EAPs: Workers' Comp Payment for Psychological Harm On the March

Run, don't walk to the press release machine to announce to the world how effective employee assistance programs (EAPs) can be in helping employees who have been exposed to critical incidents and as a result helping mitigate posttraumatic stress effects and workers' compensation costs!

The restrictions on paying for psychological harm and emotional stress associated with critical incidents injuries has re-awakened in the aftermath of the Newton, Connecticut child mass shooting episode. The rationale driving the legislative reviews and arguing for paying workers for psychological harm is the 20 first-responders who have still not made it back to work because of posttraumatic stress or emotional harm. And other states are reviewing their workers' comp laws as well.

I don't see the discussion in the mainstream media about the value of EAPs, but you and I both know that EAP involvement can mitigate traumatic stress and lead to possibly less impact on first responders and therefore help to avoid Workers' Compensation payouts or at least reduce or minimize them.

This saves companies money. EAPA, now is your time to get to the New York Times and offer an interview or send a press lease enmass to respectable news outlets.

How many of these first responders are alcoholic or drug addicted persons in or out of former recovery? An EAP referral would find out. Isn't it possible that addictive relapse is involved in some of these cases? Who is going to assess that? There are a whole host of issues here to discuss as well. What is the role of the family members of first responders since this incident? How are they helping or hurting the goal of getting these employees back to work. Is it really necessary to head immediately to the legislative office to start sending these employees a paycheck? Perhaps, but what about a half-way stop with solid EAP promotion and involvement in these cases. I do not pretend to know how what is taking place in Newton with EAPs and those workers. However, I do know nationwide that many first responders do not access decent EAPs, and that loss of EAP access is growing since 1985. And with it opportunities to reduce workers' compensation costs are also being thrown out with the bath water.

We know EAPs can save money, but we also know they have been run over by a Mack Truck in the past 20 years and replaced almost universally with diminished service models that everyone knows will not penetrate and proactively pursue reaching these at-risk workers. Other employees nationwide face the same  circumstances. Want to save money? Don't fix what ain't broke. Stop the hand-wringing--EAPs are right in front of you.

Just sayin'!

EAP Program Survival: A Three Legged Stool

“Stay close to your EAP customer to survive the budget ax.”  High EAP Utilization and a Good Reputation Will Not Save Your EAP from the Budget Ax. I am not puzzled anymore about why EAPs are closing their doors. In the past 12 months, I have heard about many EAPs getting the budget ax. These were good EAPs with solid reputations and high utilization.  Every EAP was shocked and financially terrified at the news. The common denominator was management’s belief that the EAP could be contracted out for less to someone or something else. What went wrong?

Here’s What Counts for EAP Survival . . .

Every EAP failed in their communication goal to achieve a close, unbreakable and emotional bond with the key corporate decision maker.

High utilization and employee satisfaction isn’t all that counts. Sure, it’s vital, but it is not the ultimate, critical link.

The critical link is what top management thinks and feels about you. What will management do when it is budget crunch time? Will they listen to the finance guy or benefits consultant? Or will the key decider—the big cheese say, “no way, I love this EAP. We ain’t changing it.”

I will discuss strategies shortly that examine the three-legged stool of employee assistance program survivability. They include education, training, and oureach. 2) High utilization and workforce problem penetration, and 3) bullet-proof relationships with top management decision makers.



Here's a new service to help you reach more employees and family members in 90 days than your program has possibly reached in nine years http://www.ppt2web.net





Write me an let me know what you think.

Solid Research to Recommend 12-Step Programs for Every Recovering Addict

If you're like me, you've told alcoholic and drug addicted patients that they should absolutely get involved with 12-step programs. You may tell them that they work best for most, or repeated to patients what you strongly believe based upon your experience or that of other people. On problem...off hand, you may not be able to point to specific research that demonstrates this FACT and be able to pull it out of a drawer or off the top of your head to help motivate your patient or client to take the 12-step plunge. Here is one such article: Weiss RD, Griffin ML, Gallop RJ, et al. The effect of 12-step self-help group attendance and participation on drug use outcomes among cocaine-dependent patients. Drug Alcohol Dependence. 2005;77(2):177-184. The research showed that 12-step program work best, even with cocaine addicts who as a group, have higher relapse rates than alcoholics. See an educational program on alcoholism awareness that hits home.

Powerful Strategy for Traditional EAP Impact and Relevance: ONBOARDING

Have you heard of the term "onboarding"? If you are not familiar with this term, which is part of the human resources lexicon, chances are you are NOT maximizing your ability to become a more highly integrated, relevant, and indispensable part of your work organization. And, your EAP may be at risk as a result.

