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Part IV of V: Leverage

2009-03-20T13:49:00.003-04:00

Leverage is “part B” of any intervention process. (Influence is part A.) Leverage, however, we discover is frequently not necessary in interventions because the front-end of the intervention where use of influence is dominant, along with the synergist impact of the group presentation, works to motivate the addict to accept help.

Participants breathe a sigh of relief, but nevertheless they were prepared and empowered by their decision to use leverage. (Leverage is something given or taken away from the addict that he or she greatly fears.) Therein lies the power of leverage. Participants know what they will do if the addict does not agree to admission or other treatment option. They act to make treatment non-negotiable in their relationship with the addict. This attitude and willingness to act is crucial to success, and intervention participants must commit to the concept of “non-negotiability” of treatment.

Leverage is used when influence does not work. The participant with the most leverage goes first. Frequently, this is the participant with the closest relationship with the addict, and hence, is historically the greatest enabler.

Often leverage constitutes separation, divorce, removal of children from the relationship, willingness to call the police when the addict drives under the influence, separation from financial means, and other severe measures that the addict greatly fears or finds distasteful.

Leverage has another benefit: It gives the family member relief from the enabling, which causes stress, worry, and continued fear. One family member once said she would call an Army general (the alcoholic’s commanding officer) and notify the general of this drunk behavior when it interfered with work rather than enable him any longer. This was all it took for the admission.

Some spouses obviously "go for it" and are willing to live with exposing the addict for all to see. Once all participants are done presenting their leverage, another discussion takes place to "argue" for the admission. The impact of the leverage is discussed with the addict. (Reality check time.)

Most addicts by this time will go along with admission. There may be some bargaining so the addict feels in control of his or her decision, but if the details are minor like a.m. or p.m, decide if it is worth arguing over. I once made a deal with a 15 year old to enter treatment two days later after an Ozzy Osbourne concert he had planned to attend for six months. Don't ask me why, but after shaking hands and agreeing on it, I believed he would come back two days later. He did.

No person should present leverage that they are not prepared to use. Doing so will harm the intervention severely and it will appear. This is called "buying the addict’s next drunk," because dysfunction increases with no perceived consequences to the continued drinking. And denial is reinforced. This happens with family members torn by guilt or those who have alcohol or drug problems themselves. These persons must be screened out of interventions or re-educated so their beliefs change about addiction and addictive disease treatment. When the addict agrees to the treatment option - action takes place without delay to make it happen.

The Presentation (Part III of V)

2009-03-03T21:39:00.005-05:00

Each person in the group presents his or her personal experience with alcoholic or addict explaining two experiences directly related to the use of alcohol/drugs and its effects on their life without blaming the addict (it's the disease and drug affected behavior damaging the person and the relationship.) Natural emotional emotional pain will be experienced and demonstrated. That’s appropriate. I statements must be used. Describing experiences their associated emotional pain in the relationship is key. If any participant is so angry that he or she can’t describe their pain and get vulnerable in front of the alcoholic, more work with that person should be considered, or their participation in the intervention should be questioned. Before describing the negative events above, each person affirms how important and valued their relationship is with the addict or how they want to return to what that value relationship once was.

When describing negative events, the key to success is not focusing on the addict's need for treatment. That comes later. Instead, have family/friends focus their experience and feelings associated with hurt and pain caused by the alcohol-affected behavior or its outcomes.

Participants describe in detail two events and their impact. A key element in interventions in having family members acquire the ability to consider within their stories the difference between what the relationship is like now as a result of the use of alcohol or drugs and what a vividly imagined and described picture of what it can and should be if only person's behavior was not affected by alcohol.

This is powerful. No presenter should discuss another participant's experience or attempt to point out what he or she thinks the alcoholic can’t see or doesn't understand. This triggers the use of defense mechanisms and sets the intervention back. The group’s goal with the serial presentations is to create a phenomenon called synergistic remorse.

Each person's presentation causes the alcoholic to re-experience feelings of remorse or guilt--originally felt at the time an incident originally occurred. These feelings of remorse are often short-lived, but they are a open window into which the group will insert a treatment solution later. The goal is to have the addict begin to feel a sense of urgency and determination to deal with the drinking problem/drug problem in some way he or she thinks might be effective. (Willpower is usually what's being silently considered.)

At the end of the last story, the group moves quickly to request admission to an addiction treatment program knowing that at the end of a series of effective presentations the synergistic remorse effect is in play and peaked. An attempt to bargain by the addict is the usual response, and then an gentle persuasion experience on the part of the group begins.

The group asks and presses the addict to enter a treatment program immediately. Each participant presses for this decision.

The goal is to successfully urge the addict's acceptance of the treatment recommendation and reject effectively ideas offered by the addict that will certainly be minimal and half-measured attempts to abstain. Participants MUST be effective with their language at providing non-agitating and non-provocative responses to the addict's "better idea". The following is a resource (sorry it is not well proofed, but I can't edit these blogs and information very effectively so bare with me folks.)

Try this document I wrote to help my own intervention clients: “Effective Responses to Defensive Statements Made By Addicts in Interventions". I think it does a pretty good job at educating participants with “what to say” and “how to say it” in response to twenty classic objections addicts use interventions. Language is disease model based and I think you will get the point of why it is effective to marshal support and confidence in family members prior to an intervention.

Family Empowerment Model Intervention: Part II of V

2009-01-22T09:46:00.005-05:00

Part II of IV (See first installment of this article a couple days back)

Family Empowerment: Instruction in the Leverage and Use of Influence.

After instruction in the disease orientation to addiction, participants in
intervention training should be instructed in understanding the use of
influence in the interventions.

Influence is the value or inherent worth that can be subjectively assigned to the relationship a family member or friend has with the addict. All attendees in the intervention should have some influence.

Negative influence equates to provocative relationships of any kind,
including drinking buddies, etc. Such persons should not participate.

Obviously the amount of influence will vary among participants with some, say
a close friend, having a lot, and others say, a cousin or neighbor having
less.

One member of the group must accept responsibility for being
the leader of the intervention group. This person's responsibility is to start the
intervention meeting when it occurs and guide the structure since there
will be no "professional intervention consultant” present.

All members of the group must adhere to strict communication boundaries between training
and the day of the actual intervention. Addicts (as a result of the
disease) become hyper-vigilant and will easily detect subtle mood
differences or behaviors of participants that can tip off to the plan for an
intervention.

The structure of any Family Empowerment Model
intervention includes: Introduction, Use of Influence, Pushing for
Admission, Use of Leverage, Pushing for Admission (second try),
Conclusion, the Admission, and Next Step for a Refusal Outcome.

Eighty percent of interventions that I have arranged never had to use leverage,
but it is critical for it to be present in case it is needed. Leverage
provides intervention teams with psychological power and confidence, which
can be felt by the addict intuitively.

This is the value of leverage. Leverage is something given or taken away from the addict that he or she greatly fears. Next, the group should discuss where they intend to meet the
addict for the intervention.

