Creating Secondhand Drinking Prevention Programs to Meet Company | Agency Objectives
- Stress
- A new approach to alcohol abuse prevention (especially with regards to changing company/agency norms that support excessive drinking)
- A new approach to drunk driving prevention
- Family wellness to improve employee wellness
- Increasing employee engagement with company EAP and Health & Wellness programs
- A new approach to safety training
- A new approach to employee mental health and wellness
These are but a few requests clients express when they contact me. In particular, notice those requesting “a new approach.” This is how people find me and refer me to others, and it stems from my 18 years’ research of 21st century brain science and my expertise in simplifying this science in layman’s terms. For it is this science that is shattering our long held beliefs about managing stress, driving while impaired as a “choice,” drinking too much as a character defect and something to “just stop,” mental health disorders as something a person can “just get over,” and “fixing” the person with the problem fixes the family.
Why science?
Recall the 1970s & early 80s – many adults smoked cigarettes, we didn’t use bike helmets, infant car seats hadn’t been invented and we rarely used our seat belts. And think about how we viewed and treated HIV-Aids!
All of that changed drastically in just 10-20+ years — simply because people started talking about and sharing the new research and taking action as they gathered knowledge. Today, bike helmets are mandatory for children under 18, seat belts are mandatory for every passenger, fire departments install infant car seats, and HIV-Aids is recognized as a body fluid-to-body fluid transmitted disease that is “treated like this” and “prevented like this.”
One example of the cross-over potential for Lisa Frederiksen’s Secondhand Drinking Prevention Programs
The same is true today in terms of new brain research giving us the science of what can make a difference in how we address long-standing concerns, such as: driving while impaired, mental illness, alcohol misuse, stress, developing alcoholism, underage drinking, alcohol-related crime, unhealthy coping skills and so much more.
My expertise in simplifying this research to meet the specific objectives for a particular client’s audience is what makes my services “different,” because it gives attendees the “ah-ha” information they have long needed to SELF-ELECT change.
Specific to the science behind Secondhand Drinking-related stress and its impacts on a person’s physical and emotional health, which is what impacts the workplace, please read my article appearing in the University of Texas Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction’s CNRA Connections, “Secondhand Drinking” (begins on pages 7-8).”
Where does Secondhand Drinking Prevention fit in?
It offers “a new approach.” Here are three such examples:
Example 1 – Kansas City Police Department Training Academy
One of the Kansas City Police Department’s command leaders had heard me speak and contacted me about providing similar training for the Kansas City Police Department Training Academy. I then dealt with the Training Officer to explore objectives for a program that would offer a different approach to reducing alcohol misuse [binge drinking, heavy social drinking, alcohol abuse and alcoholism] in order to reduce its impacts in the workplace, employee’s personal lives and employee interactions with citizenry while on duty.
The program I designed was titled, Breaking The Cycles – Changing the Conversations – Talking About Secondhand Drinking – the Other Side of Alcohol Misuse, for which attendees received 7 CE credits.
Example 2 – Tahoe National Forest Employee Orientation Safety Day
After an overview presentation on Secondhand Drinking – the Other Side of Alcohol Misuse at a regional workshop for health and safety officers, a representative of the Tahoe National Forest contacted me and wanted a presentation not just about secondhand drinking prevention but one that zeroed in on stress and effective stress management techniques, regardless of the cause, but at the same time, he didn’t want the typical stress prevention program.
We discussed a few relevant facts related to stress, which is the basis of secondhand drinking’s impact on some 80 million Americans, including:
- Stress – whether it’s related to job, financial, relationship, health or SHD – activates the brain’s fight or flight stress response system, which when chronically activated causes physical, emotional and quality of life impacts, such as sleep disorders, headaches, migraines, stomach ailments, skin conditions, anxiety, depression, changes in eating patterns and more.
- Secondhand Drinking (SHD) – the negative impacts of a person’s drinking behaviors on others – can affect up to 35% of a workplace
- Stress is a common reason people turn to alcohol for relief
- Alcohol misuse is the primary cause of drinking behaviors, which are the primary cause of SHD-related stress
The program I designed was titled, Stress & the Secondhand Drinking Connection.
Example 3 – Ft. Irwin National Training Center National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month
Having conducted a civilian training program for Ft. Irwin titled, “Alcohol and the Brain: How a Person Can Lose Control of Their Drinking,” I was contacted by the Alcohol and Drug Control Officer to provide a training for 1000 troops as part of their National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month observance. He wanted a program that could engage 1000 troops, provide a different approach to the long-standing message: “Don’t Drink and Drive,” and hit home with an 18 year old who will be asked to put their life on the line but can’t have a beer. From the feedback he received, I succeeded by bringing in secondhand drinking in terms of the impacts of a person’s DUI on others and the simplified science of how a person can “choose” to drink and drive.
Work with Lisa Frederiksen to customize Secondhand Drinking Prevention Programs for your company or public agency
Lisa Frederiksen’s 18 years’ research into 21st century brain science and her expertise in simplyfying scientific concepts makes her customized secondhand drinking prevention programs and their cross-over opportunities extremely effective. To learn more, please me at lisaf@breakingthecycles.com
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Note: this post first appeared on SHD Prevention, which I’ve merged with BreakingTheCycles.com. Updated 3.29.21.
Lisa Frederiksen
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