Managing Mental Illness and Emotional Crisis in the Workplace
The Mental Health Association of Minnesota proudly announces that the agency will hold A fall forum: Managing Mental Illness and Emotional Crisis in the Workplace, on Tuesday, December 6, 2005, from Noon – 4:30 pm.
MINNEAPOLIS (PRWEB) November 30, 2005
The Mental Health Association of Minnesota proudly announces that the agency will hold a fall forum: Managing Mental Illness and Emotional Crisis in the Workplace, on Tuesday, December 6, 2005, from Noon – 4:30 pm. The forum is planned to educate small and medium sized employers about mental illness in the workplace and how to develop strategies for managing emotional crises and mental illness while supporting employees to stay on the job, improve overall productivity, and hold down costs and risks. The forum will provide useful approaches incorporating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Best Mental Health Practices in the Workplace.
“There is growing recognition by employers of the problems faced by employees with mental illnesses and the impact of mental illness in the workplace. Managers may expect a person with a mental illness to ‘just snap out of it.’ Employees who are under major stress, who experience Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, depression, anxiety disorders, and other psychiatric illnesses can often become productive again. Mental illnesses may require ongoing support and care like any other chronic illness or medical diagnosis,” said Sandra Meicher, Executive Director.
Presenters at the forum include Doug Fiola, Retired Cargill Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Executive. Fiola worked at Cargill to improve support for employees struggling with substance abuse and mental illness, especially after a series of suicide events that focused attention on how to support employees while maintaining high employee morale and productivity. Laurie Vasichek, JD, a Senior Trial Attorney with the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in Minneapolis, was involved in the Commission’s ADA suit against Chuck E. Cheese’s, which resulted in a $13 million jury verdict, and the EEOC’s suit against Burlington Northern Santa Fe for unlawful genetic testing of current employees. Vasichek has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, is a frequent lecturer on issues involving the EEOC and discrimination law, and has been named a Minnesota “Superlawyer” by Minnesota Law & Politics magazine for the last seven years. She is currently Vice Chair of the Labor & Employment Law Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association. The third speaker is Jim Printup, of The Oasis Group/EAP, a small, full service EAP based in Edina, MN. Printup has worked for a large international EAP vendor where he designed EAP programs and coordinated Critical Incident Responses for large-scale traumatic events. He is currently Secretary of the Upper Midwest Chapter of EAPA.
This forum was designed to support owners, managers and supervisors in businesses with under 75 employees, organizations planning to avoid legal and financial risks, human resource and employee assistance managers, attorneys, labor relations professionals and providers who deliver mental health services, and family, friends and colleagues of workers with a mental illness.
The learning objectives for the forum include:
-Providing current information on the business costs related to mental illness;
-Describing how employers can recognize the symptoms of mental illness;
-Addressing what employers can do when employees are experiencing an emotional or a mental health crisis and it interferes with workplace performance;
-Outlining why employers should encourage their employees to use an Employee Assistance Program if your business has one;
-Describing what benefits work to keep a productive work force;
-Providing an overview of what employers need to know about the Americans with Disabilities Act and what employers' responsibilities are under the ADA, such as what employers can and cannot do related to a psychiatric disability;
-Describing what constitutes a disability, why is the EEOC involved in this process, and what psychiatric disabilities are covered by the ADA;
-Describing when to offer an accommodation and make work schedule changes; and
-Describing what can employers can do to help the employee transition back into the workplace.
The forum will be held at the Four Points by Sheraton Minneapolis Metrodome, 1330 Industrial Blvd., Minneapolis, MN 55413. For more information, or to register by phone, call: (612) 331-6840. For more information about the Association and the Business Initiative, visit the Association’s web site at http://www. mentalhealthmn. org (http://www. mentalhealthmn. org) This forum is part of the series, Best Mental Health Practices in the Workplace: It’s Your Business. It is sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Health.
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