The group should approach the intervention when the addict is most likely to be least affected by toxcity. Morning hours are frequently better than evenings, for instance, but there is no
hard and fast rule to this step.

Discussion will produce the best time and place. The group must buy into making treatment nonnegotiable. This concept refers the absolute belief by the participants that treatment is necessary to save a life and that the status quo with the practicing addict will never
return unless they fail in their determination for change. Any other type of relationship enables the addict to get sicker.

Until the addict is in treatment, the only practical relationship with the addict is the one that facilitates admission to a treatment program as soon as possible. This is particularly true if the intervention is not successful at its conclusion.

Such an understanding will maintain a state of inertia necessary to act at the next opportunity or incidental crisis associated with the drinking or drug use. This is a key point, because such a crisis will come. It is only a matter of time. When this happens, the group will act to encourage admission and will probably be successful.

This is how virtually all interventions successfully occur not led by a professional become successful. A quick attempt to directly facilitate admission will succeed eventually.

Starting an intervention is always a bit difficult, but a plan should be in place for precisely how it is done, and it should practiced. The leader starts by saying something to the effect that "we are all here because there is something very important that we have to tell you. We need you to hear it. This is very personal for each of us and each of us has something we need to say.

There are obviously many variations on this wording. A fair guess, however is that 95% of addicts will cooperate with the intervention at this point. Few guess what is happening and get up and leave. But there is plan in place in the event that happens.

Participants should rehearse their presentation at least twice. Until the day of the intervention, it is important that participants “carry on as usual” and not “alter suspiciously” their relationship with the addict. A crisis caused by drinking or drug using behavior, however, pushes the intervention date forward to NOW.

Prior to the intervention, participants must make preparations for the following: admission after the intervention (or outpatient intake, or evaluation, etc. You can help them decide which is
best.); logistical considerations that could cause the addict to back out -- money, job issues, pets, vacations, bills, child-care, etc. All bases must be covered.

The intervention begins by the leader talking first. Every participant will talk using the following rules: (1) Avoid blaming; (2) Speak only about your own experience; (3) Do not refer to other people in the group; (4) Avoid shaming; (5) Avoid using the terms "you should"
"can't you see what you've done" or other language that moves away from the participants "first-person account of their personal experience associated with the addict's behavior.

The group is also instructed in the "sandwich technique". The sandwiching technique is an interviewing manuever designed to confront a person with negative facts associated with their
problem while blunting the impact with positive statements that validate the person's worth.
In interventions, this means validating how important or how loved the addict
is by each person.

Each person rotates through the confrontation presentation and speaks about their personal experience with the addict. (Next, blog note, I will discuss the outline of this presentation.)

How Complicated Can You Make a Supervisor Referral...Let Me Count the Ways

2009-01-11T10:14:00.004-05:00

I have absolute faith in the future of the EAP profession because a great idea will always carry it's weight and move forward, so don't take the following the wrong way. I thought I would just have some fun with creative writing this morning. =======================================

Hey, why is the EAP field and its processes so confusing after over 30 years of being an established and legitimate occupational pursuit?

Answer: A lack of detailed and enforced standards and sanctions for misapplied EAP core technology priniciples that hurt employees, cause loss of jobs, and dismantle the EAP profession. I am convinced, anyone can call anything they want an EAP and recognized associations, even if you are a member of them, won't give a hootily. Just pay your dues on time.

When I get the inkling to discuss this topic, I only have to Google a specific term and up pops a great example of what I am talking about.

Here's today's wonderful (not) illustration. Here is how one HR benefits firm with an "EAP product" discusses their procedure for making what they call a "SUPERVISOR REFERRAL TO THE EAP":

STEP 1: HR (not the supervisor!) calls _________EAP to discuss the purpose for the referral and requests a blank Supervisory Referral Form if needed.

STEP 2: HR and employee discuss Job Performance Problem and determine deadline by which employee must contact ____________EAP and have an initial EAP assessment. Supervisory Referral Form is then signed by both the employee and HR/Supervisory Representative

STEP 3: Supervisory Referral Form is faxed to ______EAP attn: Clinical Manager

STEP 4: Employee calls ________EAP intake operator and requests a referral to a provider

STEP 5: Employee calls provider and schedules an appointment as per agreement

STEP 6: ________EAP Clinical Manager contacts provider and HR/Supervisor to begin the process of mediation between the provider and HR regarding the employee’s treatment plan and progress.

I don't know if you were counting, but there are a total of 8 humans involved in this referral not counting the employee. If you missed the person who is assigned to email or fax the supervisor form, you're simply not on your toes.

How many supervisor referrals to you think this provider receives as a percentage of total referrals to the EAP during the year?

True confession: I worked for a company for 11 months in 1995 (I won't mention the name here, but you can visit my resume to find out.) and they had an almost identical process. That organization's supervisor referrals were close to ZERO!

A supervisor referral is a simple thing. And, it's powerful. But add in bureaucratic hoops and fire rings to create a circus and your utilization rate will flop. Worse still, behavioral risk with the folks that might go "postal" or have other problems that cause financial loss will increase.

Here is what a supervisor referral is (I am going to be a little cynical and expansive in this paragraph to emphasize my point.)

STEP 1: A supervisor referral simply uses the application of authority or leverage of job security to motivate a troubled employee to accept the exciting opportunity to be accommodated and assisted by the EAP to get help for a possible personal problem in lieu of the possibility or immediately pending disciplinary action for documented job performance or conduct problems.

STEP 2: The EAP is notified, preferably, but it won't and can't interfere with the supervisor referral and the employee's responsibility to act. Documentation is given to the employee and the EAP, and a release is requested to be signed by the employee to verify participation and cooperation with whatever is going on at the EAP.

A release is essential to good EAP work, but what if you can't get it? Remember, EAPs are voluntary. Well, answer: It isn't needed or necessary if the employee doesn't want to verify attendance and cooperation (which can easily be explained by the EAP or the supervisor as not a smart choice.) Verifying attendance and cooperation is to the employee's benefit. No organization is handicapped without a release.

That's the sum and substance of a supervisor referral. One human involved, plus the employee being referred will make it work beautifully with an EA professional at the other end.

The key is making the employee responsible for change and accountable for change. Supervisor follow-up is key. A breakdown in communication and bureaucratic snarling in supervisor referral process translates to an erosion of the employee's perception of accountability for change.

Addiction Intervention Consulting for EAPs

2009-01-07T08:56:00.002-05:00

Should you offer intervention consulting to employees who have family members or close friends with alcoholism or drug addiction problems?

You may mistakenly believe that intervention consulting requires going to where the intervention is being held, and passively being available in case expert guidance is needed at the event. The intervention industry, which is fraught with rip-off artists has promulgated the belief that intervention requires highly skilled professionals who show up on a Sunday morning after a pancake breakfast to surprise the alcoholic with a loving and supportive surprise meeting.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Intervention guidance does not require "specialists". The evidence for such an observation is in plain site. Addicts are admitted to treatment programs every day with only the hip-shot pressure placed upon them by family members or employers who accidentally, on purpose, said the right thing for the right reasons to motivate an addict to accept help. No intervention expert was present. And, I would imagine 95% of admissions to addiction treatment programs happen just like this--influence and leverage of those in relationships with addicts effectively applied.

