Address:
332 - 12th Street
New Westminster, BC
Telephone: (604) 521-8611
Toll Free: 1-888-521-8611
Fax: 604-521-0754
Email: cirp@shawbiz.ca
Fred J. Prouten, ICADC, ICCS - Program Director
Robert (Sig) Sigurdson, A.C.A.D. - Intake-Counsellor.
Topics in this section include:
What is the Plan?
The Construction Industry Rehabilitation Plan is a joint union/management program that offers help to people in the organized construction industry - workers and their immediate families who have problems, due to chemical dependency, that are affecting their work performance or emotional stability.
How does it operate?
The Plan's mandate is to tailor the treatment process for the individual needs of each client. The Plan offers pre- and post-treatment counseling to individuals, couples or families.
The Plan also facilitates 12 - Step and other group or family support meetings. Education and awareness meetings can be arranged to explain and give details of the Plan’s mandate and methods.
The Plan's Philosophy
The Construction Industry Rehabilitation Plan functions on a philosophy of confidentiality and trust. It could not function in any other way. The care of the affected individual is its primary purpose. No person's right to privacy will ever be put at risk.
CONFIDENTIALITY
AND TRUST
ARE THE TWO MAIN FACTORS
OF THE PLAN'S SUCCESS.
The Treatment Centre
The Plan's eight bed Treatment Centre has "been there" for more than 1,700 tradesmen since opening in late 1989. These alumni have rejoined their families, their industry and their communities.
The Centre offers a 35 day residential program of structured treatment where clients can discover the nature of their addiction and explore the beginnings of recovery. The program allows an individual to come to terms with life while gaining new respect for himself
The process consists of five weeks of:
Although the Centre can only accommodate male clients, the Plan accesses all other treatment facilities to meet the needs of our female tradespeople.
Confidentiality is paramount. The privacy of our tradespeople will never be compromised.
We truly are our brother's and sister's keeper.
Some Questions and Answers
How does the Plan work?
The Plan is an Employee Assistance Program. If you have a chemical dependency problem, you need help! The Plan's counselors will arrange for services such as detoxification, medical assessment, counseling and treatment, where it seems appropriate.
What about my job if I take treatment?
Your employer is usually happy to give you time off just the same as for any other illness. Your union is ready to help as well, and the Plan is designed to take care of any other problems that might arise in this area.
Who pays the bills?
There is no charge for detox facilities and the plan pays for treatment. Since addiction is a family disease, the Plan will pay for your spouse to attend a suitable program where available.
What about wage loss?
Employment Insurance and most union welfare plans will pay wage loss while you are in treatment, as they would for any other illness.
How are people referred?
There are three ways to
be referred.
Self referral:
Initiated by the member contacting the Plan office directly seeking help for themselves or a dependant. The majority of clients are self-referred.
Voluntary referral:
Initiated by the union representative and/or a workplace supervisor. Demonstrably poor work performance
is the only basis for this approach. Suspicion of a problem is not sufficient
grounds for initiating a voluntary referral. On being confronted with the
concerns of his union/management people, the employee is encouraged to undertake
a course of treatment voluntarily. Again, anonymity is all-important, as is
the understanding of support and empathy. Representatives for the Plan have
literature outlining this procedure and will be happy to allow those interested
to sample treatment to help explain the workings in person. Please contact
Plan representatives if you have any questions or concerns.
Mandatory Referral:
Initiated only after voluntary referral has
failed. Here again, work performance can be the only basis of referral. Relevant
documentation is forwarded to the Plan and the employers and/or union will
be provided with progress reports, treatment summaries and follow-up reports
for a specified time agreed to by all parties.
Literature on procedures for the Plan's Mandatory Referral is available from
the Plan office, and special presentation of relevant information
can easily be arranged for interested parties.
Chemical dependency, whether the chemical be alcohol or any other drug, crosses all lines and knows no favourites. Every level of society is affected by this problem and nobody is immune to it, yet the Plan's own statistics show that there is a major imbalance between the proportion of senior personnel who use the Plan compared to rank and file employees. Please bear in mind that every element of he Plan - including anonymity, confidentiality and trust - applies equally to union personnel, supervisors and management. If you suspect there might be a problem with alcohol and /or other drugs in your life, please contact the Plan.
History, Structure and Mission
Alcohol and other drug abuse is a very serious problem in Canada. The consequences of substance abuse are tragic and the costs in human and financial terms, staggering. Each year thousands of people wind up losing jobs, friends, property, their families, their hope, even their lives and sometimes, they end up killing or injuring others while they do it.
