AT WORK
Substance abuse should not be a crutch in coping with job

By Dawn Sagario
The Des Moines (Iowa) Register

For nearly 30 years, Tim Leonardi pumped himself full of alcohol and nearly every drug imaginable.

Pot. Coke. Crystal meth. Acid. Speed.

But alcohol was his main weakness. The cravings would hit a couple of hours before quitting time.

"About the time you would be ready to get off work, the excitement of being able to get a beer ... that obsession ... would take you over," said Leonardi, 46.

He drank seven days a week, a 12-pack every day. He'd drink until he passed out or fell asleep.

"When I started feeling tired from the alcohol, I would use coke or crank so I could drink more," he said.

There were times he was too hung over, too tired or too sick to get to his construction job.

When anxiety attacks and near-suicidal depression set in, the father of two daughters knew he needed help. More than three years ago, he checked in at Mercy Franklin Center's substance abuse treatment program in Des Moines, Iowa.

Recovery means unraveling habits, sometimes making work and career changes. Employee assistance programs or the company's human resources department can be among the first places to turn to for help.

Sources of encouragement during this time are critical components of recovery, according to healthcare professionals. That can include friends, a support group or church. Minimizing contact with partying friends and steering clear of the old watering hole are difficult but necessary changes to make if you are serious.

As a certified addictions counselor, Kate Noland suggests that if individuals could be tempted to return to drugs or alcohol to cope with the pressures of a high-stress job, they should consider changing their line of work. Or they could reduce their hours. Or take a less prestigious position with less pay.

"It calls for giving up a lot and humbling oneself, to be successful," said Noland, who is also a licensed, independent social worker.

Sometimes, rehabilitation includes finding a new career, she said. But a person with drug charges on his or her record, for example, may not be able to get the money to go to school.

Those recovering from substance abuse can be severely tested with major life changes like dealing with a new job or difficult boss or the breakup of a relationship, according to Julie Thompson, coordinator of substance abuse services at the University of Northern Iowa.

Drinking habits often are developed during college, said Mark Eikenberry, clinical supervisor for the employee assistance program division of Employee and Family Resources in Des Moines.

"College is a period in a young adult's stage of life in which there is a lot of recreational use of drugs and alcohol," he said.

"People in that stage of life are just more vulnerable to stepping over the line into abuse because of the atmosphere, which sort of encourages and strongly influences a college student's behavior."

Northern Iowa's Thompson said most college students drink in a way that's appropriate. For those who abuse alcohol, there's the perception that it's OK and just a phase that everyone grows out of.

"Some of them do — and some of them don't," she said.

When students who abuse alcohol move into the full-time workforce, they're met with an environment that doesn't tolerate that behavior. This could be their first recognition that their drinking is excessive.

Noland, the counselor, said recovering addicts experience a grieving process in which they must relinquish the idea that alcohol and drugs are prerequisites to having a good time.

"A person who is in recovery actually has to learn all over again how to have fun because they've lost touch with that in the addiction process," Noland said.

"That's very, very hard to do, no matter how old you are."

Rediscovering and exploring personal interests enjoyed before their substance abuse, she said, is one step toward recovery.

Leonardi has been sober since March 15, 2000, and is a laborer for a Des Moines company.

He helps facilitate a support group for others trying to recover from addictions. Such activities, he said, help keep him sober.

"There is a solution," Leonardi said. "You don't have to wait until you kill somebody, get thrown in jail or lose your family or house.

"There is hope out there.

"I was scared to death of turning myself in the first time and admitting I was an alcoholic. But that was just fear of the unknown.

"Now I'm happy that I've done it."