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SOS Receives Grant to Initiate Recovery Friendly Workplace Program

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May 29, 2019
SOS Recovery Community Organization has received $285,000 from the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority (NH CDFA) to initiate a Recovery Friendly Workplace (RFQ) programming across Strafford County and the Seacoast. The NH CDFA awarded five nonprofits nearby $1 million in grant funds to support RFW initiatives.
 
“The RFW Initiative demonstrates New Hampshire’s ability to work with public and private partners in a collaborative approach to solving the challenges facing our communities,” Katherine Easterly Martey, executive director of the CDFA, reportedly said. “The ingenuity of the nonprofits awarded funding to advance this work will demonstrate how New Hampshire’s Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative can provide a road map for stakeholders that will empower workplaces to create healthy, safe and supportive working environments.”  

John Burns, director of SOS said as part of its RFW program, SOS would like to develop and/or identify various curriculum to introduce individuals to careers in various trades, construction and medical services for people in recovery.

“Our organization has identified a tremendous workforce shortage in these areas and we also have identified a population of individuals utilizing our services that would be engaged and identify as willing and motivated to fill some of these shortages with proper classroom and on-the-job training,” said Burns.

In addition, he said that SOS has identified that employers could also benefit from stigma trainings and educational modules as to how to become a recovery friendly workplace.

“We hope to identify and develop training and supports specifically targeted to upper and middle management as well as to frontline employees for small, medium and large businesses across Strafford County and the Seacoast.  We feel it’s critical to build these programs that you first educate and get acceptance from all levels of management and leadership before training employees,” said Burns. “It is crucial that stigma training and cultural training is done to encourage an understanding of substance use disorders and to create a safe space to discuss those challenges for both individuals and family members in the workplace.”

Burns said upon completion of developing employer trading and education, the next step would be to provide professional assistance and development in collaboration with employers to build recovery support services into the workplace.

“We would focus on working with Employment Assistance Programs (EAP) and human resource departments, as well as managers to create systems where individuals won’t be terminated immediately for substance use disorder challenges and re-occurrences and instead provide support services that include individual and family recovery coaching and telephone recovery support services for employees, said Burns.

“We would like to structure programs that allow family members and individuals to receive peer recovery support services while employed to help connect them to clinical programs and improve wellness,” he continued. We know that peer recovery support services are evidence based for reducing re-occurrences, shortening the time of re-occurrences and improvements in maintaining recovery.  We believe programs such as this, once developed and implemented, will increase workforce productivity as well as reduce employee turnover.”  

Burns said SOS RCO would also focus on developing workforce re-entry training progra
ms for Strafford and Rockingham County Corrections that could be modeled statewide. 

If you or your business want to join SOS in becoming a leader in developing these programs in partnership, receive services such as education and recovery coaching, as well as technical assistance and guidance please contact John Burns immediately via email: john@sosrco.org
 
Contact:
Rene Philpott
rphilpott@goodwinch.org, (603) 841-0996

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