“The freight train is moving and the more people we can get on the train with us the better.” – Weyerhaeuser Slave Lake Mill Manager Mitch Gregoire.

The freight train is a new intervention program designed to help employers and the community in general deal with substance abuse, depression and anxiety problems. Called ‘Courage to Care,’ it is spearheaded by Weyerhaeuser in this community.
Courage to Care aims to increase the likelihood that someone with one of the above problems gets the help they need.
What does it involve? First of all the forming of a committee, then the hiring of a coordinator. It involves a coordinated effort between all the stakeholders. It involves training for employees and managers. Perhaps most fundamentally, it involves employees caring enough to intervene when they know one of their colleagues has a problem.
“Stepping forward to help a fellow employee is very hard to do,” says Gregoire, but that’s the type of caring culture that the program proposes to develop and not just in the workplace. Gregoire explains that workplace problems may often be related to problems in the home, and can’t therefore be solved solely by intervention at work.
“It’s a comprehensive support system,” he says. “Everyone working with everyone to ensure problems are dealt with.”
The ball started rolling recently when the Centre for Workplace and Community Wellbeing (CWCW) introduced Courage to Care to a Slave Lake audience at the Northwest Inn. The CWCW developed Courage to Care, and is introducing it in four communities where Weyerhaeuser operates.
The workshop heard (among many other things) that Courage to Care will cost about $120,000 for a three-year commitment. It should pay back in the form of reduced illnesses, accidents and higher employee retention, as well as other benefits to the community.
That’s what Weyerhaeuser is banking on, although the company hopes it won’t have to go it alone.
“We’re interested in major employers getting involved,” says Gregoire.
The more the better, but as noted above, Weyerhaeuser is going ahead regardless with implementation, with whatever degree of community buy-in it can drum up. Gregoire points out that once up and running, smaller employers can buy-in to Courage to Care for relatively little investment. Given the fact that a substance abuse problem can hurt a small business far more fatally than a big one, joining Courage to Care would be “a super benefit” for the price, he says.
It is pretty well known that addictions and stress problems hurt industry badly. They hurt individuals and families too. Changing the culture that allows such problems to fester is a tall order, but it is what Courage to Care proposes.
The program developers pull no punches when they say that success requires, “a reduction in covering up, denial and other enabling behaviours.”
The Courage to Care committee will be laying its groundwork in meetings over the next few weeks. Anyone interested in participating or wanting more information should call Claire Russell at Weyerhaeuser at 849-4333.

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