Most admissions to chemical dependency treatment programs occur without an interventionist guiding the process, which is usually very expensive. The call to "have an expert" present effectively eliminates many people from the opportunity to ever consider an intervention. This not fair. To say to a family that they can't be just as successful without an intervention is one of the greatest disservices ever to be levied on addicts and family members.

How do you help these people? Despite attempts by interventionists to claim a high levels of artistry and to promulage fear if an expert isn't present, the reality is that the basic principles of successful intervention can be easily taught.

And, my argument is that success rates are higher if this "empowerment model" is used. That's because family members can try again if the first intervention fails, and they can become determined engines of change until it happens.

Most interventions (althought not called that) are completed by insistent family members with no interventionist present. In other words, people do say the right thing, perhaps accidentally, that motivates an addict to enter treatment. Usually these are family members who have decided to make treatment “non-negotiable.” The result is admission.

So, how do you add this expertise to your EAP?

The logistics. Such a meeting to educate an employee should include at the most four or five persons who have significant influence or leverage. More than that, and too much cross talk emerges dragging out the training of these individuals. (From experience and having done as many as 11 trainings in one week, the two major tools of intervention are helping family members IDENTIFY and USE tools of "Influence" and "Leverage".

Influence is the value or weight assigned to the relationship one person has with the addict. Leverage is something that can be given or taken away, which the addict greatly fears. Each of these are crucial tools in interventions, and they are used differently, and at different times, as I will explain. My argument in this blog of course is to argue that addiction intervention training skills should (and I would like to argue must) be a part of your scope of service. It is perfectly within bounds of the EAP Core Technology.

The instructional meeting will last about two hours. (This is not treatment or group therapy, although I know many therapists who have illegally/unethically bill for it through 3rd party reimbursement.)

A person with addictive disease has a medical illness. You are providing common sense principles of constructive confrontation to help family/friends motivate the addict to accept help. This is not therapy.

Your first task is to get information about the addict. Get the family to tell you the whole story. Get a feel for the situation. Next, enter a discussion about addictive disease. You must determine each of the participant’s knowledge about the disease and ensure that each of them understands the biogenic nature of the illness. Educate as you go. Any participants with “psychologically oriented,” or “willpower” models about the disease will sabotage the intervention.

Ultimately exclude such persons if they can’t come around. Coach them out of the intervention. Next, you must deal with guilt. Each of the participants will feel guilty about the intervention to some degree. These persons will also sabotage the intervention if they can't get past it. Help them see that they are not going “behind the addict’s back”.

Most of this guilt is based upon an enabling dynamic fueled by the addict’s direct or implied demands for loyalty in order to avoid confrontation over a period of years. Explain this to erode their mistaken beliefs. My next blog note: The Intervention Training Meeting Part I.

I know this is a bit gutsy, and that I am going against about 30 years of convention, but people need to hear the message. By the way, the movie "I'll Quit Tomorrow" will get your company sued fast if you ever try to duplicate what promotes--bringing the family into the workplace and surprising the employee in the office of the company's president to be confronted about their alcoholism. Burn the film if it is in your midst.

Feel free to e-mail questions or rebuttals as I continue this blog. I would like to respond to your comments: publisher@workexcel.com.

EAPs and the Great Uncharted Territory of Cost-Benefit

2008-12-24T07:37:00.005-05:00

(In this post, I am going to add a bit more to my previous post in November on EAPs and management liability. I see that I missed a couple points.)

The great uncharted territory of cost-benefit for EAPs is the positive impact they have on the bottom line in helping prevent lawsuits brought against companies by their employees for employment practice missteps and wrongdoings.

Did you know that the average out-of-court settlement for wrong discharge is over $100,000? The average jury award is over $500,000, and employers lose over 60% of the time. Health care dollar saved by EAPs do not compare with the size of the awards employers face in the lawsuit arena.

Discrimination, wrongful dismissal, constructive discharge, and dozens of other employment practices violations cost American employers billions in awards. Many of these awards are secretly agreed to by undisclosed out-of-court settlements.

So risky is the employment setting that a new insurance emerged in 1991 called EPL (Employment Practices Liability) insurance. Two companies existed then. Now over 80 insurance companies offer EPL. None of these insurers are using EAPs as cost-containment products like managed care is doing for their products. And, hardly any company is considering how an EAP can help reduce this liability in general.

EAPs are frequently first to learn of an employee's intention to sue. Indeed, how often have you had an employee in your EAP office say, "I think I want to sue?" "Hey, do you think I can sue!?" or a similar statement?

As an employee assistance professional, your task is to help the employee get their needs met in more effective ways. The buzz phrase for thwarting lawsuits and handling disgruntled employees is "alternative dispute resolution." (Yes, I know this is really a term used in labor disputes, but let's broaden this term for a second --- really, to be more precise, this term describes official channels established by management to deal with disputes employees bring, which if not managed effectively, could lead to litigation. Very frequently EAPs work things out and save management and litigation dollars. I see our ability to management conflict in organizations as a form of ADL.

Does the human resource department of the organization understand your ability to align constructively with employees and help them get their needs met without turning to lawyers? The biggest weapon you offer is an empathic listening ear and the most valuable benefit you offer employers is empathy for employees and redirection to constructive help. It’s called “putting out the fire.”

This impact of empathy toward employees that EAPs provide and that cannot be provided by other individuals in the organization who are closely aligned with management (human resources, occupational health, etc.) is under-researched and under-appreciated.

The employer who understands this empathy-redirection-protection paradigm will give you more time to educate managers. They will ask the EAP to be involved in providing management consultation. And your influence will expand as an EA professional beyond the limited role many HR managers mistakenly believe you only fill now.

You Gotta Get Out More

2008-12-14T17:06:00.003-05:00

Sure, it can difficult because you are so busy, but few things will help keep your utilization up more than getting out of the office and traveling to the work sites to show your face to employees. In some organizations, factories, plants, or huge industrial work yards or similar settings, it's easier to simply go without a specific purpose. You go to the site, and with permission from a yard supervisor or other management official, walk in. Say "hello and greeting people as you go. NOTE: This strategy is very powerful and reinforcing, and will drive your utilization up faster if you go to the work site the DAY AFTER A TRAINING EVENT. The reason this is true, is because it is immediately reinforcing. You were just there. The memory of who you are is still present in the temporal lobes of these employees (to put it bluntly!) Do not be surprised if calls come to your EAP office afterwards or if employees walk up to you directly to chat about problems.

If you have a huge organization with multiple sites, consider assigning one of your EAP staff to that location for training, communication, and relationship-building.

Other work sites make it less appropriate to just show up and do a walk through. In such instances, you’ll need to consider a specific reason to show up. Perhaps your moving posters, dropping of cards someplace, or simply having a monthly meeting with the site manager on what needs might exist for the organization's work unit.

