June 2007 Edition

In this issue:

Report from the District II Meeting

On May 6 and 7th of this year, I had the privilege of representing the North Carolina Chapter of EAPA at the District II meeting in Houston, TX. At that meeting, there were officers from several chapters in District II, including Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Kentucky. Unlike district meetings in the past, this meeting did not have a time of making reports to the district, but allowed officers the opportunity to discuss ways to improve our chapters and support the profession.

John Maynard and Marina London attended the meeting and spoke on IEAPA, as well as changes in the website and other improvements. Here are some nuggets of information that I took from the meeting.

• The average age of an EAPA member is 52.
• In comparison, the average age of an NASW member is 51.
• IEAPA is on course to have a positive margin of $330,000 this fiscal year (ending June 30).
• There are two positions open at IEAPA-Manager of Professional Learning Resources and Manager of Marketing and Communications. Please direct people to John Maynard, if they are interested in either position. These can be telecommuting positions

The biggest takeaway that I had, however, was that we have a really great chapter in North Carolina. We have a group of people who are willing to help and who try to find ways to work with change, rather than being paralyzed by change. I did take back ideas for improving our chapter that I have reported to the board. The board is considering how best to implement these.

There is one thing that John discussed which I hope we will consider as EA professionals. This had to do with how we see ourselves and how we, as professionals, present ourselves to our customers and to the general public. What he emphasized was that we should present ourselves as Knowledge workers, instead of Service workers. I will have to paraphrase John at this point, but the bottom line is that Knowledge workers have something that is unique and can be seen as commanding a premium for the information. Service workers, however, can easily be commoditized, meaning that you assume all quality is the same and anyone with similar credentials can do the same thing. He discussed the need for us to have an "elevator speech." This would be a very brief description of what we do. His suggestion for an elevator speech was, as follows, "We (EAP's) are the behavioral experts in the workplace. We deal with behavioral issues as they impact the workplace." Notice this does not say behavioral health experts; rather, it says behavioral experts. Our emphasis, according to John Maynard, should not be just in the arena of DSM-IV diagnoses, but in the understanding of how employee behavior impacts the workplace. When we describe EAP as "short-term counseling and assessment/referral services" (as I am very guilty of doing) we are calling ourselves Service workers. When we talk about being "behavioral experts in the workplace" we are Knowledge workers and more consultant oriented.

I invite us to consider this as we go forward and would welcome an on-going discussion of this on our chapter listserv. I think we would all benefit from having this discussion and speaking as one voice on what EAP is and how it assists our client company.

EAPA-NC May Training Summary

The NC EAPA Chapter was fortunate to have a very informative and animated presentation from Johnny Lee on Workplace Violence. He presented to us on 5/17/07 at Fellowship Hall in Greensboro, NC. The training was very well attended (about 30 participants) including several employees of Vocational Rehabilitation. Johnny had a great style that kept the training fun and kept the participants involved. Some of the topics discussed included:

• the importance of organizations developing and utilizing a Crisis Management Team
• understanding the importance of clear policies and procedures relating to workplace violence
• learning ways that organizations can better assess their own needs relating to workplace violence
• a review of case studies to help determine appropriate responses to workplace violence
• differences between different types of restraining orders
• an example of a Workplace Violence Security Checklist and Hazard Assessment for organizations to rate Overall Threat Assessment
• resources that are available to victims of workplace violence

Johnny's company is Peace at Work and for more information you can go to their website at www.peaceatwork.org.

A special thanks to Mike Whaley and the staff at Fellowship Hall for hosting the training. They provided nice facilities and very good meals. We appreciate their generosity and hospitality.

Submitted by John Waller

EAPA/NC Outreach Committee Update

This year the Outreach Committee will be working with the Research and Information Committee (chaired by John Waller) to explore ways to advertise EAP's in conjunction with the LEAP Board. This is a new venture and we would love to hear your ideas about how we can best promote EAP within the professional, academic and human resource community. In addition, we would like to promote our March conference and Chapter trainings to the graduate level student programs in North Carolina. If you have personal or professional contacts at one of these graduate level programs in your geographic area, please contact me to share this information. We would love to give these students an opportunity to learn about the exciting world of EAP, with the hopes they will consider this as a career choice upon graduation.

