The guide, Psychological Health and Safety: An Action Guide for Employers, seeks to address the fact that employers losing billions of dollars related to mental health problems and illnesses in the workplace. Mental health problems are the leading cause of both short and long-term disabilities in Canada, with the economic cost estimated to be $51 billion, including almost $20 billion from workplace losses.

The free Action Guide will be released on April 27 on the MHCC’s website (http://ww.mentalhealthcommission.ca). It provides a series of steps and 24 actions accessible to all Canadian employers regardless of size, sector or location.

EASNA President Francois Legault will be joined on the panel by the guide’s co-authors, Merv Gilbert, PhD, and Dan Bilsker, PhD. Gilbert and Bilsker are both associated with the Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction at Simon Fraser University.

The Action Guide is mainly intended for employers and human resources personnel considering programs and policies to improve psychological health in their organization. It is also relevant to frontline managers, union leaders, occupational health care providers, and legal and regulatory professionals.

It will inform the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, a voluntary standard for workplace mental health released later this year by MHCC in collaboration with the Bureau de normalisation du Québec and the CSA Standards.

As the employee assistance industry’s trade association, EASNA advances the competitive excellence of its members by fostering best practices, research, education, and advocacy in behavioral health and wellness that impacts workplace performance.

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Links:

EASNA: http://www.easna.org

MCCC: http://ww.mentalhealthcommission.ca

Calgary, AB, Canada, April 26, 2012—Today the Employee Assistance Society of North America unveiled a new modernized logo at its 2012 Institute, EASNA’s annual North American conference. The new logo supports EASNA’s strategic direction and fits within a larger branding campaign to be unveiled later this year.

EASNA’s new direction is purposely aimed at better supporting the EAP field by playing a more strategic role as the EAP industry trade association. Supported by this new direction, EASNA’s membership reached a record number last year, topping 800 members who provide mental health and wellness services to more than 47 million employees in North America.

The branding campaign is one component of EASNA’s Strategic Plan that includes other key initiatives:

• Created in 2010, the EASNA Advocacy Committee advances the interests of the employee assistance community in legislative and regulatory affairs at the state, provincial and federal levels. The committee will announce a new bi-national advocacy program next month.
• EASNA Research Notes is a quarterly electronic newsletter that addresses topics of current interest in the behavioral healthcare field. Authors including some of the most distinguished researchers and clinicians in the EAP field.

As the employee assistance industry’s trade association, EASNA advances the competitive excellence of its members by fostering best practices, research, education, and advocacy in behavioral health and wellness that impacts workplace performance.

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EASNA’s Advocacy Program: http://www.easna.org/about/advocacy/

EASNA’s Research Notes: http://www.easna.org/publications-research-notes/

With increasing interest in organizational wellness, employee engagement, and “culture of health” strategies, EAPs may be returning to their roots as providers that truly integrate therapeutic and consultative resources to address behavioral health and substance abuse risks at the individual, work group, organizational, and systemic levels. This workshop reviews evidence based tools for coaching at these levels.

The workshop presenters, Dr. Michael Arloski and Dr. Joel Bennett, have combined their expertise to review basic (often free) resources to develop coaching supports in four primary areas that are often not aligned. These are:

1. coaching individual employees in health lifestyle change;
2. coaching/consulting with managers to integrate their health and wellness goals with their leadership goals;
3. coaching/ consulting with internal health advocates or work-site “champions” who help spark a culture of health; and
4. training workers to coach each other in EAP peer-referrals skills.

This workshop will review each of these areas and provide participants with a simple tool for assessing needs in these areas so that they can develop a “full spectrum” coaching approach for their own or their client organizations. The workshop will be organized in a four-part sequence, covering the four areas. Each part will review objectives of the coaching approach, research to support its use, a summary of helpful tips to consider, ideas for incorporating or enhancing approach, a paired or small-group exercise, and discussion. The presenters will discuss application to the prevention of depression and substance abuse.

Learning Objective 1: Identify areas within their own approach to coaching/ consultation where they can add or enhance one or more coaching strategies across the spectrum.

Learning Objective 2: Have both the ability and a plan to use at least one NEW tool, tip, or guideline for enhanced coaching across one or more of the four areas in the full spectrum.

Learning Objective 3: Have increased knowledge and skills for conducting an assessment of the coaching/consulting needs within their own/client organization and for identifying evidence based practices for addressing those needs.

Seating Is Limited

Only 25 participants will be allowed to participate in this unique event, so register now. Participants must arrive on Tuesday, April 24. The registration fee for the Pre-Institute is $275.

Arlington, VA, January 26, 2012—Online registration is now available for the Employee Assistance Society of North America’s (EASNA’s) 2012 Institute, April 25-27, at Fairmont Palliser in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The early bird registration fee is $465 for members, $615 for nonmembers until March 16. Hotel rooms are available at the Fairmont Palliser for $189 a night until April 2. Registration and hotel room reservation links are accessible from the Institute website.

