VitalCog Substance Misuse & Recovery Friendly Workplaces
Substance misuse can affect an employee’s ability to work safely and effectively, contributing to impairment, increased safety risks, decreased performance, and challenges for the broader workplace. Substance use exists on a spectrum—from non-use and prescribed use to lower-risk use, higher-risk use, and addiction—and people may move along this spectrum over time. Importantly, addiction is a treatable medical condition and recovery is possible.
The VitalCog Substance Misuse & Recovery Friendly Workplaces training helps leaders, supervisors, and employees better understand substance use in the workplace, recognize potential signs of impairment, and respond appropriately. The training emphasizes creating workplaces that balance safety and accountability with support, while reducing stigma and making it easier for employees to seek help.
Delivery: In-Person or Virtual
Audience: Leadership, HR professionals, managers and supervisors, safety professionals, and employees — appropriate for workplaces seeking to strengthen their approach to substance use, impairment, and recovery
Training Time: 1 hour
Goals:
Increase understanding of substance use, impairment, and recovery in the workplace
Recognize physical, cognitive/behavioral, and performance-related signs of possible impairment
Build confidence in responding appropriately and documenting workplace concerns
Reduce stigma and support employees in seeking help
Promote a workplace culture that balances safety, accountability, and support
This training is a program of the University of Colorado’s Johnson Depression Center and incorporates a recovery-friendly workplace approach.
In this training, participants will gain practical tools and confidence to recognize and address substance misuse while supporting a safer, healthier, and more recovery-friendly workplace.
Understand: Substance Use & Impairment
Explore substance use as a spectrum and understand that impairment is broader than alcohol or drug use. An employee’s ability to work safely can also be affected by fatigue, physical factors, stress, and mental health conditions.
Recognize: Signs of Impairment
Learn to recognize potential physical, cognitive/behavioral, and performance-related signs of impairment, such as slowed reaction time, fatigue, confusion, unusual behavior, poor judgment, increased mistakes, absenteeism, or difficulty completing tasks.
Respond: Address Workplace Concerns
Learn how to respond when impairment is suspected by focusing on observable behaviors rather than assumptions, documenting concerns objectively, seeking input when appropriate, and following established workplace policies and procedures.
Support: Build a Recovery-Friendly Workplace
Explore strategies for reducing workplace risk and supporting recovery, including promoting psychological safety and open communication, addressing stigma, providing access to Employee Assistance Programs, encouraging peer and social support, and preparing leaders to respond effectively. Participants also consider how workplace factors such as high stress, hazardous environments, isolation, easy access to substances, and workplace culture can contribute to risk.
The goal is a workplace where employees can ask for help without sacrificing accountability or safety—and where substance-related concerns are neither ignored nor addressed solely through punishment.