UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 4, Page 3
September 24, 1992
Counseling, caring for fellow employees is her job
University employees with a wide variety of problems can find a
compassionate and caring friend in Cecily Sawyer Harmon. As
coordinator of the Employee Assistance and Wellness Program (EAWP)
since November of l989, Harmon is a welcoming encourager to the
troubled.
She counsels four or five different employees every day on
problems ranging from depression and anxiety to family and marital
crisis or, in many cases, a combination of troubles. She also holds
follow-up sessions with employees whom she has referred elsewhere for
drug and alcohol rehabilitation; coordinates a lunchtime series that
presents material on all types of mental and physical health; conducts
workshops on conflict resolution and other topics for University
units; facilitates several support groups; and teaches diversity
training.
"There are some 300 Employee Assistance and Wellness Programs
(referred to nationally as EAP's) throughout the U.S.," Harmon said.
"They started in the l940s in the automobile industry to combat
substance abuse. They were initially run by people who were in
recovery themselves.
Today, EAP's are more sophisticated, run by individuals who are
specially trained or who are, like Harmon, licensed clinical social
workers.
"In the past 10 years, Employee Assistance and Wellness Programs
have become broadbrush," Harmon said, "as businesses and corporations
are looking at manpower and how to help it function. They want to get
the best from their employees, and wellness has become a part of the
bottom line. People who are unhappy or working through something like
a family problem can't perform as well in the workplace. We all take
some of the baggage from our personal lives into work. An employee's
output is often contingent upon how he or she feels."
At the University, the EAWP uses a holistic approach, Harmon
said, and "encompasses the physical, emotional and spiritual
components of the employee."
This is the fifth year for the University's EAWP and Harmon's
third on the job. There are l0 other colleges and universities in
surrounding states that have similar programs, and Harmon is active in
a professional organization that meets once a month to allow members
to exchange ideas.
People from all employee groups come to Harmon for counseling,
either voluntarily or through referral of a supervisor or friend. She
does an initial assessment and often does her own short-term
counseling for eight to l0 sessions.
In the area of substance abuse, Harmon makes an assessment and
determines an appropriate referral for the employee with the problem.
It may be an in-patient referral to one of four treatment centers or
intensive out-patient counseling that can be arranged during the
evenings
Harmon is responsible for making the referral arrangements,
checking insurance and health care forms and making sure the
employee's job is secure while the treatment is going on. She has
weekly telephone conferences to get progress reports from the
counselor at the referral agency. Upon discharge from an outside
agency, the employee must agree to meet with Harmon weekly or biweekly
for the next four to six months for follow-up care
At lunchtime on Mondays, she runs a group similar to Alcoholics
Anonymous for those in recovery. Two of her best success stories,
people who have been sober for at least three years, will soon begin
visiting various employee groups with Harmon and Jack Miles, director
of affirmative action, to encourage others to come forward and seek
counseling.
Harmon also is able to arrange similar substance-abuse counseling
for University spouses and children who are covered under University
health care.
A third component of Harmon's job is coordinating the popular
monthly "Lunch and Learn" series. All lectures are at noon on the
third Wednesday of the month in the Collins Room of the Perkins
Student Center
Topics related to some aspect of physical or mental health vary
from breast cancer awareness to the grief process. Often the speakers
are University employees and sometimes Harmon conducts the sessions
herself. Occasionally, there are outside speakers.
Another place Harmon puts her public speaking skills to work is
in individualized workshops that are often requested by specific
University units. Team building, communication skills and conflict
resolution are popular topics. However, some requests can be as
specific as one made by the Office of Housing and Residence Life
employee who asked Harmon to conduct a workshop on getting over the
holiday blues. She also has offered presentations on caring for
elderly parents.
Every other Wednesday at noon, Harmon conducts a support group
for women employees who are in the process of separating or divorcing.
The group grew out of the large numbers of women she was seeing in
counseling who had similar problems.
Harmon works with an advisory committee composed of the deans of
the colleges of Human Resources, Physical Education, Athletics and
Recreation, and Nursing, as well as Maxine Colm, vice president for
employee relations and others.
Prior to joining the University Harmon was the assistant director
of social work for Liberia, West Africa. In Delaware, she has worked
as the assistant director of a statewide program for pregnant
teenagers, as the assistant director of the Southbridge Medical
Activity Center and in administrative roles in child and foster care.
-Beth Thomas