Greetings

On 4/16/19 I and fellow coordinator Drew Catania went to the TWU Local 513 to attend a day of eap training hosted by Mark Scroggins TWU 513 EAP director. 

We missed Colin Ross of the Ross Institute speaking about workplace trauma because we arrived at DFW at 9:30ish am. We were told that Ross caused by ire to our fellow coordinators by saying that addiction was a choice. We are taught that the first time was a choice although after a while addiction makes the choices for the addict.

Michael Gasper from Right Step spoke about Relapse is a Process. During recovery, particularly in the early months, it is common to experience urges or cravings to use alcohol or drugs. An urge or craving may occur at any time even if you are actively involved in a recovery program. Best way to counter these urges and cravings are talking with others, redirecting your activity, changing your thoughts and avoiding threatening situations such as people, places and things. 

John Tuttle along with Annia Palacios from Optum EAP spoke about living beyond grief and loss. John gave a touching, personal example of this by sharing what he went through when he lost his wife not too long ago. We were given a survivor benefits information guide for active employees, pension information for fsc and cc and a major life event checklist.

Joslyn Tatum of USA Mobile Drug Testing of Plano had a presentation called 'The New Marijuana in Town.' He spoke about two cannabinoids identified in marijuana which were THC and CBD . THC is the principal psychoactive
part of marijuana while CBD is non-psychoactive (doesn't get you high) which has become a popular treatment for nausea, anxiety, and pain. It was explained to us that no matter what the package or bottle of the CBD product says about being THC free it's impossible to totally separate the two. That means a very small trace of THC remains which may or may not show up on a drug test. It's recommended that those who are drug tested should stay away from CBD for there's no guarantee that a test will come up positive. There also talk about how dangerous synthetic marijuana (  K2, Spice, Joker, Black Mamba, Kush, and Kronic ) can be with even a single usage. Its effects can be
unpredictable and, in some cases, more dangerous or even life-threatening. 

The last speaker was Lisa Hinson from Starlight Recovery Center. Her presentation was a Family System in Recovery. She defined the roles of family members of someone in recovery as The Enabler: protects the alcoholic/addict from the consequences of his or her behavior, The Scapegoat: creates other problems and concerns in order to deflect attention away from the real issue, The Lost Child is a family member who will be absent or secluded from the situation and The Mascot: attempts to use humor as a means to escape from the pain of the problems caused by addiction. Addiction is a family disease which affects all its members. It's important that the family as a whole get treatment along with the addict.

It is always important to get as much education in these subjects and many others that involve the eap. We appreciate and thank you for the support you show us by giving us the resources to be able to attend this and other similar events. We hope to be able to use our training to assist our members in their time of need and to make our workplace safer in the process. 

Sincerely,

Luis Trevino 

TWU Local 512 EAP Coordinator Chief