I am still on the hunt for the perfect March Conference 2008 gift and welcome your ideas! If you have an idea for a fun and innovative gift idea, maybe something you've seen in a catalog or at another conference, please let me know. There's only 9 months to go before our next March conference so let's keep hunting!

Eileen G. Hodiak, LCSW, CEAP
EAPA-NC Outreach Chairperson
Work Phone: (910) 829-1732
Work Email:
June 8, 2007

EAPA-NC March 2008 Annual Conference Update

As your March 2008 Annual Conference Chairperson, I am pleased to announce the line-up for the 2008 Conference Committee:

Eileen Hodiak, Conference Chairperson
Paul Turney, Conference Co-Chair
Lindy Langston, EAPA-NC President
Jay Hale, Vice President
David Hamby, Secretary
Dawn Klug, Treasurer
Martha Ausman
Frank Horton
Karen Molli
Terry Newsom
Mike Long
Patrick Williams
Charles Odell

Thanks to all of you for offering your time, talent, and energy to make the 2008 conference another dynamic EAPA-NC event! If you are not an Official Committee Member, we can still use your ideas for potential speakers, exhibitors and sponsors. Have you considered presenting on your particular area of expertise? We have so much talent within our Chapter and would welcome your participation.

WATCH FOR THE CONFERENCE CALL FOR PAPERS, COMING TO A WEBSITE NEAR YOU! I'm looking forward to working with this talented committee!

Eileen G. Hodiak, LCSW, CEAP
March 2008 Conference Chairperson
Work Phone: (910) 829-1732
Work Email:
June 8, 2007

Box of Generosity - UPDATE!

As your EAPA-NC Outstanding Member of the Year for 2007, I have the privilege of coordinating the BOX OF GENEROSITY for the coming year. For those of you who have attended our Chapter trainings in the past, you know that the Box of Generosity contains all the names of EAPA-NC members plus the names of each registrant for each Chapter training. So the more often you attend a Chapter training, the greater your chance of winning VALUABLE PRIZES!

CONGRATULATIONS to our May Chapter Training Box of Generosity Winners: ELAINE JENKINS won paid registrations to all EAPA/NC workshops for one year (not including March conference) and NELSON HODGKINS won a one-year EAPA-NC membership ($40 value).

September Chapter training prizes will be a March Conference Registration ($185 value) and a one-year EAPA-NC membership = so be sure to plan on attending - topic and location to be announced!

December Chapter training prizes will also be a March Conference Registration and a one-year EAPA-NC membership - topic and location TBA!

Eileen G. Hodiak, LCSW, CEAP
EAPA-NC Outstanding Member of the Year 2007
June 8, 2007

Thank you from Paul Roman

Dr. Paul Roman was awarded the President's Achievement Award at the Annual NC-EAPA Conference, March, 2007. Regretfully, Dr. Roman was unable to attend the conference, but, sent the following message to the Chapter:

......"I love the beautiful clock......something actually needed. I will use it to count the days toward my next EAP study. Also, the letters of nomination are very moving and a delightful inclusion. My regrets for missing the ceremony. Many, many thanks for your kindness."

Paul Roman

Yes, Charge It!

Pay Pal will soon be live on the website, which will allow anyone the option to register and pay for chapter trainings and the March conference on-line if they so desire. No more sending a check and trying to remember how much a stamp now costs to mail it in! Pay Pal provides a secure and encrypted means where one can use either a credit or debit card to pay the registration fee, and the funds are electronically deposited into the NC EAPA bank account. The process promises to be easy, convenient, and secure...and no cost to members!

Listserve Reminders

Chapter members can send a message to the membership via the listserve, by sending the e-mail to: (that is a small L after the hyphen).

If you are a chapter member not on the listserve, or your e-mail address changes, send an e-mail to so changes can be made to the listserve.

Photos

Johnny posing with some of the participants
Elaine and Mona enjoy catching up with each other	New NC EAPA member Geoffery Luce picks from Eileen's BOX OF GENEROSITY
Audience getting involved in the participation
Johnny getting into the NC EAPA spirit	Lindy and Jaci light up the room with their smiles

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