The Institute offers both plenary and breakout educational sessions. Networking opportunities include a welcome reception on April 25, the Annual General Meeting luncheon on April 26, a dinner on April 26, and a box lunch in the exhibit hall on April 27.

Educational opportunities begin with the one-day Pre-Institute workshop on Wednesday, April 25 (“Full Spectrum Coaching” with Dr. Michael Arloski and Dr. Joel Bennett). There is a separate registration fee of $275 for the Pre-Institute.

On April 26-27 there will be a combination of peer presentations (breakouts) and these plenary sessions:

• Well-Being, Engagement and Productivity: Lessons Learned from Award Winning Employers Moderated by Dr. David Ballard, American Psychological Association with Replacements Ltd. And Westminster Savings—Although the importance of a healthy workforce has come to be generally accepted, many employers remain frustrated that their efforts fall short in terms of employee and organizational outcomes. Using the American Psychological Association’s healthy workplace model, Dr. Ballard will facilitate a panel discussion with leaders from award-winning employers Westminster Savings and Replacements, Ltd., who will share their experiences applying healthy workplace principles in real-world settings, with an emphasis on practical considerations and lessons learned.
• Future Trends in EAP Services and Strategies with Mark Attridge, Attridge Consulting and John Burke, Burke Consulting—This presentation reviews the results of a 2011 study of industry leaders about trends in the services and strategies offered by employee assistance providers in the US and Canada. Seven kinds of services were examined and rated for how often they are typically used by organizational clients, their importance to defining what EAP should be, and for their business value. Results indicated three groupings of services:  Core EAP services, Pareto services, and Connecting services.  Also important are key business and societal trends forming the context of market realities now facing EAPs and how EAPs can take advantage of these opportunities be better positioned for success.
• Psychological Health & Safety: An Action Guide for Employers with Dr. Merv Gilbert, Gilbert Action Ltd., Jessica Mankowski, Mental Health Commission, Canada and Francois Legault, Health Canada—This session is intended to provide conference participants with timely and detailed knowledge of a new resource that will be widely available to employers that will provide detailed guidance on creating and sustaining psychologically healthy and safe workplaces. This resource will complement and support national standards. Participants will have the opportunities to be early adopters and to be active participants in uptake and application. EASNA presentation will serve as one of the key venues for the launch of the guide, which will be a freely available resource for all employers interested in enhancing workplace psychological health and safety.

As the employee assistance industry’s trade association, EASNA advances the competitive excellence of its members by fostering best practices, research, education, and advocacy in behavioral health and wellness that impacts workplace performance.

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One does not have to be diagnosed with alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence to be a problem within the workplace. Employees who drink at levels above the World Health Organization’s suggested limits for alcohol consumption, but below the levels necessary to be diagnosed as having an alcohol use problem, constitute a risk to the workplace as well. Risky, hazardous, and/or harmful drinking is correlated with physical and emotional health problems, increased traffic accidents, other workplace accidents, and workplace violence. Substance abuse impacts the U.S. economy at a cost of about $190 billion annually, as a result of lost productivity, injury, health problems, and expenses related to enforcing substance abuse laws and policies.

Given the impact of alcohol and substance-related problems on workplace health, safety, and productivity, as well as the impact upon management time and health care costs, it is increasingly essential that EA organizations develop evidence-based protocols to both properly assess alcohol and substance use issues, as well as provide proper treatment recommendations.

EA organizations are strategically aligned with both employees and employers to identify and assist individuals with problematic drinking. Further, EA organizations can be best suited to early interventions that can reduce the adverse effects of problematic drinking, including helping reduce the chances an individual will become alcohol dependent.

Research and evidence-based practices have emerged that support effective ways to address problematic drinking behaviors. Common to these practices are careful screening of alcohol use behaviors, and offering brief interventions that help reduce those drinking behaviors. These screening and brief intervention approaches have been used to effectively identify alcohol use concerns, particularly with individuals who may not meet criteria for alcohol abuse/ dependence, but may in fact be engaging in risky drinking behaviors. Standard protocols involve utilizing an alcohol-screening instrument (such as the AUDIT, or AUDIT-C) to identify problem-drinking behavior, and then provide information, often in short/ brief interactions, that have been found to help reduce drinking behavior. Best practices in screening and brief intervention of alcohol use behaviors include:

• An adaptable process, to fit a variety of EA service models
• Screening, which can be a stand-alone process or integrated into a standard intake assessment, use of an established alcohol assessment tool (such as the AUDIT or AUDIT-C)
• Brief intervention, which should have core elements of sharing assessment information (including screening results), advising, informing, and motivating
• Referral resources, based upon identification of high risk and screening feedback. Referral options may include alcohol use/abuse education, referral to other EA resources, referral for insurance-based treatment, and/or community resources. Follow-up with the individual is essential to a successful referral, and should include reassessment of alcohol use behaviors.

For more information about screening and brief intervention of alcohol use behaviors, you are encouraged to speak with an EASNA Professional Practices Committee member.