Why does this external rubbing of elbows work? Employees see you, consider their personal problem (remember 12-18% of the workforce has one right now) and think about calling. Then, some do. Visit again in three months and different employees will phone. The key low-dose frequency of contact with these potential clients.

Employees are also reminded about the company’s investment in them. This is appreciated and the reputation of the EAP as “being available” grows. Hint: 800#'s don't have legs.

1991-- the Pivotal Year for EAPs that Wasn't

2008-11-25T21:26:00.004-05:00

What were you doing in 1991 when the U.S. Congress passed the 1991 Amendment to the U.S. Civil Rights Act? If you were like me, you were oblivious to its implications for the employee assistance field, but it was earth shattering and monstrous.

The only reason the EAP field didn't feel the 9.0 quake rumble under its feet was because all of us, or nearly so, were on the wrong side of the mountain mining what little gold there is in the Managed Care industry. We were trying to understand it, team with it, fight it, and for some surrender to it. Some really famous EAPs sold themselves completely--and vanished.

Where we should have been was digging for the mother lode was on the other side of the mountain. We should have been teaming up with the Property-Casualty insurance industry. That's because the property-casualty insurance industry is not interested in keeping employees from accessing their behavioral health insurance benefits and using EAPs as gate-keeping devices to save health insurance dollars--what little there is to be saved.

These big boys want everything an EAP can throw at a company to reduce behavioral risk exposures. They want--they need the core technology. Why? They pay for the lawsuits that were made possible by the 1991 Civil Rights Act. They are the insurers for damages caused by bad employee/manager/management behavior.

Are you beginning to see the picture?

So what happened in 1991? You will answer this question for yourself in just a minute.

Let me ask: Are you aware that a corporation like Denny's, Toyota, or any business entity can be sued for unlimited punitive damages for sexual harassment and racial discrimination?
Did you know that 10 years ago the average out-of-court settlement for a wrongful discharge claim was $100,000. Even better, did you know that the average jury award for wrongful termination/discharge is $500,000?

So how expensive, or better said, how cheap is an EAP that can help prevent these payouts using its tools and resources so problems never become problems? Call it "dollars recovered from loss."

Ask yourself: How many times have you, as an employee assistance professional sat in your office and had an employee grumble, "I'm going to sue this place." If your experience has been similar to mine, you will probably say, "quite a few times." Of course, if you're a pro, your approach is to help such an employee get their needs met in more effective ways than suing the employer. Unfortunately, these vital successes probably aren't statistics in your annual reports.

The 1991 Civil Rights Act relates to behavioral risk exposures of employees and managers--ones that EAPs deal with all the time. But here is the kicker: Insurance policies were developed in 1992 to protect these companies. But who is protecting the insurers? Enter EAPs.

EAPs, with their education, intervention, assessment, proactive program development, supervisor training, and effective follow up can reduce these exposures. Are you aware of the psychomedical aspects of worker injury and recovery? I would suggest you investigate it. It is rich territory for EAP application. The goal: reducing Workers Comp payouts.

EAPs haven't seen their best days yet. They're ahead. They lie in protecting companies against financial loss associated with human behavior. But these programs can't be watered down. They need to represent the robust approach that the core technology suggests.

Head for the other side of the mountain--and bring a shovel.

Cover Your W-2's and 1099s

2008-11-13T11:35:00.007-05:00

So let's see how much of an EAP purest you are.

Depending on your orientation to employee assistance programs, it makes absolute perfect sense for the EAP cover only workers who are actually paid employees, who are full time or part time, and who receive access to the employer's benefits, especially health insurance plan.

But what about this? Should an EAP be made available to any employee who works for the organization regardless of pay status--volunteer, 1099, contract, or W-2s?

Any worker who touches the company is subject to personal problems and other forms of behavioral risk. This has nothing to do with pay status. EAPs were developed first and foremost as tools to manage trouble employee behavior, primarily substance abuse. The goal was not only to salvage employees and the proverbial secretary who costs $7000 to replace, but to protect the organization against financial loss--loss of all kinds from troubled employee behavior.

It makes sense to manage any paid worker's or unpaid worker's performance with the EAP. The rationale for doing so is based on the historical reasons EAPs emerged. I know many internal EAPs--especially older programs--that do precisely this. However, I know very few external provider EAPs that do. That's because employers don't want to pay for the extra lives and they have "met the need" by offering the EAP as a benefit only to their "insureds". They forget, or have never learned, that the EAP is a productivity tool. It is not a benefit or counseling service. It's there to protect the employer as well. Many would argue this is their first and most important purpose, and that this is perfectly consistent with the well-being of employees.

The view that an EAP is a benefit has brought us to the point where behavioral risk exposures are increasing for employers. Many don't get the number of supervisor referrals they believe they should be seeing. I have read where some HR managers are taking on the counselor role with employees. Look around the mainstream HR journals and you will find articles on the subject of "putting 'humane' back into human resources." In other words, some HR writers are calling for the HR role of pre-counseling, and then referral of employees to resources in the community. (Holy mackeral! This is what EAPs do!) This phenomenon is due to the loss of the EAP message in mainstream HR literature.

There is a need for education to help make a “cross over” to another way of thinking about EAPs, one that would renew and re-establish, what EAPs can do for organizations. We then need to market the EAP as a resource for all employees and workers, not just the "insureds". The EAP field will be better off, and so will its future. Employers may then begin to pay the necessary fees to have viable EAPs that keep their tushes out of the sling and understand why EAPs are such a good thing for them, not just their employees. Increase your EAP utilization with communication materials that actually keep the need for building utilization in mind with each article written.

EAPs: Teach this Strategy

2008-11-09T12:26:00.003-05:00

No EA professional that I know of has ever helped a troubled employee learn this strategy, but it will go light years in helping employees with performance problems flip overnight to become outstanding employees if they aren't impeded by a severe personal problems like alcohol or drug addiction. To purchase this fact sheet go to http://www.workexcel.com/. It's reproducible and editable, and you put your name on it, etc. Search for fact sheet E076 after November 10, 2008. That is when I will have it posted.

Understanding Completed Staff Work

Maximizing your effectiveness in providing superiors with realistic and actionable solutions to problems is one of the quickest ways to enhance your value within an organization. Understanding the principles of Completed Staff Work will help you to develop a comprehensive and systematic approach to researching, documenting, and presenting your recommendations to your superiors.

Completed Staff Work is a doctrine originally developed in the U.S. military that describes the standard of responsibility, thoroughness, detail, professionalism, and accountability required when preparing material for a superior.

According to a document prepared by the Office of the Provost Marshall General of the U.S. Army, Completed Staff Work is “the study of a problem and presentation of a solution by a staff officer in such a form that all that remains to be done on the part of the head of the staff division, or the commander, is to indicate his approval or disapproval of the completed action.” (Harari)

Principles of Completed Staff Work

Independence
Creating Completed Staff Work is as much about process as result. When you are charged with finding solutions for your superior, your job is to work without further input or advice from your superior. Although certain matters may need clarification during this process, all details necessary to researching, documenting, analyzing, and providing a solution are your responsibility.

Thoroughness
Your research and analysis should be exhaustive, considering all possible scenarios,
alternatives, and repercussions in determining the best recommended course of action. This recommendation should include thoughtful and detailed steps for implementation, including contingencies for any foreseeable problems.

Clarity
Once your research and analysis are complete, you should prepare your final recommendations to your superior in a short, concise format. Your presentation should present a clear, unmistakable conclusion that leaves no question unanswered.

Ownership
Completed Staff Work requires the individual presenting the material to take a strong, clear position. Bureaucratic doublespeak and tepid conclusions are unacceptable. Your final recommendation should be one that you would be willing to stake your career upon.

Rising to the standard of Completed Staff Work requires the best that an employee has to offer. The default operating procedure in many bureaucracies is to limit personal risk, shift responsibility, and do the minimum required to “get by.”

Consistently presenting Completed Staff Work to your superiors will set you apart from peers and earn you notice as a serious and diligent professional.

Old Trick Pulls Utilization--Table Top Tents

2008-11-07T11:33:00.002-05:00

Yes, it's simple. But, if you have a workplace with a large cafeteria, table-top tents (cardstock
paper folded in half with your EAP message on either side placed in the middle of
the table) can be effective at marketing the EAP. MS Publisher -- a common Microsoft Office software program can provide you with a quick do-it-yourself template for this marketing strategy.

Use 100# cover or card stock paper or this strategy to prevent drooping messages! It stays standing.

Consider placing five questions about your EAP that target myths and misconceptions about confidentiality, communication with management, what kind of problem EAPs tackle, and other interesting--tough but contraversial questions--on one side of the card and the answers to these questions on the other side of the card. This will stimulate conversation between employees at the table with one asking questions and the other trying to respond with the correct answer.

Everyone will be talking about the EAP by the early afternoon guaranteed.

Use questions that dispel myths and misconceptions about the EAP. Directly under the answers, consider providing additional information in smaller type that expounds on the answer given to the question on the other side of the card.

Consider these issues: Is the EAP is part of the disciplinary process? Is the EAP is therapy? Biographies about staff. Do supervisors find out what employees use the EAP? Can family members use the EAP? What confidentiality laws that govern EAP records, etc. Why EAPs formed. History of EAPs.

Don’t forget to put the phone number of the EAP on the card!

How to Get a Whopper of High EAP Utilization By Promoting Your Professional Staff

2008-11-05T12:00:00.007-05:00

Chances are your EAP staff are a unique bunch of folks, but employees within your organization simply don’t know much about them. Of course, they may have heard a brief bio at an EAP orientation but, this alone is not enough to have a favorable impact on your EAP utilization.

Promote your staff using internal communication like your EAP newsletter or other in-house publications. If an organization that you are serving as an EAP provider has its unique internal newsletter, say at a large bank or other business, go to the public relations department and suggest that they run a series of articles that highlight your EAP staff, their background, and skills. A picture along with the bio is a plus.

Specialities such addiction intervention, mental health treatment, adolescent expertise, family counseling, or eldercare resource knowledge will draw employees who identify with those problems. “Identify” is the key word. Simply telling employees that EAPs deal with personal problems is not as effective as actually talking about the specialties of EA staff directly. You want your potential client to get closer to the EAP, and you do this by creating imagery of expertise that the client will feel attraction to using. This makes it all real. Employees don’t want to see themselves as having “personal problems.” They will however, be attracted to solutions.

They much rather stay in denial about the label, and pursue help for their pain. Don’t profile all your staff at once. This is too overwhelming, and a tactical mistake. Instead, dedicate a whole column to one staff member. Really get in there and supply some detail. Then watch how the phone rings. Two years later, do the same thing, but come at it from a different angle. This time discuss past positions prior to the EAP, hobbies, or unique interests. Make your staff real, and you will get a real return.

EAP Marketing and Utilization: Channels of Communication

2008-08-30T08:13:00.004-04:00

One of the secrets to promoting any product or service is becoming a pro at using multiple channels of communication for that product or service in delivering the marketing or promotional message to the customer. In this sense, I am speaking about potential EAP clients (employees or work units) within the organization that can take advantage of your services. Increasing your EAP utilization or marketing EAP services effectively requires analyzing and studying these channels of communication and keeping your eyes open for new ones as they pop up. You may spot one at any moment as it produces an EAP client. That’s a signal to grab it, stick it in your marketing basket, and add it to your marketing mix. A focused discussion with your staff can produce more through a brainstorming process, but arriving at the point where your antenna go up with "Marketing Channel, Alert! Alert!", is the place you need to eventually arrive.

If you worry about your EAP utilization, the answer to increasing it off the charts lies in examining, tracking, and exploiting these marketing channels. Putting pen to paper to identify them and work them strategically can boost your utilization rate, reduce behavioral risk exposure in the organization, and provide evidence to prospective EAP corporate customers that expertise in your craft is going to return big bucks to them in cost-benefit if they go with your proposal. It may also prevent your EAP from closing its doors or getting farmed out to an 800 number in a cubicle on the 24th floor of an office building on the other side of the country. Understanding marketing channels is not only an art, but an essential strategic undertaking in the survival and growth of your EAP.

You are already very familiar with one or two channels of communication that apply to your employee assistance program. One no-brainer is the EAP brochure distributed in strategic locations within the organization. Another channel is your health and productivity, or work-life newsletter given to employees at a frequency decent enough that you are actually remembered. And still another is making short presentations on mental health or work-life topics. There may be 20 to 30, and even more marketing channels that escape your awareness, yet each may potentially contribute to a higher EAP utilization. You should identify these channels of communication so you can work them to your advantage. If you do not make a focused effort on doing this, you can easily miss half of them.

Channels of communication reinforce each other and each contributes to increasing or maintaining your EAP's utilization. In the next few messages, I will begin discussing a few of these with the goal of helping you establish a 6th sense for spotting these gems and mining them for the benefit of your EAP, corporate customers, and most important troubled employees.

Mastering EAP Word of Mouth Advertising

2008-08-11T11:51:00.005-04:00

Nothing works like word-of-mouth advertising, and the best part is that it's free. Did you know that word-of-mouth marketing is taught to employees at Disneyworld? It's is a major marketing strategy for them. And it can be the same for your EAP. What's more, you can influence word-of-mouth advertising favorably with a conscious approach to a marketing strategy that includes it. You don't have to hope that word-of-mouth advertising works. You can know it is working. Let's talk about that.

There is a single, basic secret to stimulating a high rate of word-of-mouth advertising among employees so your EAP will be well utilized.

The key is this: Purposely, consciously, find ways to do what you do so well and so uniquely that employees cannot resist telling other employees about it. When it comes to Disneyworld, their target for what they do exceptionally well that flips people out is cleanliness and authenticity. That's what sticks in people's minds who visit Disneyworld--how clean the place is, and how real everything looks in those theme parks. When people go back home after visiting, they tell coworkers. The rest is dominos.

You will stimulate referrals if you apply the same formula to your EAP.

