Empowered Patient Podcast Providing Support in the Workplace to Address Substance Abuse and Mental Health with Clark Lagemann Avidon Health
Clark Lagemann is the CEO of Avidon Health which is helping organizations support employees as they recover from the disruption of COVID and adjust to the reconfiguration of the workplace. While many people are leaving their jobs for more income, Avidon is finding that employees are also seeking resources to address substance abuse, stress, and pain.
Clark explains, "The kinds of substances really expanded so significantly prior to COVID then post-COVID. Before COVID, we could talk about one in 10 adults who reported anxiety and depressive disorder. Since COVID and in 2020, that shot up to four in 10, so nearly 40% of American workers suffer from mental health issues."
"So things that they're going to rely on to help them get through this, alcohol, a substance, pills. Opioids are very common, then you can go into more illicit drugs. So, the most common things that we see in the workplace that we're doing for large organizations are alcohol addiction and typically some sort of prescribed medications."
"Substance use in the workplace causes absenteeism, lost productivity, and healthcare expenses. That's from the employer, so those are big expenses, soft and hard costs, but the employee is facing the same thing. They're missing out on work, and they have lifestyle side effects because they're now suffering and they're going through these challenges. So, the opportunity that we have really is to create awareness. We start talking about that personalization first, but then creating awareness, making sure employees know what's available to them, and doing it in a discrete setting."
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