Onboarding is a way to socialize employees who are new to the organization. It is a recognized procedure and purposely designed system to help new employees become knowledgeable about the organization and understand the many cultural nuances and important behaviors to practice that will help the new employee be successful. Part of the onboarding process is always to meeting effective and important employees or managers within the organization--the inside players, who can point the way toward the employee's success.

If you think that this post is about making sure you conduct EAP orientations for new employees, it's not. Onboarding is much more. It is about employees meeting YOU--the EAP personally--where you can engage them individually and COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY DESTROY myths and misconceptions about the EAP that are certain to permeate the employee's awareness about what you do and who you are. You get first crack at establishing a relationship with the employee and immunize them against counterproductive beliefs concerning the program, particularly, lack of confidentiality.

You can make an impact on this problem without a one-on-one interview with each new employee. To the degree possible, you need to figure out how to make this happen. I am working on a powerpoint video, web course called 25 Ways the EAP Can Help. When it is done, you should get it. And you should make it a part of your "onboarding" requirement for every employee. Then, watch the impact of its use.

I think you need to use this product IF you can't personally meet with every employee. In the future, I will make a web course out of it with 25 questions and a Certificate of Completion. It will powerfully and very simply, drive home the value of EAP in ways employees have not typically considered. It will improve top-of-mind visibility and EAP utilization, probably overnight.

You will be able to directly email the link to this movie to any new employee or hundreds of new employees and the exact same time if you have an email list for your use. 

Okay, enough preaching. Go to this link below on Wikipedia and read about "ONBOARDING". When you do, I want you to keep this thought in your mind: How is this process of onboarding relevant to EAPs and is there a role for the EAP in being closely associated with it? What is the value to the EAP for being included beyond employee orientation sessions, that may or may not be attended by every employee? What might employees learn from the EAP during an "onboarding" meeting that may cause them to return to the EAP in the future. How could onboarding help dispel myths about the EAP that would increase its utilization? How could onboarding keep our EAP from closing down, being farmed out to managed care, or severely cut? How could onboarding make the EAP a more inclusive part of the work organization's culture? OK, now ready all about Onboarding

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onboarding}

Teaching and Understanding Childhood Stress Management Skills

Are children more stressed today than in years past? Tougher academics, more competition, social challenges, health risks, and rapid-fire audiovisual hype from media certainly appear greater. The uncertainty of a secure financial future is felt by 30% of children, says one research study. Coping isn’t about eliminating stress. It’s about learning resistance and adaptation skills. Exercises abound for teaching kids stress management, but cover these bases: Learn sleep skills, relaxation skills, detachment-from-worry skills, how to understand positive thinking, the benefits of proper diet and regular exercise, and how to pursue balance. Improved self-esteem, increased self-confidence, improved creativity, and healthier relationships with peers and family will result. Consider downloading and saving a copy of this government report on child stress, and then give it to your clients and other could benefit.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/pdf/Childhood_Stress.pdf

Inhalant Abuse: NIDA Report Update Sept 2012

I almost missed it (actually I did, but found it soon enough). The National Institute on Drug Abuse has updated its report on inhalant abuse. You can it here along with recent research on the subject.

Provides scientific research on the nature and extent of inhalant abuse, its potential health consequences, and hazards of chemicals found in commonly abused inhalants.

NIH Pub Number: 10-3818
Published: May 1999
Revised: Sept 2012
Author: National Institute on Drug Abuse

All materials appearing in the ​Research Reports series are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission from NIDA. Citation of the source is appreciated.

Table of Contents
       What are inhalants?
    What is the scope of inhalant abuse?
    How are inhalants used?
    How do inhalants produce their effects?
    How can inhalant abuse be recognized?
    What are the short- and long-term effects of inhalant use?
    What are the other medical consequences of inhalant abuse?
    What are the unique risks associated with nitrite abuse?
    Where can I get more scientific information on inhalant abuse?
    Glossary
    References 

Group #9 EAP Fact Sheets Released

EAP Tip Sheets for EAPs
Group #9 is now available.

Reproducible and Editable Tip Sheets, Group #9 is now available. You can print the brochure from this link.
The titles include:

1. What to Do about Compassion Fatigue
2. Protecting Your Kids from Stealth Marketing
3. Stopping Intimate Partner Violence
4. Using Email Appropriately at Work
5. Distracted Driving and You
6. The Sleepy Employee
7. When You Are Facing Personal Change
8. Creating a Welcoming Workplace for Disabled Workers
9. Understanding Workplace Survivor Syndrome
10. Holiday Eating Tips
11. Using Emotional Intelligence to Boost Customer Satisfaction
12. Do You Know about Your Teenager's Friends?
13. Saying "No" to Your Child
14. Teaching Kids to Save Money
15. Commonsense Communication at Work

You can print the brochure from this link.

To see all available reproducible workplace wellness and productivity tip sheets, visit the following page at WorkExcel.com: