Special Board of Aldermen 06-08-2021 Page 3
We do provide guidance for any committees that you would like to create following your designations and we will also
provide support in terms of any survey that you might like to execute to determine the needs of your employees. So with
the City of Manchester we did execute a survey. We had a really good number of respondents and out ofthat, the City
of Manchester shared with us that the most important topic that they would like more support and information on is
compassion, fatigue, stress, and burnout. So we actually have something that we’re going to be presenting and you'l be
included in that at no cost | might add to address that particular focus. Last but not least, we always will have ongoing
dialog. I’m always available for you to reach out to and we try to provide a structure that will allow you to continue to
grow over time and further develop your recovery friendly culture.
So | mentioned the trainings a moment ago. These are all the trainings that we current have in progress. Some ofthem
have become in person. There are a lot of self-paced options which | know that a lot of the employees in the City of
Nashua have been participating in. We also have the online only trainings that people can access as well. Ass|
mentioned, we’ll be adding that compassion fatigue training within the next month.
So we’re also asked well what can employers do. You as a city employer you might say well what can we do to further
the Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative and support individuals in their recovery. So this is a very quick bulletized list.
It’s actually also in much more detail from the SAMHSA site. There’s a link there that | can send to you following this
presentation. The first thing would be is perhaps through a survey as an example to identify issues and assess needs
and then at that point you can review that with myself as the advisory. We can talk about possibly revising policies or
taking a look at those and always providing ongoing awareness and education to employees as it suits each department.
| realize each department is a little bit different too so we would want to talk in a little bit more detail about that to ensure
that we’re meeting the specific needs of each department.
Employers | know are always focused on safety and we always try to kind of reinforce that prevention focus for
employers as well as employers are in the position to connect employees to resources, to support groups, and then
obviously periodically evaluate how are things going and what kind of changes do we need to make to continue to be
successful. | will share with you as an example, there’s an employer in Dover, New Hampshire, called “Cameleon
Group” and they actually have progressed so far that they actually have someone from the recovery community
organization come in and run an all recover support group during company time for anyone who is interested on a
weekly or even a bi-weekly basis in some instances.
So we are always asked by employers so what are the signs and symptoms of a substance use or how do we know if
somebody is using substances. Certainly we can provide a list of sort of those physical signs and symptoms but really
what | want to point out with this slide is that the best identification practice is to really cultivate open and honest
conversations with employees in a safe, supportive, and recovery friendly environment. Creating this environment is
really what becoming a recovery friendly workplace is all about and | know that our Declaration really does speak to that.
So when having a conversation about substance use concerns if you look at this circular diagram here, it’s always
important to remain mindful of being open, and honest, showing genuine empathy, and compassion, and leaving
judgement at the door sort to speak. We'll help you to develop a plan. You may already have some plans so hopefully
we can augment that and add some resources to your menus so that you can offer tangible support to any employee that
might be requesting assistance.
| wanted to reference a case study that was done with Genfoot America. If you’re not familiar with Genfoot, they’re
actually a manufacturing firm located in the North Country and they became designated right about the time | came on
board as an advisor. Since that time, and this will demonstrate too that recovery friendly culture is developing over time.
It doesn’t happen overnight. Since then five employees have come forward to seek help and they are hiring from their
local recovery homes and two of those individuals have now become shift leaders. The employees together decided to
form what they call a “Helping Hands Committee” and some of those individuals are certified as recovery coaches. So
they can talk to other employees that might not be quite ready to go the next step and can kind of partner with them to
get to the appropriate level of care through their employer. This is one company that over the course ofa little over two
years really attributes their change in recovery friendly culture to decreases in accidents and injuries, lost days, and light
duty days. Ofcourse, this would something we'd aspire to for all companies to have.
At this point, | wanted to play a short video for you. Waypoint, which in this particular case, this is the President and
CEO Borja in Manchester. They really have worked hard to develop an all-inclusive recovery friendly workplace so not
just recovery in terms of substance use disorder but in terms of mental health, diversity, and so forth. I'd just like to have
him explain in his words how they’ve been able to do that.
The video was then played.
