Salvia: Tell Employees and Parents About It

Salvia (Salvia divinorum) is a plant native to the region of Oaxaca, Mexico. You should start mentioning this drug and discussing it abuse and prevalence among young employees. It is sold on the Internet as a powerful hallucinogenic drug, but it is illegal in only 21 states. At the federal level, Salvia is completely legal and unregulated, but it is beyond a doubt a substance that should be discussed and warned about. Salvia is usually smoked and creates an “out of body experience,” making it dangerous and unpredictable, and rendering the user utterly out of control of their behavior and decisions. The user may have complete amnesia from the "trip." Salvia is sold in strengths and dosages that may be 10X, 30X, or 200X in potency. Salvia is used mostly by young people ages 12 to 25. If you are a concerned parent, supervise your children, know who their friends are, and monitor their whereabouts. Talk to older teens about the dangers of Salvia and abuse of any drug, including alcohol. Signs of Salvia use may include drug paraphernalia, Internet purchases, or small butane torches used for burning the substance in a pipe. A YouTube search will show the vivid dangers of this drug in videos that have been posted online by users, people who have had bad experiences with it, and those it thought. To preview out drug and alcohol education programs, visit multiple programs preview page.

Good Supervisor Follow-Up Begins Before the EAP Referral

Are supervisors referring employees to your EAP without a referral form? Are employees still showing up telling you they were referred by the supervisor, but you have no information in hand making you aware of what the performance issues are. You need to hit the reboot switch on your supervisor training and education so you get more effective supervisor referrals. Here's what to say to your supervisors: Follow up begins before a supervisor referral is made to the EAP. This means the supervisor should pick up the phone and inform the EAP that a referral is pending. A discussion of the performance issues should take place. Then, a referral form should be used. If the supervisor does not have a referral form, then performance issues should be delineated on a piece of paper and two copies made. The employee and the EAP each get a copy. Making the supervisor use a checklist is preferred. It creates more quality and quantity in the performance documentation. The supervisor keeps the original. The EAP must have a list of written performance issues of concern to the supervisor. The assessment of the employee should occur with both the EA professional and the employee having this hard copy of performance issues as discussion points between them. Anything less will create two problems: 1) The employee will control the EAP interview and degree to which information about the performance problems is make known. And, 2) the EAP will be forced to accept the employee's version and opinion as to how serious the performance problems are, what they are, and the degree to which the employee issues are really all the supervisor's fault. The employee will also be less likely to sign a release. At this point, you've likely lost the referral and enabled growing dysfunction. Are you educating your supervisors with skills and knowledge about how to use the EAP in supervision? Consider this product as  an EAP's most valuable weapon for increasing supervisor referrals.