Substance abuse has its negative effect at the workplace too. At factories, hospitals, offices, in stores and on the construction site, it surfaces in the form of increased absenteeism, declining productivity and the loss of once valuable employees. However, unlike most places of work, the construction site is a particularly dangerous place. There is also a potential for accidents involving massive property damage, serious injury and death.
In 1980, the construction industry of British Columbia, sparked by concerned union welfare plan administers, decided to do something about the problem. Contractors and unions, through their respective bargaining agencies, negotiated agreements which provided funding for a treatment program and by March of 1981, the Rehabilitation Plan of the British Columbia Construction Industry had been established. Today, this Plan remains as a unique feature of North American construction.
The Rehab Plan, as it is now more commonly known in B.C., provides unionized construction workers with access to all sorts of assistance. There is an assessment of the extent and nature of a person's substance abuse problem. The Plan will refer a person to a treatment centre or program, whatever appears most suitable given his or her particular needs and circumstances. Staff arranges for detoxification, should that be necessary, and the Plan assists with problems where they are seen to have a potential for interfering with a person's chance of recovery. The Plan provides counseling and post-treatment support through group meetings and other relapse prevention techniques. While the focus of the Plan is the individual with an alcohol or other drug dependency, help is also offered to the spouse and other family members when it is apparent that they too have been affected by their loved one's addiction. Recovery must very often be a family project.
Mr. Jack Edge of the IBEW, a man who played a major role in the Plan's establishment, was the Plan's first Co-ordinator.
Some responsibilities of the Co-coordinator include assessment of a person's dependency, the placement of people in suitable programs for treatment and/or workshops where others are taught how to recognize chronic substance abuse and how to approach a person suspected of having an alcohol or other drug problem. Finally, it is the Co-coordinator's responsibility to liaison with other rehabilitation centres, union welfare plans, community resource groups, the Employment Insurance Commission, parole boards and the courts.
The Plan is provided with general direction by a twelve-person Board of Trustees. Half of the Board is appointed by the BC and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council and half is appointed by the Construction Labour Relations Association of British Columbia.
In 1988, it had become clear that existing treatment centres were fast becoming overloaded. People were having to wait too long before they could be placed in programs selected for them. Rather than looking to government to solve the problem, the union construction industry took steps to deal with the situation on its own.
The Plan's Board of Trustees decided to approach the industry with the idea that it would open its own treatment centre. Funding would be needed in order to purchase and renovate a suitable building. Within weeks, those monies were committed by way of grants from organizations, both in and out of the industry but, in the main, by low interest loans from the Building Trades Council, the CLRA and the Welfare Plans of the various construction unions.
With funding secured, the Board proceeded to purchase property in New Westminster and, shortly after that, work began on a treatment facility, much of it on a volunteer basis. Construction companies, unions and dozens of individuals donated labour, furniture, materials and the use of equipment. On October 29, 1989, the industry opened its residential treatment centre.
People are offered a five-week stay in residence. This allows sufficient time for a person to deal with the physical part of his addiction and to gain a clear understanding of themselves, their dependency and what they must do to recover.
In the private setting of the Plan's own centre, a person has an opportunity to talk to other people with similar backgrounds, some that are in the program and some that have been through it; people who know what recovery is all about and what lies ahead. That goes a very long way towards dispelling the fears that a person will often have in respect to recovery.
All of this costs money. Funding is secured under collective agreements. Originally that was at a rate of one-half cent per employee, per hour of work, but in 1985, it rose to one cent. It has been two cents since May of 1989.
To date, more that 1700 people have passed through the treatment centre. In excess of 6000 people have received some sort of assistance since the founding of the Plan.
In 1993, the Plan created the opportunity for other unionized sectors to access its resources and, today, to a greater degree than ever, the Plan and treatment centre are being utilized by outside referral sources on a fee-for-service basis.
It is a tough job treating substance abuse and it's getting a lot tougher. It's not a precise science. Ten years ago, most every person seeking the assistance of the Plan had a problem with alcohol alone. Today, a significant number of people require help with multiple dependencies, commonly, addiction to both alcohol and cocaine as well as other stressors.
The Rehab Plan has allowed many people to overcome their dependencies, face their addiction problem four square, and stay away from old habits of alcohol and drug use. Thanks to the people at the Rehab Plan and the people who are responsible for the Plan's establishment, a great number of people have managed to give up the alcohol and drugs that was once much a part of their daily existence. They've found a way to enjoy life again and with that, the industry has regained a number of its most productive, most highly-skilled trades people. As well, the construction site has been made a safer place to work.
The Rehab Plan is another fine example of what labour and management can accomplish when they decide to work together towards common, worthwhile goals.