A quick digression: Remember, as I have said on numerous occasions, you must market confidentiality in numerous ways. Any EAP client fears a lack of confidentiailty. This "concern" will breed its own counter-measures to your confidentiality message if you do not beat it back by promoting and marketing the confidential nature of your EAP frequently. Without that, not much else will aide your word-of-mouth marketing efforts.

What will give EAP clients a "wow" experience?

Here are few suggestions: Treat employees with tremendous respect--almost as though they are your first client ever, or that they are visitors to the Ritz. Tell them how you store information they provide you and explain the confidential process of how that information is retained. Give them a cup of coffee in the waiting room. Follow-up and find out how clients are doing, and use a tickler system to do so in the future, even if their personal problem is not associated with something major like abstinence from drug use. Use your professional self to communicate a feeling of enhancement--that the client is going to be a happier person as a result of coming to the EAP and something is going to be added to their life. Certainly you believe this is the case, but communicating it in so many words or with your tone and non-verbal approach to the client gets missed. Understand that everything you do relates to word-of-mouth advertising and you may discover a new attitude about service and energy in your EAP work.

Employees Have Questions About Your EAP

2008-07-24T15:05:00.006-04:00

Answer Key EAP Questions in Newsletters

Do you issue an EAP newsletter to the workforce that addresses productivity, work-life, and a variety of personal problems that employees and their family members face? If so, you have an excellent forum for answering common questions about the EAP that can increase your utilization and program security.

Here are a few questions I bet you have not been asked by employees, but many employees have them. It is not the common questions--it's the unusual questions--employees want to hear answers to. And your newsletter should be answering them. Not only are they more intriguing, they also inspire employees to use your program because they are memorable.

Employees will read the answers to the following questions with earnest. How many could you answer right now without thinking about it?

“Can the EAP call my friend who is depressed. I’ve asked her to contact the EAP, but I think she is too depressed to make the call?”

“If my supervisor refers me to the EAP can he or she take disciplinary action if I don’t go?”

“How confidential is the EAP, really?”

“Is the EAP ‘counseling’, ‘therapy’,‘assessment’, or all three?”

"Can my supervisor tell other supervisors, and can they in-turn tell other employees that I went to the EAP? How is that confidential? What penalties do they face for disclosing my participation?

Can I choose my own counselor? One of the EA counselors is best friends with my mother.

Do you see how these questions both help employees feel better about the EAP and increase the likelihood of the program being used? If you have your own newsletter, you can answer questions like these and many more. They are not the kind of questions that you are likely to put in a general information brochure. But inquiring employee minds want to know. And there are many more.

Consider calling such a column in your newsletter, “Employees Ask About the EAP” This type of employee education is essential. Many employees in the company or companies you serve have not had a presentation from the EAP to orient them to the program in years. Many may have been absent the day they were supposed to attend their first such presentation. Most companies will never give you a second opportunity to have an EAP orientation program for employees to answer questions about the EAP.

The questions above are just a few of the types of questions you may want to consider. You can create many more qusetions yourself based upon the experiences you have had as an EA professional with the companies you serve. Answering common employee questions will stimulate referrals and improve management’s satisfaction with your program. Guaranteed.

Helping Disciplined Employees

2008-07-01T10:46:00.005-04:00

Click here for New Fact Sheet for Download but read about it first.

Employers and employees equally dislike the dispensing of discipline, also referred to as adverse actions. When discipline happens, a variety of employee reactions are possible. Some employees accept discipline as a constructive experience and opportunity for change. Others react to discipline with anger, resentment, threats, and in the worst cases, violence of the worst kind.

Discipline isn't going away, no matter what kind of reaction employees have to it. Some organizations make it the last resort, but nevertheless, helping employees respond to discipline in a constructive way is a worthy, possibly life-saving endeavor.

Without a doubt, EAPs are in the best position to help employees gain the most from a disciplinary experience, both in heeding its message and gaining the most personal growth from the crisis it represents. Whether it's discovering an unresolved personal problem that contributes to problematic behavior, or reframing discipline as an opportunity for a better future going forward, managing an employee's reaction to discipline remains somewhat unexplored territory for stakeholders.

The most rudimentary steps have been recommended by some insurance companies to prevent violence following disciplinary actions. However, these ultimate payors of enormous sums resulting from violent reactions to discipline have not used EAP processes to their fullest advantage.

This is another argument for EAPs being an essential part of any organization's risk management strategy, not just a service tucked into a benefits package. The excitement lies in advocating for this increasing role for EAPs in work organizations to save lives and money. Is this the shortest distance between two points? Is an all out assault on the goal of incorporating EAPs in risk management strategies to help allay the financial risk of major insurers easier hanging fruit for us? Is it a faster walk to what we all want than searching for next rung on the "EAP ladder of acceptance" using long-term strategies like funding more research to prove our worthiness? I think free markets and market forces have faster solutions for EAPs. Practiticioners must take the lead in the field, not academics. What do you think? (Just thinking outloud here folks.)

This month's editable and reproducible fact sheet, When You've Been Disciplined at Work, is designed to add to your ability to help employees respond constructively to the disciplinary experience. It's part of the new GROUP 5 fact sheets released today at EAPtools.com.

Amend this fact sheet with your own experience. Do collaborate on its use with your HR and management partners. I am certain you will find creative ways to use it--perhaps before discipline happens--to help employees, protect organizations, and possibly save lives. New Fact Sheet for Download http://workexcel.com/discipline.html

Getting Through the Door to Train Supervisors

2008-06-19T21:29:00.005-04:00

Top management is typically stingy at giving EA professionals time to make presentations on the EAP. And if you want to come back a second time for refresher training, well, good luck. Still, you are more likely to get their attention if you offer shorter, more concise supervisor training that tackles key problems in the supervisor referral process and helps supervisors use the EAP as a management tool more effectively.

The key is to help supervisors, not put your focus on helping employees. I know, that sounds a bit out of place, but it's not. You have to play to your audience. The best way to arrange supervisor training is by sending a letter or memo to departments rather than top management.

Break the organization down and mail a memo that asks a contact person within a certain department to call you to arrange the presentation. Send the memo to the most senior manager of the unit.

Say you would like to include your presentation at the front or back and of a regular supervisor's meeting routinely held in the work unit. You aren't going to be asking for any special meeting times. In the memo, stress that you will helping managers manage stress and give them some helpful tips on how the EAP can help them.

Think about a presentation that includes any of the following:

Resolving Conflict Among Employees;
Resolving Conflict Among Peers and the Boss;
Negotiating with Others;
Supervisor Role in Conflict;
Supporting Troubled Employees without Overstepping Your Bounds;
Coping with Feelings of Isolation in Supervision;
Dealing with Discipline and Dismissal Stress;
Conquering Self-doubt;
Time Management,
Getting Things Done,
Intervening with Burnou;
Coping Skills;
Dealing with Change;
Staying Positive;
Leading in the Midst of Stress;
Taking Charge;

Motivating Others;

(Go here to see more ideas that you can pick and choose from.)

