Insight Corporate Addictions Care

About Insight Corporate

We are Experts in Workplace Addiction and Psychological Health and Safety!

When an employee/member is working in a safety-sensitive position, and they are struggling with addiction issues or their psychological health strained, injured, or in an ill state, it decreases or even debilitates their capacity to perform their work safely, efficiently, and optimally. To cope and function as best as they can day-to-day, a portion of their energy, concentration, and resources need to be dedicated to managing and coping with stress, mental health issues, and/or physical health issues. This commonly leads to unhealthy coping strategies, such as abusing drugs and/or alcohol.

Depending on how severe their condition is, they may not be able to fulfill their basic job requirements, they may be utterly disengaged from work (i.e. constantly late or missing work), or worse yet, they may be unsafe to be at work, risking their own livelihood, as well as others around them. The magnitude of the potential risk of death or severe injury, loss in productivity, finances, and overall human suffering could be staggering.

There are key initiatives that an organization can adopt to mitigate risk and prevent detrimental injury, which include providing early intervention for those with addiction, psychological or physical health concerns and developing a psychologically healthy, safe, and productive work environment. Our team of experienced therapists and seasoned workplace Addiction and Psychological Health & Safety specialists are here to support organizations in the core four stages of workplace Health & Safety needs.

Whether there has been a drug and/or alcohol violation on a safety sensitive worksite, or a self-disclosure to an employer, contractor or union regarding an addiction and/or psychological issue they are struggling with, we can help with services such as:

Assessment – involving the evaluation of Addiction and Psychological Health & Safety risks, how they impact the workplace, and recommendations to support the individual in a successful and safe return to work.

Prevention – involving Addiction and Psychological Health & Safety training for leaders, employees and/or members, as well as Addiction and Psychological Health & Safety programming and policy development.

Intervention – involving a targeted range of addiction and psychological interventions and programs to support employees/members who may be struggling with addiction and/or psychological issues.

Re-Engagement/Aftercare – involving the return-to-work re-engagement and aftercare of employees/members following an addiction and/or psychological incident or issue.

Research has shown that there is a strong return on investment (ROI) for organizations that employ targeted and effective strategies, programs, and processes to: 1) mitigate and control workplace addiction and/or psychological risks and hazards, 2) promote and foster psychological wellness and injury prevention, as well as 3) ensure early intervention and support for employees/members with addiction and/or psychological issues, strains, and injuries. Not only can such efforts reinforce workplace safety for employees/members, but it also enhances wellness and productivity, which can also bring about significant financial returns for the organizations/employers/contractors and/or unions.

For more details, contact us to learn more.

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Team Member Spotlight

Dr. Cory Hrushka

Edmonton South, Online Counselling, Corporate Services

Alcohol Dependence, Drug/Substance Abuse, Sex Compulsion Assessment, Sex Addiction, Pornography Addiction, Relationship Dependence

Managing Addictions in the Workplace

Impacts of Substance Use Issues

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, the economic impacts of substance use in Canada to businesses or industries have been traditionally difficult to measure. Many costs are hidden by general absenteeism or illnesses, "unnoticed" lack of productivity, or inability or reluctance to link substance use directly with causes of workplace incidents. Note that addiction is considered to be a medical disability, and human rights laws prohibit employee dismissal related to addiction issues if they meet the criteria for a Severe Substance Use Disorder. Further, if an employee is deemed to have a severe substance disorder, employers are responsible for providing assessment, treatment and holding the employee's position until they are able to return to work.

Costs to a business may be both direct and indirect. The impacts of substance abuse that have been reported include but are not limited to:

Safety Issues (workplace fatalities, injuries, incidents, damage to property and/or equipment etc.)
Absenteeism/sick leave/turnover or presenteeism
Loss of production, efficiency, and finances
Workplace violence and harassment.

Additional costs can include:

Lawsuits
Antisocial behaviour/theft/carelessness
Poor decision making
Lower morale, work ethic and physical well-being of worker and/or co-workers
Increased likelihood of having trouble with co-workers/supervisors
High turnover/training of new employees
Disciplinary procedures
Drug and alcohol testing programs
Medical/rehabilitation/employee assistance programs

Assessments

The first step in assisting an employee/member struggling with addiction and/or psychological-related challenges is to understand the entire situation and history. Our experienced therapists will administer a series of psychometric tests that will be used to evaluate the employee/member's condition and create a treatment and return-to-work plan. The assessment stage involves a clinical interview and administration of testing. Our therapists will score, interpret and summarize the results in a written assessment report, detailing the diagnosis and treatment recommendations. This assessment report provides the necessary recommendations to provide treatment best suited to the individual's needs and for their successful and safe return to work including aftercare recommendations.

Case Management

Once the assessment recommendations are in place, Insight offers case consult or case management support-services to help support your employee/member in completing the treatment recommendations prior to returning to work, as well as the aftercare requirements once they are back to work. The degree of case management support needed by each employee/member may be different depending on their diagnosis and recommendations as per the assessment report. Services needed may range from consultation on how to support the employee/member throughout the treatment period and/or on the necessary accommodations at work, to full case management where we will work with the employee/member on your behalf to coordinate their treatment activities or multi-disciplinary service consults (where applicable), make arrangements for medical evaluations, detox, outpatient, or in-patient treatment programs (where applicable), monitoring their progress, collecting proof of treatment and setting them up for success in a safe return-to-work.

