and misconceptions about the illness based upon their personal experiences with family members or people they have known very well. I was speaking with an employee assistance professional recently who said it doesn't matter what definition of alcoholism one uses, or for that matter, one's philosophy. All that matters is that the patient get well. This is terribly misguided view of helping people manage this disease. And it serves to prevent the advancement of societies understanding of alcoholism and addictive disease. Do you agree? I would like to link you to the best article on the subject of alcoholism and what it is that I have seen in almost 15 years. It think it should be part of every EAP library. Here's the link to: What is alcoholism?Alcohol Health & Research World, Fall, 1991 by Daniel K. Flavin, Robert M. Morse