Too many employees and managers, as you already know, think EAPs are just about counseling services or feel-good programs. They don’t understand their larger productivity purpose. (Actually, many EA professional struggle with this as well, but that's for another blog post!)

You goal is to help change that perception so they can see how the EAP can work for them. Actually, the first element of the EAP Core Technology is not about employees--it's about helping management with employee and productivity issues. (That's right!)

Call your presentation Seven Secrets of Making the EAP Work for Supervisors. Make your content focus on relieving them of stress associated with managing difficult employees. Talk about EAP Referral Myths, Misconceptions, and Missteps for Supervisors make.

Ask to come back in the future. They'll be looking forward to it.

Five Ways for Supervisors to Refer

2008-06-10T20:09:00.004-04:00

There are five ways to make a supervisor referral. (Reproducible Fact Sheet V006 explains all.)

Educating supervisors about these five techniques will increase referrals to your EAP.

1) The Casual Encouraged Self-Referral. With this technique the supervisor mentions the EAP as a reminder in response to hearing about a personal problem first mentioned by the employee. No big deal, but still the supervisor plays an appropriate role. No counseling. No diagnosis. Just a mention.

2) THe Strongly Encourage Self-Referral. Here the supervisor mentions the EAP in response to an existing job performance problem hoping the employee will self-refer. No disciplinary action is used or believed necessary by the supervisor. No contact with the EAP is made prior to the corrective interview.

3) The Type 1 Supervisor Referral. The supervisor notifies or consults with the EA P first. The supervisor meets with the employee and requests performance changes. The supervisor then tells the employee that a “supervisor referral” is being made. The employee is asked if he will accept? A release is requested. Supervisor follows up. Straight forward, this referral works for most employees who are in trouble with their performance.

THE TYPE 2 SUPERVISOR REFERRAL. The supervisor consults with the EA Professional and coordinates a meeting. The supervisor meets with the employee and requests performance changes. Disciplinary action is promised if changes aren’t forthcoming. The supervisor gives the employee the name of the EA professional and an appointment time offered to the supervisor as a possible choice for the employee. The employee is not required to accept this appointment. It is only a helpful opportunity. The employee will almost always accept the prearranged appointment.

THE TYPE 3 PERFORMANCE BASED INTERVENTION: The most powerful and serious supervisor referral. It works virtually every time when done correctly. TI also call this the one minute intervention. Disciplinary action is warranted, known in advance, and administered on the spot if the employee does not accept a supervisor EAP referral presented clearly to the employee as an accommodation and alternative to disciplinary action in the event the employee believes (solely believes!) it would be helpful to address a personal problem he or she thinks is affecting job performance. It is the employee’s choice. Management is not "invested" in the decision either way. The employee is in complete control of their employment future which ends immediately (or other disciplinary action given) or he or she receives the red carpet treatment and is promised A) complete support for getting help, B) No loss of job or promotional opportunities solely for making a decision to go to the EAP; C) the disciplinary action held in abeyance pending follow through with EAP recommendations. The referral to the EAP is in lieu of termination (or other certain disciplinary action.) The employee feels pressured, but it is his or her decision entirely. There is NO other option. Either the EAP referral is accepted or warranted and justifiable disciplinary action based on the performance or behavioral incident is administered. (Termination will provide the most powerful leverage.) The agreement includes following through with EAP recommendations entirely.

NOBODY DOES IT BETTER (EAPs that is)

2008-05-25T23:56:00.005-04:00

Did you know that the first element of the EAP Core Technology has nothing to do with assessing or counseling troubled employees? In fact, the first element is about the EA profession's unique role in consulting with managers and supervisors. That's fitting, because EAPs were historically established to consult with managers and more specifically coach them in referring troubled employees so a consultant or counselor could assess them to determine whether the employee was alcoholic.

(DIGRESSION! Do you know who this person was--the person who first established this linkage? His name was Lewis Presnall. And he accomplished this feat at the Chino Mines of Kennecott Copper of Arizona in 1959. (Not to be confused with Kennecott Copper INSIGHT program of Salt Lake City, Utah which came years later in 1969.) Presnall has been credited by EAP historians with discovery of the mechanism and "intervention technology" for how to find more alcoholic employees by referring them for job performance problems to a person who could conduct an assessment and provide motivational counseling. Presnall is in fact the Grandfather of the EAP movement.)

The EA profession has historically put its focus on solving employee personal problems that may or may not affect job performance. Unfortunately, this message has been the only one, or the main one, for many EAPs. As a result, supervisors have failed to consider EA professionals as the most knowledgeable workplace professional for advising and consulting with them on the subject of employee supervision. Ask most supervisors ‘Who do you believe in the world of work is most able to advise you on the subject of employee motivation, morale management, performance evaluation, and behavior change? The answer most supervisors will give is human resources consultants or senior managers. No way. In reality, EA professionals are the most qualified to teach and consult on the subject of employee supervision, but few supervisors know it because this ability has not been historically marketed or advertised by EA professionals. HR managers and senior supervisors do not accumulate anywhere near the experience base that EA professionals do when it comes to the subject of ‘how to supervise.’ To increase your utilization rate, claim the high ground in your organization and say you are the expert, the one most qualified and capable of helping supervisors learn how to supervise better. Do this in phone calls, follow-up, and of course supervisors training. Your experience at dealing with trouble employees and consulting with them on difficult employee behavior has supplied you with a large base of knowledge capable of boosting your clout and prestige as a performance management consultant. It also turns EAPs back to what they were always meant to be – management tools to salvage employees and increase productivity. This will also help you lose some of that “do-gooder” tag you may have been given by some.

EAP Professionals and Alcoholism

2008-05-20T12:34:00.001-04:00

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

Send Your EAP Brochures On A Tour of the Town

2008-05-14T17:14:00.001-04:00

EAP cards and EAP brochures are essential marketing tools for EAPs. You typically give them out at employee orientations and supervisor training programs. You may display them in the hallway outside the EAP office, or in the company health clinic.

There are other places to display EAP brochures. Here are some distribution tips you may not have considered that could increase your EAP utilization. If you are an internal EAP, make sure your name is prominently displayed on the front of your brochure in the upper 40% of the front panel. (Brochures that end up inside brochure display cases can be “cut off” from the mid-point downward when inserted into display cases not made of clear plexi-glass.)

If you are an EAP provider, consider producing a separate brochure that lists the eligible companies on the back panel with a message on the front panel to attract the reader to look closer at the brochure to see if they are eligible for the services the EAP offers. If your EAP is associated with a large employer in town, put these EAP brochures in the waiting rooms of local urgent care centers and doctors offices. They’ll be happy to allow you to do so.

Next, consider distributing your EAP brochures in the lobbies of community agencies around town that provide health, mental health, and other wellness services (like recreation centers.) Unlike other product vendors, EAPs serve a special purpose and it will be a rare agency or doctors’ office that will refuse to display your brochures.

