alcohol and other drug problems among addiction professionals

nSupport for PoliciesAs many participants noted, a policy manual sitting on a shelf has only limitedpower. To be effective, policies on emotional and behavioral health issues must receivesupport from all organizational levels.Whenever possible, staff interactions should be guided by effective, science-basedcommunication, problem-resolution, and team-building processes.Employees should receive notification of and training in these and other areas beforebeing held accountable for them. Effective supervision is also essential to theeffective application of policies and procedures.These issues are best addressed within the context of general individual andorganizational wellness. The agency needs an integrated process for employee selection,orientation, on-the-job training, stress management, supervision, employeefeedback, formal standards for probationary status, and corrective discipline. All ofthese elements should be tied to employee wellness, team functioning, and employeeassistance programs. Management of AOD issues must be integrated withmanagement in general, and with the management of employees who experienceproblems that affect their job performance or team participation.Of primary importance is the establishment and organization-wide support ofhigher standards for therapy staff, whether or not those staff members are in recovery.This high standard of sober and responsible behavior must be applied consistently tocommunication with other staff, conflict resolution, relationships with clients, managementof routine client care, and the resolution of client-management issues.Both recovering and non-recovering staff should be expected to create andmaintain an AOD-free workplace; model clear-minded, sober, responsible, courteous,and professional conduct; and foster effective and trustworthy relationshipswith colleagues and clients. These should be considered the minimum requirementsof therapeutic staff. If employers and the field as a whole focus, not on recovery status,but on the standards to which addiction professionals must be held, all otherissues will gain clarity and perspective.nPromoting Employee WellnessIn a field whose demands are often not conducive to self-care, the needs ofrecovering staff provide a legitimate challenge to the prevailing “do more and morewith less and less” approach toward meeting those demands. In many cases, theultimate consequence of neglect of self-care would be a relapse to active addiction.However, wellness can be a difficult commodity to assess and address. Giventhat organizational wellness is also an essential component in supporting individualwellness-and often a difficult one to achieve-organizational leaders are also responsiblefor addressing organizational wellness issues in effective ways.n 42 n