Innovation in outreach continues to drive Minnesotans for Safe Driving.
by Brent Richter
Sharon Gehrmann- Driscoll and Nancy Johnson have again led the way in victim education and advocacy. For over twenty years the pair have collaborated and been the pioneers of Death Notification education for police and other allied responders. Now, with the support of Minnesotans for Safe Driving (MSD), and a grant from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety – Office of Justice Programs, Crime Victim Services, they have created another educational and victim advocacy outreach program in the form of an Employee Workplace Reintegration after Loss. This innovative program is initially being directed at over 1600 Minnesota small businesses and offers them a complimentary introduction presentation as to how they can better manage the affects of loss that their employees may face. Program introduction packets were mailed in mid-October letting business owners and managers know that MSD will provide additional educational resources, including Alan Wolfelt’s book “Healing Grief at Work”, if they permit Sharon and Nancy to make a 30-minute on-site presentation highlighting the core components of the program. I am both proud and excited to partner with MSD as a mental health consultant on this innovative and important program.
It is a tremendous disservice to employees faced with loss that there is little to no formal assistance available when they return to work. Through this educational outreach of MSD, employers can learn ways of helping to ease the stresses of an employee returning to work. Providing a supportive return to the work environment has been shown to help more than the grieving employee, it assists to minimize disruptions to workforce morale, maintain productivity, decrease absenteeism, and lessen somatic complaints and reliance on health care resources due to increased use of sick time. The debilitating emotions and untamable feelings that accompany grief are often misunderstood. Arbitrary time frames and inflexible return to work policies may further exacerbate what can already be an overwhelming grief response process. Communities, cultures, employers, and sometimes even family and friends limit the acknowledging of grief to those events that immediately surround a loss through death. We know that loss can be very complicated and even ambiguous; it isn’t just limited to loss through death. Understanding the nature of grief, what it is, what it is not, and the realization that each person should be afforded the ability to grieve independently in a supportive environment with others is imperative. No two losses are ever the same either for an individual, or for those who share a loss, and it should follow that the grieving process will never be the same either. I know this 30-minute informational presentation by MSD has the potential to provide immense and immeasurable comfort to employees and co-workers.
Brent Richter, MA is a consultant and therapist, who specializes in grief and loss and practices in Maple Grove, Minnesota.