Carefully consider the content of the message in these types of brochures. They should not be the same as the brochures you distribute at training and orientations. Instead, they should be written to attract family members, with appropriate images. These family members may never step inside your company, but you can attract them as clients. The message should invite them to call the EAP to consult on personal problems, or seek additional support for the health or personal problems that brought them to the agency where they found your brochure.

With some thought, it is not difficult to think of a generic message that could apply to most settings where your brochures might end up. For example, in a family practice medical office or other general health care setting, your message might encourage the reader to call the EAP to inquire about services that include family counseling, home health care referrals, elder care assistance, help for a teenager, and similar adjunctive assistance.

Publicity Secrets for EAPs

2008-05-07T06:50:00.005-04:00

“Hello, DesMoine Register? I am from ABC Employee Assistance Program. I am calling about the General Motors layoff announced today and its impact on employees and their families. We have an expert you can speak to on that subject, if you like.”

DesMoine Register: That's great we will send a camera crew to your location in two hours.

The story above is not real, but similar stories happen every day in communities nationwide. Learn this short presentation, keep paying attention to the news, and your EAP will end up on television or a local radio station very soon. The payoff will be communicating the EAP message to those who have never heard it--future potential EAP contracts for your EAP firm. The key phrase is “we have an expert on that subject available who you can interview.”

Do you remember the key story that emerged the day or two after the unfortunate and untimely death of Anna Nicole Smith? I do. The top story was the impact on employees at the hotel who discovered her body in the workplace! This was the MAJOR focus of the story for about 72 hours.

Later, the focus of the story shifted to the personal and flamboyant issues of Anna Nicole Smith's life. But for 72 hours, the focus was the hotel workers affected by the death of Smith, not the personal issues of the celebrity. Unfortunately, no experts on the subject of employee assistance offered their expertise that could have provided an enormous opportunity to educate the public about employee assistance programs and assist employers in making effective use of EAPs. (Actually, I have an even better question: Who was the EAP at the hotel, or to what EAP was the hotel linked? And was it a viable program or a obscure and unpromoted 800# on the back of an insurance card?)

The Anna Nicole Smith story is now past, of course. But, don't fret, another one will come along soon enough.

Side note: If you feel that such a move to gain publicity for your EAP is exploitive of tragedy, you have it exactly backwards. Enter the real world: This is an opportunity to help others, the profession, and yourself.

EAPs can benefit from understanding a few things about free publicity that will aid them in working toward a better relationship with American businesses.

1) Media outlets need experts who can comment and explain human suffering and tragedy, as well as those who can offer prescriptions and messages of hope. EAPs are about both.

2) Media outlets need experts fast. They can’t wait, but you can help them fill the need.

3) Media outlets hate going to the same people every time for the expertise. They like variety. Although I will not name them, there at least two nationally known EAP organizations with well-funded public relations efforts who end up in almost every national newspaper, personnel journal, or television show relevant to the EAP message. This isn't so bad in itself. They're smart. The problem is that fueling misinformation and misconceptions about employee assistance programs to match their model of service delivery. The media doesn't know any different.

It is an exciting and rewarding experience to reach millions of people with the proper EAP message. Here’s betting you will do it very soon.

Promote Your EAP Staff (and Use Photos!)

2008-05-01T07:35:00.001-04:00

Finding a great excuse to promote your EAP and build top-of-mind visibility is what makes for a high utilization rate. One super way to do this is by promoting your professional staff. Most professions have a specific week or month during the year that is used to promote that profession's unique contributions to the world of work. March is the month of social work, for example. Do you have any EA professionals who are social workers on your staff? If so, profile these staff in a newsletter next month. Identify the staff member’s unique educational background and perspective, and what that professional brings to the EAP. Find out what professional groups other staff belong to and do the same thing. Promote your staff personally with their photos so employees can see who they are. You must do this to get closer to potential employee clients. Use an editable Employee Newsletter (hint, hint) to make it easy. And here is the link to a monster list of Health Observances:

Gold Mining Physician Referrals to the EAP

2008-04-29T07:59:00.002-04:00

Medical professionals, particularly occupational medicine and physicians on workers’ compensation evaluation and treatment panels are in an ideal position to refer employees to your EAP. Do you know who they are, and do you have an ongoing marketing campaign to reach them and solicit passively their referral of employees to your treatment program. Unfortunately, these physicians like other people suffer from misinformation about how to use the EAP effectively and make referrals. Research into the role of physicians unequivocally shows their effectiveness in motivating alcoholic employees to consider further diagnosis and treatment of addictive disease, reduce the consumption of alcohol, and examine drinking practices. The key is a knowledgeable doc. Consider meeting with occupational medicine physicians in the company or companies you serve, and make sure this includes private physicians in the community chosen by the workers compensation insurer who are part of its examining and treatment panel. Have CME Category 1 credit available and only let a another physician (who is a good friend of your EAP) discuss alcoholism diagnosis and referral. An ASAM doc is ideal. Every EAP should have an ASAM buddy.When injured employees show up to the medical doctor’s office, you can count on these educated doctors giving their patients a closer look. Discuss their role in identifying medical symptoms of alcoholism (or other addictions) and recommending blood work-ups for employees, when appropriate, that include liver function tests that can demonstrate pathologic organ changes due to alcohol consumption. Positive results are powerful tools in encouraging self-diagnosis of alcoholic employees, and opening the window of opportunity that can lead to accepting an EAP referral. Did you know that many late stage alcoholics worry about their liver, despite their denial? Many alcoholics will agree to a liver functions test just to get it off their mind and confirm their belief they aren’t alcoholic—and tell their spouse about it. Positive values on liver function tests mean pathologic organ change. Pathologic organ change is ITSELF diagnostic for addictive disease. You don’t need anything else to corroborate the diagnosis. In my experience, those with a pain in their side are particularly curious. (When I was at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s Occupational Alcoholism Program, we used strategy routinely to identify and refer alcoholic employees in annual examinations. Have fun. This is a very cool EAP utilization improvement strategy.

Supervisor Improper and Reckless Disclosure

2008-04-26T13:11:00.003-04:00

Many supervisors are not aware of the legal implications for disclosing personal and confidential information to others who do not have a right to know it. Personnel files are confidential. Medical files are confidential. And, of course EAP files are confidential. Which files are governed by the strictest confidentiality laws? You are right if you guessed EAP files. EAP files are governed by federal confidentiality laws in most cases when they manage alcohol and drug abuse related information and receive federal funding indirectly or directly. You would be surprised how many EAPs fall under this ruling. Most EAPs choose to be governed by these stricter laws or should declare that they follow these strict guidelines for managing information. A supervisor who discloses to other employees, or announces without authorization that an employee has gone to the EAP is not guilty of violating a confidentiality law, but reckless and improper discloser of personal information and violating the employee’s privacy. Of course these issues can kill your employee assistance program utilization. Supervisors who blab about employees referred to the EAP are damaging the perception of the EAP as a confidential service. And, they are holding themselves out at risk for a lawsuit for reckless and improper disclosure. Talk about these supervisor risks during supervisors training. It will help everyone -- employees, supervisors, and the EAP.