Individual Development

A New Kind of Employee Assistance

Many times, employers have the need for Employee Assistance because of anger and aggression exhibited at work, employees failing drug toxicology tests, job or work dissatisfaction, or because there is a distinct departure in an employee’s usual behavior which raises risk management concerns for supervisors. I don’t participate in any of the traditional EAP programs because I find that there’s too much inherent failure in the “snapshot” or “quick fix” approach to traditional EAP. A “snapshot” approach consists of a quick interview with a mental health professional with overviews of behavioral functioning, substance use history, and sometimes a urine drug test is also administered. The requirement gets filled for both management and the employee, but the program is underwhelming and often unproductive.

I prefer using a qualitative prolonged engagement therapeutic approach to Employee Assistance which I prefer to call Individual Development. The employee will typically see me at least 5-8 times. We will discuss what the employee’s desired outcome is in the very first session, and we will strive to make that happen.

We will use a series of interviews to begin monitoring current and historical issues, current relationships (both at home and at work), and current and historical sources of stress and how they have been managed. We will examine levels of anger, aggression, avoidance, and powerlessness, and begin on Day 1 with how to stabilize current functioning. Often, the employee’s conjugal partner will be invited to
participate in some of the sessions to provide collateral information from another person’s perspective (as typically the worker’s perspective can be skewed by denial or ego defenses). More often than not fostering dialogs with conjugal partners helps workers to open up and feel support when they most need it. A systems approach to intervention of any kind is smart care because of the ripple effect touching many people’s lives.

HIPAA guidelines will be carefully followed in the dissemination of any feedback to Management, and only the outcomes of the evaluation will be shared with recommendations for continued care, if any.

Sewerage & Water Board New Orleans – All out-of-pocket fees will be waived for workers with the UMR plan. No hidden fees or costs. Only the sessions and consultations will be billed. I will accept the portion paid by your plan as payment in full.