Case management is especially important if an employee/member is off work or on extended leave due to their medical condition. Experts[1] have indicated that one of the most promising and cost-effective options for improving the return-to-work process is investing in mental and occupational health professionals to meet regularly with employees who are on mental health or sick leave. Employees who have regular meetings with these professionals tend to return to work faster than employees who do not do so. Time frames for case management depend on the employee/member's diagnosis and recommendations for aftercare. However, time frames are typically in the range of six months in case management and upwards of two years in length which includes both the pre and post return to work services.

[1] CAMH (2020). CAMH’s Workplace Mental Health Playbook for Business Leaders.

Post-Assessment Counselling

Counselling and post-assessment service protocols will depend on the area and severity of addiction. Insight’s Therapists are dedicated and able to work both alongside and independently with public and/or private support services such as Alberta Health Services Treatment Centres, Alcoholics Anonymous, SMART-Recovery, and any 12-step programs. Some counselling methods that may be used in treatment include:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based approach to treatment that focuses on how your thoughts, emotions and beliefs influence your behaviour and how you perceive yourself, others and the world. CBT has been shown to be effective in dealing with anxiety because it helps you to change those negative thoughts, feelings, emotions and projections on a subject matter or circumstance and help you to learn more effective ways of dealing with your anxiety. This approach uses sound techniques to slow down, halt and eliminate your own learned reactions. Ultimately, CBT deals with those circumstances and events that you’re aware of, rather than dealing with circumstances and events relating to your unconscious. Through a sound therapeutic process, you’ll learn to respond differently to issues and circumstances, and you’ll learn healthy coping mechanisms.

Behaviour Therapy includes the thinking processes, attitudes and values which typically impact an individual. Generally speaking, Behaviour Therapy tends to view human beings and behaviour with the assumption that humans are a product of their sociocultural conditioning and environment. Behaviour Therapy also looks at the current problems and the factors influencing them and emphasizes overt behaviour changes more than the underlying unconscious processes. Typically, treatment goals are more concrete and objective with a strong focus on measuring progress over time. Ultimately, the goal of therapy is to create new learning and/or new conditions for learning that will ultimately impact the problem behaviour

Existential Therapy is focused on providing the client with a greater understanding of self including self-development, and self-awareness. This therapy works on the individual’s unique set of choices and the meaning behind them. Furthermore, the therapy emphasizes an individual’s agency to make those unique choices and the need to be responsible for the consequences. The therapy makes known that the individual can not blame their decisions and the repercussions entirely on past conditioning and/or genetics. The therapy tries to employ a sense of meaning to the individual’s life and to clarify the right way to make sound choices that are constructive and rewarding.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on being present in your life and dealing with your challenges rather than trying to eliminate difficult or unpleasant thoughts or feelings. You learn to open up and accept those feelings rather than trying to escape them or avoiding situations in which they may occur. The success of this therapy lies in the client feeling better, which then leads to a better understanding of the issues and the work it takes to get to the outcome they desire.

Relapse Prevention

While initially waning off of substances is challenging, resisting and preventing relapse may also prove very difficult. Our counsellors at Insight will work with the client one-on-one in helping to identify relapse triggers and provide coping mechanisms to overcome these instances. Case managers play a key role in this process by providing resources to support the employee/member and/or helping the contractor/union through guiding/coaching their employee with overcoming a potential relapse or by providing this support and assistance themselves directly.

Return to Work

Following successful completion of pre-treatment recommendations, a plan for the employee or member to return to work will be set in motion. A formal return to work agreement between employee, employer and case manager will be created to ensure clear expectations for employee support and workplace safety going forward. The return to work agreement will specify:

Aftercare recommendations (i.e. post-assessment counselling and random drug and alcohol testing)
Clear performance expectations
When and how performance will be reviewed
Consequences of a relapse and/or future drug and alcohol violations (being under the influence of alcohol on the job, testing positive for drugs and/or alcohol, etc.)
The plan for long-term support

Please note: random alcohol or drug tests may be included in the assessment recommendations and return to work agreement. Insight will provide a referral to an organization who will complete these drug and alcohol tests.

Successful Treatment

Each employee/member undergoing addictions treatment will be given a set period of time for case management (condition time) and treatment recommendations to be met following their initial assessment. The employee or member will be released from case management when they have met all of their required treatment recommendations:

all their condition time completed; which may include drug and alcohol testing
all treatment recommendations as per their addiction assessment

If relapse occurs, the individual will need to be reassessed and additional supports and recommendations will be presented. The addictions treatment process then starts again from the beginning.

Want to learn more about Insight Corporate's addictions care? Use the calendar tool below to schedule a 30 minute free information session!

Insight Corporate Addictions Care

About Insight Corporate