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Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative

Recovery Friendly Workplace sealThe Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative exists to help employers help employees who have been impacted by substance use disorder. We provide targeted trainings, resources in both print and digital, and pair employers with recovery specialists and peer coaches in their local communities.

Over 80% of HR directors believe that substance use disorder impacts their employees, and they’re right. One in twelve workers has an untreated substance use disorder (SUD). Opioid misuse alone has impacted over 70% of employers, and opioids are just one facet of a disorder that also includes alcohol misuse and illicit drug use. Over 80% of HR directors believe that substance use disorder impacts their employees, yet only 25% of them feel prepared to deal with the issue.

Here at SERAC, our Recovery Friendly Workplace program coordinator, Eric Reynolds, works directly with workplaces in eastern CT to make sure they’re prepared to face substance use disorder with empathy, support, and a recovery accommodation plan.

Our goal is to guide your workplace through a seamless path to certification, including making resources available for employees in need of assistance, identifying peer champions within your workplace to help navigate the process and facilitating trainings to ensure both employees and employers have the support they need.

Recovery Friendly Workplaces enjoy a host of benefits other workplaces lack, such as:

  • Increased employee retention
  • Lower employee costs in both healthcare and lost productivity
  • Membership in a growing network of workplaces and non-profit organizations working together to combat substance use disorder
  • Designation and marketing as a state-certified Recovery Friendly Workplace

Learn more:

For more information, or to begin your journey towards RFW certification, please contact Eric Reynolds by call or text at (860) 949-5155 or via email at EReynolds@seracct.org.

RFW is a project under the CT State Opioid Response Initiative for Region 3 Eastern CT, funded in partnership with CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and SAMHSA (Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration). It covers all 41 towns in the SERAC region.