A Caring Workplace is a place of employment where the leadership understands the impact that substance use disorder, addiction and incarceration has had on individuals within the community and makes a commitment to go through a certification process to become better informed and equipped on how to deal with these issues within their workforce. The certification process includes a substance abuse policy review by experts at the ETSU Addiction Science Center, leadership training, and employee training. Employers are also open in many cases to offering 2nd chance employment opportunities to individuals within the recovery and/or justice involved communities and they receive resources and guidance from their Caring Workplaces Advisor.

By becoming a Caring Workplace, your employer has demonstrated their willingness to provide you, their employees, with a healthy, safe and stigma-free work environment. As an employee working for a Caring Workplace, we encourage you to reach out to your employer if you or a family member is struggling with an addiction and or mental health situation and are in need of assistance. Your Caring Workplace employer wishes for you to feel safe and secure in asking for help and taking these steps towards healing and wholeness. Your employer can reach out to the Caring Workplaces Advisor, and we can provide you with the appropriate and necessary support and resources to help.

It is important that all employees, including management, are trained and educated in the area of addiction and substance use disorder to better understand the complexities of this disease and help eliminate stigma surrounding it. Becoming a certified Caring Workplace involves changing a culture to become more compassionate and allowing all employees to feel safe, appreciated and valued. You are part of a workforce that has committed to helping individuals who may suffer from substance use disorders and or give second chance opportunities to these individuals. Therefore, it’s important that as a team, all employees are trained and recognize the importance of treating each other with respect and compassion.

Unless your employer has assigned you a specific training, it’s up to you to choose which training you would like to take. All trainings on this platform have been selected and offered on this platform, based on the relevance of their content. Therefore, any and all trainings are valuable and will count towards your employer’s annual requirement to become a “certified” Caring Workplace.

Unless your employer has assigned you a specific training, it’s up to you to choose which training you would like to take. All trainings on this platform have been selected and offered on this platform, based on the relevance of their content. Therefore, any and all trainings are valuable and will count towards your employer’s annual requirement to become a “certified” Caring Workplace.

As many times as it takes for you to pass the quiz.

That is totally up to you. Also, you may ask your employer if it’s necessary for them to have a copy to place in your personnel file.