Center offers help in stressful times
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Employers in the area now have the option to give their workers an extra benefit, at modest or no expense to the companies.
The Mental Health Center of East Central Kansas has developed an Employee Assistance Program with different levels of participation and fees.
“Our basic idea is that any size organization can have as a benefit for its employees a ready-to-go mental health and substance-abuse service program,” the center’s executive director Bill Persinger said.
“You don’t have to be a big company or have a budget, a large benefits budget, to say to your employees, ‘We think you need some help and here’s some people that we’ve already arranged to work with you on your behalf to make sure you’re successful here.’”
The new EAP was developed to help area residents who may experience problems springing from the added stresses of economic downturns, job and family worries, alcohol and substance abuse and other causes.
Persinger said that the center already has noticed an increase in clients in recent months.
“More and more people are coming in anyway, because I think the stigma is going down and it’s affordable and we’re getting the word out,” Persinger said. “We know that substance abuse, stress, anxiety, depression and other personal problems have a very negative emotional and financial impact on employees, their families, the employer and the workplace. The current economy creates even more pressure on each of us.”
The center also has a sliding fee scale linked to income, and accepts payments from insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and other third parties.
Persinger said that a good support system at work, such as the EAP, can improve morale and increase productivity at work and also improve personal relationships among families..
The EAP can be free of charge, if the employer chooses that plan, or can be more involved and extend to serving employees for multiple sessions paid for by the employer. In any case, counselors are readily available to help.
“These people are ready and willing to help you almost on a moment’s notice, and you’re going to be able to afford it. And the employer can afford it, too,” he said.
The alcohol and substance abuse division at the center, which was downsized earlier this year by almost two employees, will have a portion of the cut restored. The increase has come about because of the closing of the Newman Regional Health Recovery Road program.
“I think what you’ll see is that we’ll move that staffing back some, maybe by an employee or so,” Persinger said.
The program has not supported itself, he said, but the service is an important one to the community.
“Just strictly financially speaking, the smart thing to do is to drop it. It is a program where we just can’t get ahead. In fact, we can’t break even,” Persinger said.
“What we’ve done at the mental health center is we’ve made a moral decision. A decision of right and wrong. It’s been a tough call. It’s been very tough.”
Persinger said the center is “tweaking” the program, implementing better business practices and changing service delivery a little to try to decrease the financial loss.
“The fact of the matter is, the mental health center is unique. It is a public safety net provider and we have to be very careful about decreasing services, especially at a time when people have a high need,” he said.
The program and the mental health center itself have had strong support from judges in Lyon County District Court, Persinger said.
The mental health center offers services at its headquarters in Emporia and at branch offices in Chase, Coffey, Greenwood, Morris, Osage and Wabaunsee counties.